Uriah H. Farr was born in Morgan County, Indiana on 23 October 1846.
The son of Daniel C. and Susanna (Teague) Farr. Daniel was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, 8 May 1816 and moved with his parents to this State in 1822. He married Susanna Teague on 29 February 1834. Daniel was the father of three children: Nathan, Hannah, and Uriah. He died on 14 August 1850.
In July 1862, Uriah enlisted (age 15 years) in Company D, 70th Indiana Volunteers and served for 3 years. (In May 1863, he was admitted in sick call to a hospital in Gallitin, TN.) He fought in several battles including: Resaca, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, the Atlanta Campaign, the March to the Sea, Savannah, and Bentonville. He was discharged in June 1865.
On 16 March 1866, he married Sarah Blankenship and raised a family of four children: Anna A, Kate E., Montana E., and Daniel B.
Uriah continued farming until 1874 then he began the study of medicine, attended lectures at the college of Physicians and Surgeons in Indianapolis, from which he graduated in 1876. After practicing at Paragon until 1882, he removed to Martinsville in Morgan County.
Dr. Farr also took a course of lectures at the University of Pennsylvania and received the ad eundem degree .
In 1916, Uriah and Sarah returned to Paragon to live and in 1918, Sarah passed away.
Dr. Uriah H. Farr passed away on 2 Oct. 1934 and was buried in a military ceremony in the South Park Cemetery in Martinsville, Indiana. He was nearly 88 years old and the last Civil War veteran in Ray Township, Morgan County, Indiana.
He served the communities of Paragon and Martinsville for 60 years as medical doctor.
From "Counties of Morgan, Monroe, & Brown, Indiana. Historical and Biographical" by Charles Blanchard, and from local newspaper articles of the period.
(Uriah Farr was the brother-in-law and Army messmate of Absalom Ross)
Dr. Uriah Hester Farr
Recollections of events in the life of Uriah H. Farr, as told by him to members of his family. This is just a sketch of his life, but if one were to go into detail about his life, it would be so eventful that it would take a good size book to cover it all.
Born Oct. 23, 1846. Died Oct 2, 1934. Age 87 years, 11 months and 8 days.
Thus passes the last of the old pioneers who saw the country around Paragon emerge from forests to fine farms. He was the son of Daniel Curry Farr, who was born in Kentucky in 1816, and Susannah Teague Farr, who was born in North Carolina in 1811. He was the youngest of 3 children. Uriah H. Farr was married to Sarah Blankenship, March 16, 1866. To this union were born five children, Anna Farr Muse, who died in Washington, Dec. 7, 1926, Roscoe Farr, who died in infancy, Kate Farr, who died in 1894, Monta Edith Burkhart living near Paragon, and Dan B. Farr, living at Paragon.
Sarah Blankenship Farr died in 1918. There are six grandchildren living, Mabel Muse Cromwell and Howard Muse, children of Anna Muse Cromwell and Howard Muse, Andrew and Lowell Farr Burkhart, children of Monta Farr Burkhart, Sarah Virginia and James Curry Farr, children of Dan B. Farr. There are five great-grandchildren, William Francis Burkhart, son of Maurice Burkhart, Delbert Frank and Marlin Clare Muse, children of Howard Muse, Lowell Thomas and Edith Anna Burkhart, children of Lowell Burkhart.
Uriah Farr was descended from a long line of pioneers, who had a hand in developing this country. His grandfather was James Farr, who was born in 1790, and came to Kentucky from Virginia when Kentucky was new. He was in the war of 1812 and took part in the battle of New Orleans under Gen. Andrew Jackson. He married Katherine (Catherine) Curry in 1810 in Kentucky and then moved to Indiana.
Uriah's father, the seventh in a family of 8 children, died in 1850, when Uriah was only 4 years old. So he naturally was thrown somewhat on his own resources when quite young. He was born in a one room log cabin west of Paragon when the country was pretty well covered with forests. There were just a few homes in Paragon. The principal trading center was Gosport, from which center freight was hauled to Madison by flatboat and overland freight. He saw the country gradually develop from the oxen and sled days to the present day of automobile and fine roads. He received his schooling in such schools as were had in those days. But he continued his education through life as he was a constant reader. He read all the books he could read during his life time until his eyes failed him. He was really a self educated man.
He showed the same patriotism shown by his progenitors, for at the age of 15 years, he joined the Union Army on Aug. 1, 1862, and served until June 15, 1865. He was assigned to Company D, 70th Regiment of Volunteers. He was intensively patriotic and was very devoted to his country. His service in the army was really the greatest thing in his life. He being so young it made a vivid impression upon his mind, so much so, that he remembered everything that occurred, even the smallest detail. He was in 26 battles, some of them major engagements. He was with Sherman at Atlanta and with him in his famous March to the Sea, going from there to Washington to take part in the Grand Review at the close of the war.
After he was mustered out he returned to his home at Paragon. After his marriage he went to housekeeping in a log house west of Paragon where Corna Goss' house now stands. While there the I. and V. railroad was being built and some of the workmen boarded at their house. He farmed for a while, then entered the mercantile business in Paragon. This was not a success and he entered medical school in 1875. After practicing awhile in Paragon, he took a post graduate course at Philadelphia and New York. He seemed to strike the thing he was suited for. When he graduated from school he stood head and shoulders above his class. He moved to Martinsville in 1882 and after practicing medicine for 17 years there, he moved to Paragon in 1899 and was in active practice of medicine until 1928 when he retired, thinking he had earned a rest.
Dr. Farr, as he was familiarly called by everyone, was a man of decisive character, always upholding the right with firmness and in like manner checking error. He was a plain, selfmade man and admired plain people. He had a decided aversion to sham and pretense, was a tireless worker and always wanted to be up and going. In his early practice of medicine he was on the go all the time. The early doctors had all the worst of nature to contend with. Riding a horse most of the time; going all day and night; through mud, snow, and rain, swimming rivers and creeks on horseback during the worst of weather when ice was floating down the swollen streams.
He was a good, accommodating neighbor and a good father, being very devoted to his family. He was a member of the Christian Church, joining the church at what was then called old Shiloh, west of Paragon. His father-in-law, Uncle Perry Blankenship, was preaching and baptized him while Uncle Phillip Hodges stood on the creek and sang, "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand". He was a close student of the Bible and had read it several times; believing all he read.
Transcribed from a newspaper column that was printed probably shortly after Dr. Uriah Farr passed away. Author is unknown. Clipping provided by Joseph Burkhart, Aug. 2001
