John Franklin Farnsworth (Congressional Biographical Directory)

FARNSWORTH, John Franklin, a Representative from Illinois; born in Eaton, Canada, March 27, 1820; completed preparatory studies; settled in Ann Arbor, Mich.; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1841 and commenced practice at St. Charles, Ill.; moved to Chicago, Ill.; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1857-March 3, 1861); was not a candidate for renomination in 1860; served in the Union Army during the Civil War; commissioned colonel of the Eighth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, September 18, 1861; brigadier general of Volunteers December 5, 1862; resigned March 4, 1863, to take up his duties as Congressman; elected to the Thirty-eighth and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1873); chairman, Committee on Post Office and Post Roads (Fortieth through Forty-second Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1872; resumed the practice of law in Chicago, Ill.; moved to Washington, D.C., in 1880 and continued the practice of law until his death on July 14, 1897; interment in North Cemetery, St. Charles, Ill.