Son of Winslow Farr Sr. and Olive Hovey Freeman
Married Persis Atherton, 16 Jan 1844, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois
Married Lucretia Ball Thorpe, 28 Jan 1855, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Hope Estill, 5 Nov 1870
Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, Vol. 4, p. 59
Pioneer, colonizer, magistrate and missionary, the Hon. Aaron F. Farr has had a busy life, of which the foregoing are only a few of the prominent features. He was one of the earliest of our magistrates, was twice probate judge of Weber county, and afterwards county selectman, an alderman, and for many years treasurer of Ogden city. He also sat as a member of the Territorial Legislature. At the age of eighty-two, in spite of the many toils and troubles through which he has passed, he is still hale and hearty.
The son of Winslow Farr and Olive Hovey Freeman, he was born October 31, 1818, in the town of Waterford, Caledonia county, Vermont. There his early boyhood was passed. When about nine years old he moved with his father's family to Charleston, Orleans county, settling on the Clyde river in a dense wilderness, where he assisted in clearing a heavy timbered farm and building a home. It was a farm of a hundred acres, in addition to which his father owned two hundred acres of land covered with pine timber, and had a saw mill on the Clyde. Aaron received a common school education, necessarily limited, owing to his close occupation at home. Educated in the school of experience, he was prepared from boyhood for his future life as a pioneer.
Nothing very important took place with him until Elders Lyman E. Johnson and Orson Pratt, in the year 1832, came preaching Mormonism in his neighborhood. Aaron at once believed, and with his father's household embraced the faith. He was baptized by Elder Johnson and confirmed by Elder Pratt.
In the year 1837 he moved with his parents to Kirtland, Ohio, where he remained until the spring of 1838. He then started with his brother Lorin on foot for Far West, Missouri. Their purpose was to locate a new home for their parents. Soon after his arrival there, which was about the middle of June, Aaron was called by the Prophet Joseph Smith to accompany him and a few others into Daviess county to locate a settlement on Grand river. This led to the establishment of Adam-Ondi-Ahman. The same month, in company with three others, he went to Fort Leavenworth to find employment, and remained there four months, chopping wood and making brick, returning to Far West in February. By this time the mob troubles were over, barring the exodus of the Saints from the state, which took place that winter. Spring found the Farr family at Lima, Illinois, where they rented a farm. A year later they moved to Nauvoo. Aaron superintended his father's farm, and was thus engaged until 1842, when he was called by the Prophet to take a mission through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. He returned to Nauvoo about the middle of July, 1843, and remained there working upon the temple, improving the parental farm and sharing in the general experiences of his people.
On January 16, 1844, Aaron F. Farr married Persia Atherton at the Mansion House, Nauvoo, the ceremony being performed by the Prophet. This was only a few months before his martyrdom. The Farrs accompanied President Brigham Young in the exodus of 1846, and camped with him upon the Missouri river.
In February, 1847, Aaron was called to be one of the Pioneers, who were to precede the main body of the people farther West. His outfit consisted of a mule team and wagon, with farming utensils, seeds and provisions for two persons. His traveling companion was Nathaniel Fairbanks. He left another outfit, consisting of one wagon, two yoke of oxen and two cows, for his family, who were to follow in June.
The date of his departure from Winter Quarters was the 7th of April. While on the way up the Platte, his companion, Fairbanks, was bitten by a rattlesnake and came near losing his life. In ten minutes he lost the use of his limbs, and his foot and leg turned black to the knee. Mr. Farr and an associate carried him on their backs a mite and a half to camp, where his case was attended to, and with skillful nursing he rediscovered.
At the crossing of Green river, President Young deemed it advisable to send back a small detachment to pilot the oncoming emigration through the Black Hills. Aaron Farr and five others were selected for this duty. Sending his team and outfit on to Salt Lake valley, he and his party returned and met the advance company of emigrants—Daniel Spencer's hundred—about two hundred miles below Fort Laramie. He was assigned a position with his wagon and family in Ira Eldredge's fifty, and turning west once more, traveled on to the valley, arriving here on the 20th of September.
Immediately he prepared to make a home. He went to the canyon, got out logs, and soon erected a small house in the "middle fort." In the spring of 1848 he moved ten miles south, near Big Cottonwood, where he built the first log house. In the fall he returned to Salt Lake City and began building in the Seventeenth ward. There a portion of his family resided for many years.
Previous to the organization of the State of Deseret Mr. Farr was appointed by President Young to act as a civil magistrate. As such he transacted, he claims, the first judicial business in Utah. He has in his possession the docket of the court, opening with the year 1850. That same year he went with George A. Smith to Iron county, and there raised a crop of grain, returning in the fall to Salt Lake City.
At a special conference of the Church in 1852, Aaron Farr, with three other Elders—Darwin Richardson, A. B. Lambson and Jesse Tarpin—was given a mission to the West India Islands. Arriving at Jamaica, they hired a hall and attempted to preach, but were mobbed and opposed on every hand. The population was mostly colored, and there was no police protection. The persecution was so violent that it was thought advisable to return to America. Accordingly, as soon as an American ship arrived at the islands, they took passage for New York, where they arrived on the 18th of February, 1853.
Orson Pratt was then presiding over the Eastern States Mission, and Elder Farr was appointed by him to labor in the Northern states. This he did until the spring of 1854, when he was appointed to succeed Horace S. Eldredge in the presidency of the St. Louis conference. He himself was soon succeeded by Milo Andrus. Released to return, he arrived home on the 31st of October.
January 28, 1855, he entered into the order of plural marriage, his second wife, Lucretia Ball Thorpe, being married to him by President Brigham Young at Salt Lake City. The following year found him at Fillmore, acting as a deputy marshal, in attendance upon the Supreme Court of the Territory. The same year he went to Las Vegas, Arizona, on a colonizing mission, from which he returned in the fall.
March, 1857, witnessed his removal to Ogden, Weber county, which has ever since been his home. In the move following the "Echo Canyon war," he camped with the main body of the people on the Provo Bottoms, where he remained until after the U. S. peace commissioners and the Mormon leaders had met and settled the pending difficulty.
In January, 1859, he was elected by the Legislature probate judge of Weber county, which office he held until 1861, when he was succeeded by Hon. Francis A. Brown. In May, 1863, he succeeded Judge Brown in the same position, and from that time held the judgeship for Weber county until March, 1869, when he was succeeded by Hon. Franklin D. Richards. In the fall of that year he filled a short mission to the Eastern states, returning in the spring of 1870. In 1872 he represented Weber county in the lower house of the Legislature, and in 1873 served the county in the capacity of selectman. He was an alderman of Ogden city for a short time, to fill a vacancy in the council, and for many years held the office of city treasurer. This closed his public life. He next turned his attention to his private interests, such as farming, milling, and improving his city property. Judge Farr is the father of Hon. Aaron F. Farr, Jr., and Lucian Farr, of Logan, Cache county, and is father-in-law to Hon. Moses Thatcher of Salt Lake City.
Married Persis Atherton, 16 Jan 1844, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois
Married Lucretia Ball Thorpe, 28 Jan 1855, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Hope Estill, 5 Nov 1870
Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, Vol. 4, p. 59
Pioneer, colonizer, magistrate and missionary, the Hon. Aaron F. Farr has had a busy life, of which the foregoing are only a few of the prominent features. He was one of the earliest of our magistrates, was twice probate judge of Weber county, and afterwards county selectman, an alderman, and for many years treasurer of Ogden city. He also sat as a member of the Territorial Legislature. At the age of eighty-two, in spite of the many toils and troubles through which he has passed, he is still hale and hearty.
The son of Winslow Farr and Olive Hovey Freeman, he was born October 31, 1818, in the town of Waterford, Caledonia county, Vermont. There his early boyhood was passed. When about nine years old he moved with his father's family to Charleston, Orleans county, settling on the Clyde river in a dense wilderness, where he assisted in clearing a heavy timbered farm and building a home. It was a farm of a hundred acres, in addition to which his father owned two hundred acres of land covered with pine timber, and had a saw mill on the Clyde. Aaron received a common school education, necessarily limited, owing to his close occupation at home. Educated in the school of experience, he was prepared from boyhood for his future life as a pioneer.
Nothing very important took place with him until Elders Lyman E. Johnson and Orson Pratt, in the year 1832, came preaching Mormonism in his neighborhood. Aaron at once believed, and with his father's household embraced the faith. He was baptized by Elder Johnson and confirmed by Elder Pratt.
In the year 1837 he moved with his parents to Kirtland, Ohio, where he remained until the spring of 1838. He then started with his brother Lorin on foot for Far West, Missouri. Their purpose was to locate a new home for their parents. Soon after his arrival there, which was about the middle of June, Aaron was called by the Prophet Joseph Smith to accompany him and a few others into Daviess county to locate a settlement on Grand river. This led to the establishment of Adam-Ondi-Ahman. The same month, in company with three others, he went to Fort Leavenworth to find employment, and remained there four months, chopping wood and making brick, returning to Far West in February. By this time the mob troubles were over, barring the exodus of the Saints from the state, which took place that winter. Spring found the Farr family at Lima, Illinois, where they rented a farm. A year later they moved to Nauvoo. Aaron superintended his father's farm, and was thus engaged until 1842, when he was called by the Prophet to take a mission through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. He returned to Nauvoo about the middle of July, 1843, and remained there working upon the temple, improving the parental farm and sharing in the general experiences of his people.
On January 16, 1844, Aaron F. Farr married Persia Atherton at the Mansion House, Nauvoo, the ceremony being performed by the Prophet. This was only a few months before his martyrdom. The Farrs accompanied President Brigham Young in the exodus of 1846, and camped with him upon the Missouri river.
In February, 1847, Aaron was called to be one of the Pioneers, who were to precede the main body of the people farther West. His outfit consisted of a mule team and wagon, with farming utensils, seeds and provisions for two persons. His traveling companion was Nathaniel Fairbanks. He left another outfit, consisting of one wagon, two yoke of oxen and two cows, for his family, who were to follow in June.
The date of his departure from Winter Quarters was the 7th of April. While on the way up the Platte, his companion, Fairbanks, was bitten by a rattlesnake and came near losing his life. In ten minutes he lost the use of his limbs, and his foot and leg turned black to the knee. Mr. Farr and an associate carried him on their backs a mite and a half to camp, where his case was attended to, and with skillful nursing he rediscovered.
At the crossing of Green river, President Young deemed it advisable to send back a small detachment to pilot the oncoming emigration through the Black Hills. Aaron Farr and five others were selected for this duty. Sending his team and outfit on to Salt Lake valley, he and his party returned and met the advance company of emigrants—Daniel Spencer's hundred—about two hundred miles below Fort Laramie. He was assigned a position with his wagon and family in Ira Eldredge's fifty, and turning west once more, traveled on to the valley, arriving here on the 20th of September.
Immediately he prepared to make a home. He went to the canyon, got out logs, and soon erected a small house in the "middle fort." In the spring of 1848 he moved ten miles south, near Big Cottonwood, where he built the first log house. In the fall he returned to Salt Lake City and began building in the Seventeenth ward. There a portion of his family resided for many years.
Previous to the organization of the State of Deseret Mr. Farr was appointed by President Young to act as a civil magistrate. As such he transacted, he claims, the first judicial business in Utah. He has in his possession the docket of the court, opening with the year 1850. That same year he went with George A. Smith to Iron county, and there raised a crop of grain, returning in the fall to Salt Lake City.
At a special conference of the Church in 1852, Aaron Farr, with three other Elders—Darwin Richardson, A. B. Lambson and Jesse Tarpin—was given a mission to the West India Islands. Arriving at Jamaica, they hired a hall and attempted to preach, but were mobbed and opposed on every hand. The population was mostly colored, and there was no police protection. The persecution was so violent that it was thought advisable to return to America. Accordingly, as soon as an American ship arrived at the islands, they took passage for New York, where they arrived on the 18th of February, 1853.
Orson Pratt was then presiding over the Eastern States Mission, and Elder Farr was appointed by him to labor in the Northern states. This he did until the spring of 1854, when he was appointed to succeed Horace S. Eldredge in the presidency of the St. Louis conference. He himself was soon succeeded by Milo Andrus. Released to return, he arrived home on the 31st of October.
January 28, 1855, he entered into the order of plural marriage, his second wife, Lucretia Ball Thorpe, being married to him by President Brigham Young at Salt Lake City. The following year found him at Fillmore, acting as a deputy marshal, in attendance upon the Supreme Court of the Territory. The same year he went to Las Vegas, Arizona, on a colonizing mission, from which he returned in the fall.
March, 1857, witnessed his removal to Ogden, Weber county, which has ever since been his home. In the move following the "Echo Canyon war," he camped with the main body of the people on the Provo Bottoms, where he remained until after the U. S. peace commissioners and the Mormon leaders had met and settled the pending difficulty.
In January, 1859, he was elected by the Legislature probate judge of Weber county, which office he held until 1861, when he was succeeded by Hon. Francis A. Brown. In May, 1863, he succeeded Judge Brown in the same position, and from that time held the judgeship for Weber county until March, 1869, when he was succeeded by Hon. Franklin D. Richards. In the fall of that year he filled a short mission to the Eastern states, returning in the spring of 1870. In 1872 he represented Weber county in the lower house of the Legislature, and in 1873 served the county in the capacity of selectman. He was an alderman of Ogden city for a short time, to fill a vacancy in the council, and for many years held the office of city treasurer. This closed his public life. He next turned his attention to his private interests, such as farming, milling, and improving his city property. Judge Farr is the father of Hon. Aaron F. Farr, Jr., and Lucian Farr, of Logan, Cache county, and is father-in-law to Hon. Moses Thatcher of Salt Lake City.
Son of Winslow Farr Sr. and Olive Hovey Freeman
Married Persis Atherton, 16 Jan 1844, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois
Married Lucretia Ball Thorpe, 28 Jan 1855, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Hope Estill, 5 Nov 1870
Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, Vol. 4, p. 59
Pioneer, colonizer, magistrate and missionary, the Hon. Aaron F. Farr has had a busy life, of which the foregoing are only a few of the prominent features. He was one of the earliest of our magistrates, was twice probate judge of Weber county, and afterwards county selectman, an alderman, and for many years treasurer of Ogden city. He also sat as a member of the Territorial Legislature. At the age of eighty-two, in spite of the many toils and troubles through which he has passed, he is still hale and hearty.
The son of Winslow Farr and Olive Hovey Freeman, he was born October 31, 1818, in the town of Waterford, Caledonia county, Vermont. There his early boyhood was passed. When about nine years old he moved with his father's family to Charleston, Orleans county, settling on the Clyde river in a dense wilderness, where he assisted in clearing a heavy timbered farm and building a home. It was a farm of a hundred acres, in addition to which his father owned two hundred acres of land covered with pine timber, and had a saw mill on the Clyde. Aaron received a common school education, necessarily limited, owing to his close occupation at home. Educated in the school of experience, he was prepared from boyhood for his future life as a pioneer.
Nothing very important took place with him until Elders Lyman E. Johnson and Orson Pratt, in the year 1832, came preaching Mormonism in his neighborhood. Aaron at once believed, and with his father's household embraced the faith. He was baptized by Elder Johnson and confirmed by Elder Pratt.
In the year 1837 he moved with his parents to Kirtland, Ohio, where he remained until the spring of 1838. He then started with his brother Lorin on foot for Far West, Missouri. Their purpose was to locate a new home for their parents. Soon after his arrival there, which was about the middle of June, Aaron was called by the Prophet Joseph Smith to accompany him and a few others into Daviess county to locate a settlement on Grand river. This led to the establishment of Adam-Ondi-Ahman. The same month, in company with three others, he went to Fort Leavenworth to find employment, and remained there four months, chopping wood and making brick, returning to Far West in February. By this time the mob troubles were over, barring the exodus of the Saints from the state, which took place that winter. Spring found the Farr family at Lima, Illinois, where they rented a farm. A year later they moved to Nauvoo. Aaron superintended his father's farm, and was thus engaged until 1842, when he was called by the Prophet to take a mission through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. He returned to Nauvoo about the middle of July, 1843, and remained there working upon the temple, improving the parental farm and sharing in the general experiences of his people.
On January 16, 1844, Aaron F. Farr married Persia Atherton at the Mansion House, Nauvoo, the ceremony being performed by the Prophet. This was only a few months before his martyrdom. The Farrs accompanied President Brigham Young in the exodus of 1846, and camped with him upon the Missouri river.
In February, 1847, Aaron was called to be one of the Pioneers, who were to precede the main body of the people farther West. His outfit consisted of a mule team and wagon, with farming utensils, seeds and provisions for two persons. His traveling companion was Nathaniel Fairbanks. He left another outfit, consisting of one wagon, two yoke of oxen and two cows, for his family, who were to follow in June.
The date of his departure from Winter Quarters was the 7th of April. While on the way up the Platte, his companion, Fairbanks, was bitten by a rattlesnake and came near losing his life. In ten minutes he lost the use of his limbs, and his foot and leg turned black to the knee. Mr. Farr and an associate carried him on their backs a mite and a half to camp, where his case was attended to, and with skillful nursing he rediscovered.
At the crossing of Green river, President Young deemed it advisable to send back a small detachment to pilot the oncoming emigration through the Black Hills. Aaron Farr and five others were selected for this duty. Sending his team and outfit on to Salt Lake valley, he and his party returned and met the advance company of emigrants—Daniel Spencer's hundred—about two hundred miles below Fort Laramie. He was assigned a position with his wagon and family in Ira Eldredge's fifty, and turning west once more, traveled on to the valley, arriving here on the 20th of September.
Immediately he prepared to make a home. He went to the canyon, got out logs, and soon erected a small house in the "middle fort." In the spring of 1848 he moved ten miles south, near Big Cottonwood, where he built the first log house. In the fall he returned to Salt Lake City and began building in the Seventeenth ward. There a portion of his family resided for many years.
Previous to the organization of the State of Deseret Mr. Farr was appointed by President Young to act as a civil magistrate. As such he transacted, he claims, the first judicial business in Utah. He has in his possession the docket of the court, opening with the year 1850. That same year he went with George A. Smith to Iron county, and there raised a crop of grain, returning in the fall to Salt Lake City.
At a special conference of the Church in 1852, Aaron Farr, with three other Elders—Darwin Richardson, A. B. Lambson and Jesse Tarpin—was given a mission to the West India Islands. Arriving at Jamaica, they hired a hall and attempted to preach, but were mobbed and opposed on every hand. The population was mostly colored, and there was no police protection. The persecution was so violent that it was thought advisable to return to America. Accordingly, as soon as an American ship arrived at the islands, they took passage for New York, where they arrived on the 18th of February, 1853.
Orson Pratt was then presiding over the Eastern States Mission, and Elder Farr was appointed by him to labor in the Northern states. This he did until the spring of 1854, when he was appointed to succeed Horace S. Eldredge in the presidency of the St. Louis conference. He himself was soon succeeded by Milo Andrus. Released to return, he arrived home on the 31st of October.
January 28, 1855, he entered into the order of plural marriage, his second wife, Lucretia Ball Thorpe, being married to him by President Brigham Young at Salt Lake City. The following year found him at Fillmore, acting as a deputy marshal, in attendance upon the Supreme Court of the Territory. The same year he went to Las Vegas, Arizona, on a colonizing mission, from which he returned in the fall.
March, 1857, witnessed his removal to Ogden, Weber county, which has ever since been his home. In the move following the "Echo Canyon war," he camped with the main body of the people on the Provo Bottoms, where he remained until after the U. S. peace commissioners and the Mormon leaders had met and settled the pending difficulty.
In January, 1859, he was elected by the Legislature probate judge of Weber county, which office he held until 1861, when he was succeeded by Hon. Francis A. Brown. In May, 1863, he succeeded Judge Brown in the same position, and from that time held the judgeship for Weber county until March, 1869, when he was succeeded by Hon. Franklin D. Richards. In the fall of that year he filled a short mission to the Eastern states, returning in the spring of 1870. In 1872 he represented Weber county in the lower house of the Legislature, and in 1873 served the county in the capacity of selectman. He was an alderman of Ogden city for a short time, to fill a vacancy in the council, and for many years held the office of city treasurer. This closed his public life. He next turned his attention to his private interests, such as farming, milling, and improving his city property. Judge Farr is the father of Hon. Aaron F. Farr, Jr., and Lucian Farr, of Logan, Cache county, and is father-in-law to Hon. Moses Thatcher of Salt Lake City.
Married Persis Atherton, 16 Jan 1844, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois
Married Lucretia Ball Thorpe, 28 Jan 1855, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Hope Estill, 5 Nov 1870
Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, Vol. 4, p. 59
Pioneer, colonizer, magistrate and missionary, the Hon. Aaron F. Farr has had a busy life, of which the foregoing are only a few of the prominent features. He was one of the earliest of our magistrates, was twice probate judge of Weber county, and afterwards county selectman, an alderman, and for many years treasurer of Ogden city. He also sat as a member of the Territorial Legislature. At the age of eighty-two, in spite of the many toils and troubles through which he has passed, he is still hale and hearty.
The son of Winslow Farr and Olive Hovey Freeman, he was born October 31, 1818, in the town of Waterford, Caledonia county, Vermont. There his early boyhood was passed. When about nine years old he moved with his father's family to Charleston, Orleans county, settling on the Clyde river in a dense wilderness, where he assisted in clearing a heavy timbered farm and building a home. It was a farm of a hundred acres, in addition to which his father owned two hundred acres of land covered with pine timber, and had a saw mill on the Clyde. Aaron received a common school education, necessarily limited, owing to his close occupation at home. Educated in the school of experience, he was prepared from boyhood for his future life as a pioneer.
Nothing very important took place with him until Elders Lyman E. Johnson and Orson Pratt, in the year 1832, came preaching Mormonism in his neighborhood. Aaron at once believed, and with his father's household embraced the faith. He was baptized by Elder Johnson and confirmed by Elder Pratt.
In the year 1837 he moved with his parents to Kirtland, Ohio, where he remained until the spring of 1838. He then started with his brother Lorin on foot for Far West, Missouri. Their purpose was to locate a new home for their parents. Soon after his arrival there, which was about the middle of June, Aaron was called by the Prophet Joseph Smith to accompany him and a few others into Daviess county to locate a settlement on Grand river. This led to the establishment of Adam-Ondi-Ahman. The same month, in company with three others, he went to Fort Leavenworth to find employment, and remained there four months, chopping wood and making brick, returning to Far West in February. By this time the mob troubles were over, barring the exodus of the Saints from the state, which took place that winter. Spring found the Farr family at Lima, Illinois, where they rented a farm. A year later they moved to Nauvoo. Aaron superintended his father's farm, and was thus engaged until 1842, when he was called by the Prophet to take a mission through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. He returned to Nauvoo about the middle of July, 1843, and remained there working upon the temple, improving the parental farm and sharing in the general experiences of his people.
On January 16, 1844, Aaron F. Farr married Persia Atherton at the Mansion House, Nauvoo, the ceremony being performed by the Prophet. This was only a few months before his martyrdom. The Farrs accompanied President Brigham Young in the exodus of 1846, and camped with him upon the Missouri river.
In February, 1847, Aaron was called to be one of the Pioneers, who were to precede the main body of the people farther West. His outfit consisted of a mule team and wagon, with farming utensils, seeds and provisions for two persons. His traveling companion was Nathaniel Fairbanks. He left another outfit, consisting of one wagon, two yoke of oxen and two cows, for his family, who were to follow in June.
The date of his departure from Winter Quarters was the 7th of April. While on the way up the Platte, his companion, Fairbanks, was bitten by a rattlesnake and came near losing his life. In ten minutes he lost the use of his limbs, and his foot and leg turned black to the knee. Mr. Farr and an associate carried him on their backs a mite and a half to camp, where his case was attended to, and with skillful nursing he rediscovered.
At the crossing of Green river, President Young deemed it advisable to send back a small detachment to pilot the oncoming emigration through the Black Hills. Aaron Farr and five others were selected for this duty. Sending his team and outfit on to Salt Lake valley, he and his party returned and met the advance company of emigrants—Daniel Spencer's hundred—about two hundred miles below Fort Laramie. He was assigned a position with his wagon and family in Ira Eldredge's fifty, and turning west once more, traveled on to the valley, arriving here on the 20th of September.
Immediately he prepared to make a home. He went to the canyon, got out logs, and soon erected a small house in the "middle fort." In the spring of 1848 he moved ten miles south, near Big Cottonwood, where he built the first log house. In the fall he returned to Salt Lake City and began building in the Seventeenth ward. There a portion of his family resided for many years.
Previous to the organization of the State of Deseret Mr. Farr was appointed by President Young to act as a civil magistrate. As such he transacted, he claims, the first judicial business in Utah. He has in his possession the docket of the court, opening with the year 1850. That same year he went with George A. Smith to Iron county, and there raised a crop of grain, returning in the fall to Salt Lake City.
At a special conference of the Church in 1852, Aaron Farr, with three other Elders—Darwin Richardson, A. B. Lambson and Jesse Tarpin—was given a mission to the West India Islands. Arriving at Jamaica, they hired a hall and attempted to preach, but were mobbed and opposed on every hand. The population was mostly colored, and there was no police protection. The persecution was so violent that it was thought advisable to return to America. Accordingly, as soon as an American ship arrived at the islands, they took passage for New York, where they arrived on the 18th of February, 1853.
Orson Pratt was then presiding over the Eastern States Mission, and Elder Farr was appointed by him to labor in the Northern states. This he did until the spring of 1854, when he was appointed to succeed Horace S. Eldredge in the presidency of the St. Louis conference. He himself was soon succeeded by Milo Andrus. Released to return, he arrived home on the 31st of October.
January 28, 1855, he entered into the order of plural marriage, his second wife, Lucretia Ball Thorpe, being married to him by President Brigham Young at Salt Lake City. The following year found him at Fillmore, acting as a deputy marshal, in attendance upon the Supreme Court of the Territory. The same year he went to Las Vegas, Arizona, on a colonizing mission, from which he returned in the fall.
March, 1857, witnessed his removal to Ogden, Weber county, which has ever since been his home. In the move following the "Echo Canyon war," he camped with the main body of the people on the Provo Bottoms, where he remained until after the U. S. peace commissioners and the Mormon leaders had met and settled the pending difficulty.
In January, 1859, he was elected by the Legislature probate judge of Weber county, which office he held until 1861, when he was succeeded by Hon. Francis A. Brown. In May, 1863, he succeeded Judge Brown in the same position, and from that time held the judgeship for Weber county until March, 1869, when he was succeeded by Hon. Franklin D. Richards. In the fall of that year he filled a short mission to the Eastern states, returning in the spring of 1870. In 1872 he represented Weber county in the lower house of the Legislature, and in 1873 served the county in the capacity of selectman. He was an alderman of Ogden city for a short time, to fill a vacancy in the council, and for many years held the office of city treasurer. This closed his public life. He next turned his attention to his private interests, such as farming, milling, and improving his city property. Judge Farr is the father of Hon. Aaron F. Farr, Jr., and Lucian Farr, of Logan, Cache county, and is father-in-law to Hon. Moses Thatcher of Salt Lake City.
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