Warren County Biographies
Dr. Moses Constantine Farrar
Dr M C Farrar, of Healdsburg, is a native of Vermont, born at Fairfax, Franklin County, July 23, 1830, his parents being James and Diana (Chappel) Farrar, the former a native of Vermont, and the latter of Canada.
When the subject of this sketch was but one year old, his parents moved to Strawbridge, Lower Canada, and six years later, to Highgate, Vermont. When he had reached the age of sixteen years he went to live with his uncle, at St Johns, Lower Canada, He afterward located at Geddesburg, New York, where he resumed the study of medicine, began in Vermont.
In 1859 he came to California, via Panama, arriving at San Francisco November 28. He soon went to Amador County, where he practiced his profession and resided near Jackson for about a year and a half. He then went to the Caribou country, British Columbia, remaining one summer, then returning to San Francisco.
From 1862 to 1869 he followed mining and practiced medicine in Idaho, Washington Territory and eastern Oregon, He then located in Humboldt County, bought a ranch, opened a drug store, and attended to both interests, as well as practicing his profession, until coming to Healdsburg in 1881. He still retains a ranch and herds of sheep at his old home.
The year after coming to Healdsburg, he bought a ranch of twenty-one acres in Alexander Valley, on which he has made many improvements. There are seven acres of fruit, planted in 1884, the varieties being pears, peaches, apples, apricots, prunes, etc. All the trees are in good condition and now coming into bearing. About thirteen are in vines, from three to five years old. They are Mataro and Zinfandel.
Dr Farrar was married in Oregon to Miss Sarah Kniss, a native of Ohio. They have one child, Theodosia. The doctor is a member of the IOOF, AF & AM, and K of P. In the Masonic order he has progressed as far as Chancellor Commander of the Knights Templar. Politically, he is a Republican.
Since coming to California the doctor has attended lectures at the best medical colleges on the Pacific coast. He graduated at the Medical College of the Pacific November 3, 1873, and his diploma from the Cooper Medical College bears the date November 4, 1882.
Source: "Illustrated History of Sonoma County, California", Chicago, Ill.: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1889. pp 503
Comments by C. Nagy - January 29, 2008
I was doing some research on your site and found the Warrensburg Cemetery book. Noticed the note on Martha K (Kesiah) Harrington Farrar saying she was widowed on the 1860 Census. Well, to tell you the truth, her husband, Moses Constantine Farrar, ran off to California. He then wound up "stealing" the wife of Michael Kniss: Sarah A Rhodes, the sister of my gggrandfather, Samuel Rhodes. Moses married Sarah in 1869 and settled in Ferndale, Humboldt Co, California and had one child, Theodosia.