Alexander Farnham was born in January 1834 in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, to John P. Farnham and Mary Steere. His father was a “lumberman” who owned $20,000 of real estate by 1850. He grew up and attended school in Pennsylvania before enrolling at the State and National Law School in Ballston Spa, New York. He graduated in 1852, and he was admitted to the bar three years later. He earned a living as a lawyer in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
In 1862, he served as a sergeant in Company H of the 3rd Pennsylvania Militia Infantry. Then, in June 1863, he received a commission as a 1st lieutenant in Company K of the 30th Pennsylvania Militia Infantry. He served as aide-de-camp and acting assistant adjutant general on the staff of Colonel William Brisbane. He mustered out on July 26, 1863.
He returned to Carbondale after leaving the army, and he resumed his work as a lawyer. He married Emily Augusta Dorrance on July 18, 1865, and they had at least two children: John, born around 1867; and Hamilton, born around 1877. By 1870, he owned $40,000 of real estate and $10,500 of personal property, and he employed an Irish “house servant.”
He supported the Republican Party. In 1870, he ran unsuccessfully for the office of district attorney. He ran again three years later, and this time he was elected. He served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1880 and 1892. In 1892, he was elected president of the Wilkes-Barre Law and Library Association. His wife died on February 7, 1909, and he died of bronchopneumonia in Wilkes-Barre on February 9, 1920.
Image: Alexander Farnham (Proceedings and Collections of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society)