Almira Ames Farnham papers

Collection — Folder: 1

Identifier: IWA0105

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This four-page biographical sketch was found among Edith Miller's papers. It is undated but chronicles the period from 1800 to 1896. The biographical sketch describes the life of Almira Ames Farnham as related by her granddaughter, Leslie Dunn.

Dates

Creation: 1896

Creator

Farnham, Almira Ames, 1800-1896 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The memoir is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright held by the donor has been retained by the donor.

However, copyright status for some collection materials may be unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owner. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility and potential liability based on copyright infringement for any use rests exclusively and solely with the user. Users must properly acknowledge the Iowa Women’s Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries, as the source of the material. For further information, visit https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc/services/rights/

Biographical / Historical

Almira Ames Farnham was born in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1800. She married John Farnham at the age of twenty-five but was widowed fourteen years later, leaving her with five children. Later the family moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, where several of the children worked in the mills while Farnham took in boarders. Two of these boarders, Tom Hall and Tom Dunn, eventually married into the family.

In 1855, several members of the family, including Farnham, traveled to Minnesota to homestead. A financial panic in 1857 caused foreclosure on the land owned by Dunn and Hall. In response, most of the family members decided to move to Colorado. Upon hearing reports of Indian uprisings, however, the caravan stopped in Iowa, and the family decided to settle there. In later years, Farnham alternated living with her son Hiram Farnham's family, near Morley, Iowa, and her daughter Mary Dunn's family north of Anamosa. She died at Dunn's house on June 8, 1896.