The Farnsworth Family

“It takes a hand to build a house but only hearts can build a home.”

Author Unknown

The Farnsworth Years

Lincoln Park clearly entranced Edwin Fowler, leading him to build his home at its edge and to design houses of architectural merit in the surrounding blocks, but the statue of Abraham Lincoln within the park would hold great meaning for the family who purchased the Fowler house after its creator’s passing.

John Franklin Farnsworth (b. 1820 in Canada) moved to Chicago from Michigan and was elected to Congress as a Republican Representative from Illinois in 1856 after leaving the Democratic Party (Fig. 18).  Farnsworth befriended former Illinois Representative Abraham Lincoln, advising him during the Lincoln-Douglas Senatorial debates in 1858 and nominating Lincoln for the Presidency of the United States. After losing reelection, Farnsworth left Congress to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War, where he reached the rank of brigadier general.  Farnsworth led the 8 Illinois Calvary at President Lincoln’s request, fighting in the Peninsula Campaign, Battle of Williamsburg, Seven Days Battle and Maryland Campaign.

The nephew of John Franklin Farnsworth, Elon J. Farnsworth, also distinguished himself in battle during the Civil War – although he met a tragic end.  A newly-named brigadier general (thanks to the political influence of his uncle), Elon Farnsworth led Union troops to the Battle of Gettysburg after serving with merit through the early days of the war.  On the third day at Gettysburg, Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, a brevet major general, ordered Farnsworth and his brigade to charge Confederate soldiers although success seemed improbable.[3]  Farnsworth initially rejected the order given the odds, then agreed when Kilpatrick implied cowardice, saying, “General, if you order the charge I will lead it, but you must take the awful responsibility.”[4]  Elon Farnsworth was shot five times and died, and Kilpatrick was criticized for ordering the reckless maneuver after first manipulating his official report to place the blame on Farnsworth.[5]

John Franklin Farnsworth returned to Congress in 1863, later serving as the Chairman of the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads and voting in favor of President Andrew Johnson’s impeachment.[6]  Farnsworth’s allegiance to Lincoln and the Lincoln family went beyond politics to a loyal friendship.  After Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theatre, Farnsworth kept vigil at the President’s deathbed with other close friends, advisors and family, and when Lincoln’s body was moved to the White House, Farnsworth was in a small handful of outsiders allowed to enter the premises.

The New York Times, April 16, 1865:    “Surrounding the death bed of the President were Secretaries Stanton, Welles, Usher, Attorney-General Speed, Postmaster-General Dennison, M.B. Field, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury; Judge Otto, Assistant Secretary of the Interior; Gen. Halleck, Gen. Meigs, Senator Sumner, R.F. Andrews, of New-York; Gen. Todd, of Dacotah; John Hay, Private Secretary; Gov. Oglesby, of Illinois; Gen Farnsworth, Mr. and Miss Kenney, Miss Harris, Capt. Robert Lincoln, son of the President, and Doctors E.W. Abbott, R.K. Stone, C.D. Gatch, Neal Hall, and Mr. Lieberman. Secretary McCulloch remained with the President until about 5 o’clock, and Chief Justice Chase, after several hours’ attendance during the night, returned early this morning.”

After losing reelection in 1872, John Franklin Farnsworth moved to Chicago to practice law.  In 1875, Lincoln’s widow, Mary Todd Lincoln, was involuntarily committed to a sanitarium in Illinois by her son following several years in a delicate mental condition and a breakdown.  Mrs. Lincoln was released from her confinement that year after she sent letters pleading for help to family friends such as John Franklin Farnsworth, who traveled from Chicago to visit the former President’s widow at the sanitarium.

Farnsworth returned to Washington in 1880 to continue his legal work.  He appears in the city directory for that year in residence at 112 C Street, NW, but he moved to 50 B Street, NE (now Constitution Avenue) by 1882.  Located directly across the street from the Capitol, the house was likely a refined residence.  By 1886, John Franklin Farnsworth was joined at the home by his 31-year-old son, also named John, who is listed as an engineer on the city directory, and John’s wife, Mary Henderson Farnsworth, who census records show he married that same year (Mary’s father, Thomas Jefferson Henderson, lived around the corner from John Franklin Farnsworth).  The census notes that the elder John would soon share his home with five grandchildren as well – Gertrude (born 1889), John (born 1891), Eunice (born 1892), Thomas (born 1895), and Virginia (born 1897).  Mary Farnsworth is also noted on the 1900 census as having given birth to two additional children who were no longer alive as of that year.

Father, son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren continued to share the house until the elder John died at their residence on July 14, 1897 at the age of seventy-seven. Farnsworth succumbed to an attack of the grip following lung trouble according to his obituary and was buried in St. Charles, Illinois.  The younger John continued to make his home at 50 B Street, NE and was listed as a clerk at the United States Treasury beginning with the 1900 city directory.  By the 1900 census, the home was also inhabited by Mary Clark Farnsworth (79-year-old widow of John Franklin Farnsworth) and a white 26-year-old servant from Virginia named Alice Weaver.

It is probable that Congressional expansion forced young John Farnsworth and his large family to relocate from 50 B Street, NE.  In 1901, Congress authorized the Architect of the Capitol to begin plans for two office buildings to serve the House of Representatives and the Senate so that overcrowding of office space in the Capitol itself could be relieved. The Senate building site was chosen in 1903 by the Senate Office Building Commission, and the land selected (at the corner of Constitution Avenue and First Street, NE) was occupied by the Farnsworth home and other residences.  Later named the Russell Building, this first office building for Senators and their staffs was designed by John Carrère in 1904, while Carrère’s architectural partner, Thomas Hastings, designed a near identical House version (later named the Cannon Building) on the other side of the Capitol  Thus, by 1904, the Farnsworth family was likely searching for a new home with plans afoot for demolition of their present residence.

Edwin Fowler had died that year, and his wife, Martha, may have desired to sell their house quickly.  Martha Fowler was never listed in the city directory as a widow (as was common practice if the widow remained in Washington) after her husband’s death, evidencing that she left the area altogether, perhaps to return to New Hampshire.  The Farnsworth family purchased the Fowler home and appears at the address in city directories beginning in 1906.  The reason for this particular choice of house is unknown, but the location was significant.  With the elder John a close confidante of Lincoln, a residence that fronted Lincoln Park and provided a view of Lincoln’s statue from the front window was certainly a meaningful connection to the prominence of the late John Franklin Farnsworth.

John and Mary Farnsworth slightly expanded the former Fowler residence soon after their arrival, not startling if they had upwards of seven people under one roof.  On July 22, 1905, John Farnsworth applied for a building permit to construct a 20 x 20 rear addition on the third story of the house (which had not previously extended as far back as the lower two stories), specifying that the addition would be used for a bath and living space.  Farnsworth would also request a building permit in 1920 to install a new floor on the side porch and to make repairs to the back fence and shed.  A garage was added in 1924 at the rear of the property.  John Franklin Farnsworth’s large and elaborately painted safe was also placed in the basement of the home (where it still resides – unopened – today), and it was likely brought to the home upon relocation from 50 B Street, NE.

Just as John Farnsworth was the child of a former Member of Congress with connections to Lincoln and noteworthy Civil War service, so was his wife, Mary.  Mary Farnsworth’s father, Thomas Jefferson Henderson, was a member of the Illinois State House of Representatives and State Senate.  While a member of the legislature, Henderson received a letter from Lincoln requesting Henderson’s support for a Senate race.  Lincoln would lose the Senate candidacy but would go on to thank Henderson for his support in letters.  As the Civil War was breaking out, Henderson spoke across his county, urging enlistments and asking citizens to stand by President Lincoln.  Henderson enlisted as well, becoming a colonel.  Henderson and his men fought at the front lines in Georgia and Tennessee, with Henderson severely wounded at the latter but returning to battle after recuperation to become a general.  Following the war, Henderson practiced law in Illinois before being chosen as the United States Collector of Internal Revenue for the fifth Illinois district.  Henderson was elected to Congress in 1874 and served for twenty years until he was defeated in 1894.

Following his Congressional career, Henderson served on the Board of Ordnance and Fortifications, whose meeting brought him to Washington in February of 1911.  Henderson took ill while in the city and sought recovery at the home of his daughter at the Fowler House.  Though it is not known how long Henderson was in residence there, it is known that he died in the home on February 5, 1911 from pleural pneumonia.[17]  The home’s connection to Henderson as his place of death is important.  While a Member of Congress, Henderson is listed in the city directory as having lived at 210 North Capitol Street, 211 North Capitol Street, 213 North Capitol Street, and 52 B Street, NE (next door to the Farnsworths).  The houses on North Capitol Street were demolished for green space, and as we have seen, the block including the B Street home was razed for the Russell Senate Office Building.  Therefore, it is possible that the Fowler House is the only remaining building in Washington with a residential connection to Thomas Jefferson Henderson.

John and Mary Farnsworth’s son, Thomas Farnsworth, died in 1918.  Stationed in France, Lieutenant Farnsworth was shot down during an air battle with German planes over Bois du Fey during World War I.  News reached the Farnsworth household on Capitol Hill in a letter from Mary Farnsworth’s nephew, Lewis Rockwell, stationed in the vicinity and witness to the air fight.[18]  Details on the deaths of John and Mary Farnsworth were not found, but tax assessments indicate that 1126 East Capitol Street, NE had passed to daughters Gertrude and Eunice by 1936.  Eunice continued to live in the home for several decades, selling it to Joel and Valerie Truitt in the mid-1970’s, who then sold the property to current owner Joseph Molina in 1984.

Prepared by Amanda Rockwell Molson

April 2007

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