Charles B. Farwell

Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives four times beginning in 1870, winning his first election to the House by a healthy margin over Chicago's "Long" John Wentworth (by some 5700 votes). Farwell went on to serve in the House of Representatives in the 42nd, 43rd, 44th and 47th Congresses.[6] In 1876, the Democrat-controlled Congress accepted John V. Le Moyne's challenge to Farwell's election and removed Farwell from office; Farwell declined to run again at the time of the general election later on in 1876. In 1880, he was elected to another term in Congress (the 47th Congress). Upon the death of John A. Logan in 1887, Farwell was elected to serve out Logan's term in the U.S. Senate, but refused to run for re-election to a full term.[7]

Significantly, in Farwell's first term as Senator, he supported the introduction of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would have granted women's suffrage rights (the right to vote) - simultaneously a landmark achievement of and a setback in the long struggle for voting rights for women that would not be overcome until the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920.[4]

In 1879, Farwell and his brother John were part of a group of Illinois businessmen and politicians responsible for construction of the Texas State Capitol building. The Farwell's reward for this was to become owners of over 3 million acres of land in Texas, upon which they founded the XIT Ranch. The city of Farwell, Texas is named for the Farwell brothers.[8]

Through his daughter Anna, he was a grandfather of Ethel Leroy De Koven (1885–1943), who married broker Hans Kierstede Hudson.[25] Through his daughter Grace, he was a grandfather of Grace Farwell McGann (1907–1949), who married James H. Douglas Jr., the Secretary of the Air Force and the Deputy Secretary of Defense (his father helped found the Quaker Oats Company).[26]

Through his youngest daughter Rose, he was a grandfather of four: Adelaide Chatfield-Taylor (1891–1982), who was awarded a Croix de Guerre for her work running a canteen in Boston during World War II,[27] (grandmother of politician and businesswoman Meg Whitman);[28] Wayne Chatfield-Taylor (1893–1967), who served as Under Secretary of Commerce and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under President Franklin D. Roosevelt;[29] and Otis Chatfield-Taylor (1899–1948),[30] a writer, playwright, editor, theatrical producer;[31][32][33] and Robert Farwell Chatfield-Taylor (1908–1980).[34]

In 1876, at his wife's urging, Farwell underwrote the construction of College Hall, North Hall and a gymnasium at Lake Forest College.[9] The couple also donated additional land to the college which had been struggling since the end of the Civil War.[35] Part of their philanthropy was to ensure a co-ed liberal arts college near home for their daughter, Anna, who graduated from Lake Forest College in 1880. Anna later married the composer Reginald de Koven, and became a successful socialite, novelist and amateur historian. His daughter Rose was married to Hobart Chatfield-Taylor.[36]