Columbia, SC 29208, United States
James Farrow graduated from South Carolina College (present-day University of South Carolina) in 1847.
Columbia, SC 29208, United States
James Farrow graduated from South Carolina College (present-day University of South Carolina) in 1847.
congressman editor lawyer politician
James Farrow was born on April 3, 1827, in Laurens, South Carolina, United States. He was the son of Samuel Farrow and Jane Strather James Farrow. His father was a lieutenant governor and, later, a state legislator from Spartanburg District.
James Farrow was educated at Laurens Male Academy and graduated from South Carolina College (present-day University of South Carolina) in 1847. Afterward, he read law under William D. Simpson.
James Farrow practiced law and edited a secessionist paper in South Carolina. Farrow, who said that he had been an "extreme disunionist" for all of his adult life, was a member of the Bluffton Movement in the mid-1840s and defended the radical students of South Carolina College in the 1850s. In the summer of 1861, along with Simpson Bobo and Reverend N. P. Walker, President Davis appointed him to sell Confederate bonds.
Farrow also represented South Carolina’s Fifth Congressional District in the Confederate Congress. He was elected to the first Confederate House, and in 1863, he defeated James P. Boyce for reelection to that body. He served on the Claims and Medical Department Committees during both House terms.
In addition, he served on the Accounts, Commerce, and Deceased Soldiers’ Claims Committees during his second term. Only he and William D. Simpson of the South Carolina delegation voted to arm the slaves in February 1865. Farrow was also a lieutenant colonel in the South Carolina Militia during the war but saw little service.
When the war ended, he returned to Spartanburg to practice law. He was a delegate to the state convention in 1865, the same year in which the Fourth District elected him to the state legislature, where he was an ally of James L. Orr. In 1866, he was a delegate to the National Unionist party convention, where he made a speech entitled "The State of Public Affairs," in which he justified his attempts to counter the inhibiting influence of the radical Reconstructionists on Southern politics.
In 1870 he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and served as a county judge. He returned to South Carolina in 1875 and became president of Laurens Female College. After several years, he reestablished a successful law practice and in 1884 was elected to South Carolina's House, where he served for one term.
James Farrow fought to maintain state subsidies for South Carolina College. He was rewarded with a seat on its board of trustees.
Farrow's CS congressional service has been characterized as "an example of South Carolina moderation." He was one of the four South Carolina men elected to the United States Congress.
Farrow was elected as a delegate to the 1852 convention, where he voted for the ordinance declaring South Carolina's right of secession.
James Farrow opposed the suspension of habeas corpus but supported Davis' other efforts to consolidate administrative and military power to manage the war. Farrow especially supported measures for soldier's medical care and furloughs.
Farrow was married twice. He married in 1850, Caroline P. Henry. The couple had at least one child: Florence. After the death of his first wife, he married in 1868, Susan Savage. The couple got at least two children: Perrin and Sue.
