JOSEPH M. FARLOW, a retired farmer and one of the representative men of, Anderson township, this county, a farmer all his active life and a citizen concerned all his days in promoting the best interests of his neighborhood, was born in Orange township, this county, July 22, 1841, a son of Hiram and Elizabeth (Townsend) Farlow. His father was born in North Carolina and in youth accompanied his parents as pioneers to Indiana, where his father, George Farlow, entered eighty acres of land in Orange township, Rush county. George Farlow built a log cabin and as Hiram grew older he assisted his father to clear the land. Hiram Farlow was married in Orange township to Elizabeth Townsend, who was born in Delaware, and eleven children were born to them, three of these surviving: Joseph M.; Reuben, who lives also in Anderson township; and Amilda, who became the wife of Donald Seeright. Hiram Farlow had few educational advantages but he was a man of energy and sound judgment. To his first purchase of land he added until he owned 240 acres and both he and his son Joseph M. cleared many wild tracts of land. The Farlows were among the earliest substantial settlers in Orange township. Joseph M. Farlow had early school privileges in Orange township and assisted his father on the home farm until his own marriage, when he began farming for himself, for the first year and a half renting land in Anderson township. He then moved back to Orange township, where he rented land for ten years, at the end of which time he bought 124 acres in Anderson township, in the course of years adding to his holdings until he owned 264 acres. He has, however, sold all but his original homestead, which he continued to operate until 1912, when he retired. He has a beautiful property which he has finely improved, having erected all the substantial structures on the place. He carried on diversified farming and it was his policy to feed his corn to hogs, usually from seventy-five to 100 head a year. The wife of Mr. Farlow died on March 13, 1918. Of their six children the following are living: Maude, who married Leroy Lines and has two children, June and Joseph; Sallie. who married Roy Carr, of Homer, and had two children, Lena and Don, the latter of whom died at the Great Lakes Naval Station; Ruby, who Edna, who married Clifford Powers and has one child, Jean. Mertie who married Mary Powers and has two children, Enid and Lois; and Edna, who married Clifford Powers and has one child, Jean. Mertie Farlow served as a captain in the Medical corps of the army during the World war and is still in the service, now attending )Valter Reid Medical college at Washington. Mr. Farlow is one of the older members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Milroy and has served on its official board. In political life he is a Democrat. He has always taken an interest in educational matters and for a long time served as school director in his home district.
