EBENEZER CLINTON FARLEY

 Bio- Pen Pictures
SURNAMES:  SMITH, HILLS, WYMAN, MOORE, COOK,

son of Ebenezer and Eliza Minerva (Smith) Farley, was born near St. Joseph, Berrien County, Michigan, May 20, 1844. His ancestor, George Farley, was a native of England, where, in Warwickshire, and on the Medway, in Kent County, the family had long been seated. The name of Farley is a very old one in England, is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and was originally spelled Ffar-Lea, the name being in two parts, and meaning a people living far inland, " far from the sea." In those days all names had a meaning.
        At the time of the Norman Conquest (A. D. 1066) the Farleys were living on the Medway, where a Castle Farleigh, built by them, can still be seen.  About this time a portion of the family emigrated to, and located in, the Province of Connaught, in the north of Ireland, and their descendants, as well as those of Kent County, England, can be found all over the United States to-day. George Farley came to Massachusetts and located in Roxbury, now a part of Boston, in 1640. In 1641 he removed to Woburn, Massachusetts, where he married Christiana Births, April 9, 1641. He died December 27, 1693, and his wife died March 27, 1702. He was a clothier, was one of the early Baptists, and a member of the church in Boston. In 1653 he removed to Billerica, Massachusetts, where he lived until his death. The name of Farley does not appear in the Billerica records after the year 1765. George had six children, among whom was Caleb, born April 1, 1645. Caleb married Rebecca Hills, July 5, 1666; she died March 29, 1669, and November 3, 1669, he married Lydia Moore. By his first wife he had two children, and by his second wife eight, of whom Joseph was one, born April 6, 1683. Joseph married Abigail Cook, May 8, 1712, and had nine children, of whom Ebenezer was one, born May 15, 1731. Joseph lived all his life in Billerica, and died there, December 19, 1752, and his wife, Abigail, died January 18, 1753, aged sixty-four.

        Ebenezer was also born in Billerica, and married Hepzibah Wyman, October 15, 1755, and removed to Hollis, New Hampshire, where he died, February 2, 1818; his wife died in July, 1812, aged eighty-four years. They had six children, of whom Amos was one, born August 15, 1768. Amos was born in Hollis, and when a young man removed to Springfield, Vermont, where he married Lucy Hall, a native of Springfield, December 23, 1800. In 1803 he removed to Stanstead, Canada, just north of the Vermont line, and lived there until 1815, when, fearing that he might be impressed into the British service, returned to Vermont; but before he reached Springfield, he learned of the news of peace, but concluded not to return to Canada. He visited his relatives in New Hampshire, and then emigrated to Geauga County, Ohio, arriving in Painesville, October 3, 1815. He lived in Geauga County until 1830, when he removed to Berrien Springs, Berrien County, Michigan, where he died May 9, 1837, and his wife died September 24, 1854. They had nine children, of whom Ebenezer, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Stanstead, Canada, January 9, 1811. He lived with his father until he removed to Michigan, where he located on a quarter section of government land, on the St. Joseph River, about midway between Berrien Springs and St. Joseph, and December 31, 1840, was married to Eliza Minerva Smith, a daughter of Major Timothy S. Smith, of St. Joseph, Michigan. She was born in Fort Defiance, Ohio, February 14, 1822, and now lives in Gilroy, California. He came to California with his family, across the plains, in 1854, and located on a farm about three miles east of Alvarado, in Alameda County, where he remained until the fall of 1858, when he purchased a small-fruit farm, near Alvarado, where he lived until his death, August 8, 1879.

        He had eight children, of whom Ebenezer Clinton, the subject, was one, who came to California with his father when ten years old, and has resided here ever since. He was raised a farmer, was educated in the public schools of Alameda County, and at the old Oakland College School, since merged into the State University. He attended this college during the year 1861, and from January to May, 1863, attended the State Normal School, then, in its infancy, located on Fourth Street, near Market, in San Francisco. This was the last school that he attended. In June, 1864, he went to Tulare County, where he remained four months, and then returned home. November 23, 1864, he enlisted in San Jose, in Company C, Eighth Cali­fornia Infantry, for three years, and was located at Fort Point, California. He served as a private, and was mustered out with his regiment at Fort Point, October 24, 1865, pursuant to General order No. 19, Department of California, dated October 16, 1865.

        Soon after his return home he became a clerk in a general merchandise store in Alvarado, where he remained about six months. During the years 1867 and 1868 he was employed a great portion of the time by E. H. Dyer, of Alvarado, writing up government surveys for him, and afterwards recopying them in the United States Surveyor-General's office- in San Francisco for the General Land Office. In 1867 he was Secretary of the Democratic County Convention of Alameda County. In January, 1869, he went again to Tulare County, where he remained till November, when he returned to Alvarado. On February 16, 1871, he was appointed Deputy County Clerk of Alameda County, and was continued in the same capacity by J. V. B. Goodrich and Charles G. Reed, the succeeding County Clerks. He remained in the Clerk's office until March, 1880, the last four years being Clerk to the Board of Supervisors. In 1872 he was a delegate to the Democratic State Convention, held in San Francisco, which indorsed the nomination of Horace Greeley for the presidency.

        Upon his retirement from the Clerk's office he returned to Alvarado, where he remained nearly two years, farming and raising fruit on the old homestead. In September, 1880, he bought a tract of eighteen acres of land about a mile north of Los Gatos, in Santa Clara County, and in February following planted about ten acres of it to fruit-trees of various kinds. In October, 1881, he built his present house, and January to, 1882, moved into it. On January 8, 1883, he was appointed Under Sheriff by B. F. Branham, Sheriff of Santa Clara County, and remained with him four years. In January, 1887, he returned to his ranch at Los Gatos. He was a candidate for the office of County Recorder, on the Democratic ticket, in 1873 and 1875, and a candidate on the same ticket for County Clerk of Alameda County in 1880. He is a member of Crusade Lodge, No. 93, I. O. O. F., at Alvarado, and a member and Past Post Com­mander of E. O. C. Ord Post, No. 82, G. A. R., of Los Gatos. Was married at Oakland, California, November 28, 1878, to Ettie Eloise Emlay, a native of Jackson, Michigan, where she was born February 13, 1859. In politics Mr. Farley is a Democrat, as his father and grandfather were before him.

Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888.

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