Herbert Hamilton Farr

Herbert Hamilton Farr, of Cleveland, formerly engaged in marine engineering, is a young man who has attained to a position of high responsibility in the employ of a great establishment, being chief engineer of the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company. He was born at Portsmouth, Va., August 15, 1869, the son of Jacob W. Farr, a prosperous farmer, and obtained his education in the schools of Canada and the United States. He began sailing the lakes at the age of sixteen, having previously spent two years in a machine shop in Lockport, N.Y., in the spring of 1885 shipping as fireman on the steamer Avon, of the Erie line. The season of 1886 he spent on the laketug Onaping, and the following year he was oiler on the steamer Gogebic. The seasons of 1888 and 1889 he was employed in a similar capacity on the steamer Owego. He was fireman and oiler on the steamer Annie Young during the season of 1890 up to October 20, the day she burned and sank in Lake Huron; nine of her men were lost at this time, Mr. Farr and a few others being rescued by the steamer Edward Smith, after a very narrow escape. Mr. Farr completed that season laying up vessels for the Anchor line at Buffalo, opening the season of 1891 as oiler on the steamer Boston, of the Western Transit line, and finishing that year as second assistant engineer on the steamer Cayuga, of the Lehigh Valley line. In 1892 he was assistant engineer on the steamer Continental for a time, finishing the season as assistant on the side-wheel steamer Corona, of Buffalo. During the season of 1893 he was second engineer of the steamer Marquette, and the Corona commanded his services during the following season with the exception of a few trips made in the steamer John W. Moore. This marked his retirement from active sailing, and on December 14, 1894, he commenced the work of helping to install the plant of the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, on Canal street. On March 15, 1895, he became chief engineer of this great establishment, retaining this position up to the present time.

On April 29, 1896, Mr. Farr was married to Miss Jane May McAnley, of Cleveland, who was born in Lawton, Mich. Her father was a lake captain during his early manhood, and one of her brothers, H.T. McAnley is well known among the engineers along the lakes.

Return to Home Port

Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.