Company History: A. B. Farquhar
(Page 2 of 8)
September/October 1992
Gail E. Knauer
On September 26, 1860, A. B. married Elizabeth Jessop, with
whose family he had been staying since coming to York. Her
grandfather, Jonathan Jessop, a clock-maker, was famous for
developing the York Imperial apple. Jessop also gave a leg up to
his clock making apprentice, Phineas Davis, who developed the
'York,' the first coal-burning steam locomotive in the
United States. With such friends as these, A. B. Farquhar was
destined to become an important force in local industry.
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With the Civil War approaching, business was slow for the
Pennsylvania Agricultural Works. Added to this, upon returning from
a sales trip A. B. found that the factory had burned down. The
company had little insurance, and it was a near-total loss. The
partnership with Dingee was dissolved, and A. B. restarted the
company as sole proprietor.
To keep the business going during the war, Farquhar traveled to
Washington and secured a government contract to supply chairs and
stretchers for hospitals during the conflict.
The city of York found itself in a difficult position during the
Civil War. Many of its manufactories and enterprises did a great
deal of business throughout the South, owing to York's location
so close to Baltimore, Maryland, and to major trade routes to the
south. Politically conservative Democrats, the voters of the city
had voted against Lincoln in his bid for the White House.
In the summer of 1863, as Confederate troops were advancing
closer to Pennsylvania, York's prominent businessmen had formed
a Committee of Safety, of which A. B. Farquhar was a member. A. B.
proposed a meeting between the committee and the approaching
Confederate generals, to work out terms under which the city could
be spared the destruction which had occurred in other Northern
towns which had been 'visited' by the Southern troops. The
Committee of Safety nixed Farquhar's idea, seeing it as too
direct and simple a plan to work. Undeterred, Farquhar took it upon
himself to ride out and strike a deal with Confederate General John
B. Gordon. It was agreed that York would be spared major damage to
property as long as the citizens honored Gordon's requisitions
for supplies for his troops. Upon hearing of Farquhar's success
with Gordon, the Committee of Safety then sent a group of men to
meet with Gordon and make the agreement official.
The city was relatively spared, especially after Gen. Gordon and
Gen. Jubal Early were ordered to Gettysburg. Farquhar himself went
to Gettysburg, where he worked with the hospital service taking
care of the wounded after the battle there.
As a result of his negotiations with Gen. Gordon, Farquhar was
looked on by many as being a Rebel sympathizer, having opened the
negotiations. He was accused in essence of 'selling out'
the town. This situation caused Farquhar so much distress that he
went to Washington to meet with President Lincoln and find out if
the president thought he had done the right thing. Lincoln
indicated that Farquhar had indeed done the honorable thing.
Nonetheless, Farquhar was still occasionally ridiculed by certain
townspeople for some time after the end of the war.
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