Elmer Frost Farnham was born on January 21, 1893, in the Collinsville section of Canton, Connecticut, the son of Charles A. and Sarah (Beckwith) Farnham, and received his early education in the Canton public schools. He graduated from Collinsville High School in 1911 and then from the Connecticut Agricultural College, now the University of Connecticut, in 1915. In 1917 he enlisted in the Officers Training Corps program and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 303rd Field Artillery during World War I. He was discharged in 1919.
In the early 1920s Mr. Farnham was a tobacco grower in Simsbury and South Windsor, Connecticut . He moved to Norwich, Connecticut, in 1927 and worked as a security salesman with the Aspinook Company in Jewett City, Connecticut . By the late 1930s and early 1940s he was a clerk with the Selective Service System board, until 1947.
In 1952 he joined the Editorial staff of the Norwich Bulletin and retired in 1964. After his retirement he was a features writer at the paper. In 1973 his book The Quickest Route, A History of the Norwich & Worcester Railroad was published by Pequot Press.
Elmer F. Farnham married Frances Murphy on July 1, 1922. He had two daughters, Jane and Elinor, and one son, David. He died on November 11, 1974, in Backus Hospital in Norwich, Connecticut .
From the guide to the Elmer F. Farnham Railroad Collection., undated, 1966., (Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center .)
