J. G. Farhner, one of the business men of Redding, California, was born in Pennsylvania, June 16, 1848. His parents, Jacob and Elizabeth (Rohm) Farhner, were both of German ancestry, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of Pennsylvania. Grandfather Farhner and grandfather Jacob Rohm emigrated from Germany to this country. The subject of this sketch is the oldest son and third child of a family of ten children, seven of whom are now living. He was educated in Illinois, and learned the trade of carriage and wagon-maker in Missouri, to which State his father had moved.

April 14, 1876, Mr. Farhner came to California and settled at Shasta. He carried on business there for four years; then removed to Redding and conducted a wagon and carriage-making business and also undertaking. In 1882 he was elected Coroner and Administrator of the County, on the Democratic ticket. In 1888 he purchased a furniture store. The latter part of that year he was one of the organizers of the Redding Planing Mill Company, which he is now running, and in connection with it is doing contracting and building. He has erected most of the best buildings in the city, including the following: Good Templar’s Hall, I.O.O.F. Hall, Golden Eagle Hotel, McCormick & Saeltzer’s store, and the Bank of Northern California. He is an Odd Fellow, a member of the Encampment of the K. and P., and a member of the A.O.U.W. He is also a member of the G.A.R., having served in the Fifty-eighth Illinois Infantry under General A. J. Smith.

Mr. Farhner was married in 1872, to Miss Amanda Lovina Lockridge, a native of Illinois. They have four children, the first born in Missouri, and the others in California, viz.: Lora, Myrta, Ambrose and Emory. Mr. Farhner has built himself a comfortable home, in which he resides with his family. By his fellow-citizens he is regarded as an active business man, full of push and energy.

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler, July 2004.
SOURCE: Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1891. pg. 300-301.