Buena Vista County, IA
USGenWeb Project

A. T. Farb, a retired agriculturist residing in Albert City, Iowa, was born in Sweden on the 10th of September, 1844.  When a young man of twenty-three years he crossed the Atlantic to the United States, wishing to take advantage of the broader business opportunities which he had heard the new world afforded.  After arriving in this country he first assisted in making an excavation for the Swedish church at Rockford, and with the money thus earned he purchased a tract of eighty acres of unimproved land in Nokomis township, Buena Vista county, in 1876.

During the first year of his residence here, while preparing his property for the purposes of cultivation, Mr. Farb operated a rented farm of thirty acres but lost the entire crop.  Nothing daunted, however, he worked on perseveringly and untiringly and success eventually crowned his efforts.  After residing on his farm for five years he sold the property and bought forty acres of land near Alta, where he resided for ten years.  On the expiration of that period he purchased two hundred and fifty acres of well improved land four miles north of Albert City, which he still owns, while his holdings also include forty acres near Albert City and one hundred and seventy-one acres in Clay county, Iowa.  The competence that now enables him to live retired has been won entirely by his own labor, for he did not have a cent when he arrived in Rockford.  He is well known and highly esteemed as one of the county's prosperous and public-spirited citizens and his record should serve as a source of inspiration and encouragement to others who are compelled to begin the battle of life without pecuniary assistance.

In the year 1882, at Rockford, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Farb and Miss Augusta Anderson, whose birth occurred in Sweden, May 27, 1847.  When twenty-five years of age she emigrated to the United States but her passage was not paid until after her marriage to our subject.  Their family numbers seven children, namely:  Selma, the wife of Emil Peterson, who is engaged in farming near Marathon, Iowa; William, a resident of Spencer; Annie, the wife of Frank Youngquist, who follows agricultural pursuits near Marathon, Iowa; Nellie, the wife of Carl Johnson, who follows farming near Albert City, Iowa; Carl, a photographer; Oscar, who is assistant postmaster at Albert City; and Edwin, at home.

Mr. Farb is a stanch [sic] republican in his political views and for a number of years served as school director.  He is a devoted and faithful member of the Swedish Lutheran church, the teachings of which he exemplifies in his daily life.  For almost a third of a century he has now been a resident of this county and his upright and honorable manhood has won for him the warm regard of all with whom he has been associated.