Nathan Farwell, courtesy Maine State Archives
(1812-1893), a U. S. Senator from Maine and cousin of Owen Lovejoy, was born in Unity on February 24, 1812.
He attended the common schools; taught school (1832-1833), moved to East Thomaston in 1834, and was involved in the manufacture of lime and in shipbuilding.
Later, Farwell became a master mariner and trader, studied law, and moved to Rockland, where he founded the Rockland Marine Insurance Company.
Farwell served as a member of the Maine State Senate (1853-1854, 1861-1862), the last year as its presiding officer. (See his Senate President photo at left.)
He was a member of the Maine House of Representatives (1860, 1863-1864).
Nathan Farwell, courtesy Maine State Museum
Farwell was appointed, and subsequently elected as, a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William Pitt Fessenden.
He served from October 27, 1864, to March 3, 1865; he was not a candidate for reelection in 1865.
Farwell resumed his activities in the insurance business, was a delegate to the Southern Loyalists Convention at Philadelphia in 1866, and died in Rockland on December 9, 1893, with interment in Achorn Cemetery.