This is a transcription of the Ellen Frances (Burpee) Farr biography from New Hampshire Women: A Collection of Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Daughters and Residents of the Granite State, Who are Worthy Representatives of their Sex in the Various Walks and Conditions of Life, The New Hampshire Publishing Co., Concord, NH, 1895, page 155.
Ellen Frances (Burpee) Farr
ELLEN FRANCES BURPEE FARR was born in New Hampton, November 14, 1840, and was the only daughter of Augustus and Sarah Glines (Robinson) Burpee. She was educated in the New Hampton Institution and at Thetford (Vermont) Academy, returning at the age of eighteen to fill the position of teacher of drawing in the New Hampton Institution. The 19th of May, 1861, she was married to Capt. Evarts W. Farr of the Second Regiment Volunteers, then in camp at Portsmouth, and in a few days he marched to the field of battle where the next four years were spent, with only occasional visits home on account of disabilities. His record for bravery and his distinguished services for his state are well known, and his early death while a member of congress was widely mourned. As a resident of Littleton, Mrs. Farr was actively interested in every movement for the social, educational, and material improvement of the people, and contributed largely for their advancement. She inherited literary and artistic talents of a high order, and during her residence in Washington was a pupil of L. M. D. Guillaume, the celebrated French artist, and other noted instructors, and after the death of Major Farr she adopted the profession of an artist and has been recognized as a superior painter in her line. She has been a resident of Pasadena, Cal., for ten years, and her originality and poetic talent, added to her artistic ability, have made her a leader in social affairs. She is especially proud of having translated the letters and papers from the French engineers that were of great assistance to Mr. Marsh while building the Mount Washington Railway. She was officially connected with the California Board of Lady Managers of the Chicago Exposition, and her pictures in the California building won high praise. Mrs. Farr has been the mother of three children, all born in Littleton: Ida Louise, now Mrs. Edwin C. Miller; Herbert Augustus; and Edith May, whose sudden death in June, 1891, caused so much sorrow.