James Thompson Farley (6 August 1829-22 January 1886) was a Democratic US Senator from California from 4 March 1879 to 3 March 1885, succeeding Aaron A. Sargent and preceding Leland Stanford.
Biography[]
James Thompson Farley was born in Albemarle County, Virginia in 1829, and he moved to Missouri at a young age. After nearly killing a man over a shared love, he moved to California in 1849 amid the Gold Rush, and he became a lawyer in Amador County in 1854. He served in the State Assembly as a Whig and Know Nothing, but he joined the Democrats on the Know Nothings' downfall. He served in the assembly from 1855 to 1860, in the state senate from 1860 to 1878, and in the US Senate from 1879 to 1885, and he died in Jackson, California in 1886.