I recently got to raid the attic of my cousins’ former historic house in Virginia, as they’ve moved to a new place. In the attic though was tons of ephemera from the former owners of their house. I grabbed a handful of things, although in hindsight I wish I grabbed more.
In the collection was a shoe box of letters and ephemera from Mr. and Mrs. Richard (Dick) Farr, a former politician and lawyer in Fairfax County, VA. Mr. Farr was really Richard Ratcliff (Dick)Farr III, succeeding his father Richard Farr II, who had a storied life in both politics and the confederate war. (His father’s story can be found in various places, such as here and here, and is worth a read.)
The shoe box had a handful of interesting notes and letters, including letters of congratulations to the Farr couple in their wedding in 1928.
I thought this first item was notable though; Richard III seemed to be following in his father’s footsteps in running for the Virginia House of Delegates in 1941….
The notable part? As far as I can tell, Richard was in fact voted into the House of Delegates in 1941, however, he passed away January 14, 1942, the day he would have started the role.
(Click picture for full page – see article “Fairfax Republicans
To Be Uninstructed At Convention”