"F" is for Farrow, Samuel [1759-1824]. Congressman, legislator, reformer. A Revolutionary War veteran, Farrow was elected lieutenant governor in 1810 and a member of Congress in 1812. In 1816 the residents of Spartanburg District elected him to the General Assembly where he pursued a goal of creating a state lunatic asylum.
His arguments were persuasive and in 1818 the legislature , with little dissent, passed several resolutions calling for the construction of an asylum in Columbia, but it was not until 1821 that it appropriated any funds for the project. Farrow was appointed to the legislative commission to oversee the asylum's construction, but he did not live to see its completion. Samuel Farrow died in 1824 and the asylum for which he had fought so hard to establish did not open until 1828.
