Born in
Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Farquhar entered the
United States Naval Academy in 1855. After graduating from the Naval Academy in June 1859, he served with the
Africa Squadron until September 1860 when he sailed the prize slaver
Triton home to the
United States. Lieutenant Farquhar spent most of the Civil War off the U.S. Atlantic coast and in the
West Indies, serving in the
gunboats , and , and the
cruiser . At the close of the war, he was executive officer of the gunboat . He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander in August 1865, a few months after the fighting ended, and was on duty at the U.S. Naval Academy from then until September 1868. For the rest of the 1860s and into the next decade, Farquhar served in the
screw sloop , was executive officer of the sloop and the frigate , and commanding officer of the gunboat . He also had two tours at the
Boston Navy Yard on ordnance duty and as executive officer. Advanced in rank to commander in December 1872, Farquhar spent nearly five years at the Naval Academy, which included command of the gunnery training ship . He commanded the training ship in 1877–78, and the steam sloops and in
European waters in 1878–1881. Five more years of Naval Academy duty, including service as the
commandant of midshipmen and command of the training ship , were followed by torpedo instruction at
Newport, Rhode Island, in 1886. In March 1886, Farquhar was promoted to captain. Farquhar was buried in Section 1 of
Arlington National Cemetery. His wife, Addie Whelan Pope Farquhar (1845–1909), is buried with him. ==Namesake==