Farrar, Charles W. Gardner “Gardner”

Charles Farrar (known as Gardner Farrar) was born on July 16, 1892 in Conconully, Okanogan, Washington, USA. He married Margaret Hynd (formerly of Merritt) on June 15, 1918 in Merritt at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Hynd. At the time of their marriage, they were both living in Princeton and he was working as a clerk.

He was on one of Princeton’s first baseball teams. He played shortstop (1916), second base (1921) and pitcher (1921). It appears he played baseball for Princeton from about 1915 to 1922.

He was also a member of the member of the Princeton Dramatic Players, appearing in a number of productions in 1916.

According to his WW I draft registration (US) on March 27, 1918, he had dark hair and hazel eyes.

He donated $2.00 to the YMCA Fund (war effort) in 1917 and $1 to the General Hospital Maintenance Fund. Both Gardner and Margaret were supporters of the hospital, donating canned food, money, as well as attending fund-raisers.

He worked in the freight department at the Great Northern Railway station in Princeton in 1917. But he had struck out on his own by 1920, when he opened his business “City Transfer” – he was the agent for Imperial Oil and did general trucking and delivery work. By 1924, he had expanded his business and was delivering coal and wood and making regular trips three times a week between Princeton, Coalmont and Blakeburn. In February 1925, a group of men including Farrar, hand-shovelled parts of the Princeton-Coalmont Road, mostly near Red Bluffs. It took them twelve hours but managed to get the road open.

He was a member of Knights of Pythias No. 50 (1921) and he pitched for a Knights versus Oddfellows game in 1921.

The family was still here in 1929, as he had taken a job moving Bert Hill’s household effects from Princeton to Kelowna. They left Princeton on December 30, 1927 and arrived in Kelowna on January 3, 1928.

The family appears in the 1930 US Census: They were living in Bellingham, WA. All four children were listed as having been born in Canada. One child, Douglas, was only 4 months old.

They were living in Yakima, WA, in 1942.