George Edwin Larkham

November 12, 1849 - November 1928

George Edwin Larkham was the third child of William and Hannah (Palmer ) Larkham. He married Sarah A. Kenyon, the daughter of Anthony and Jane (Farmen) Kenyon, on September 29, 1879 in Plainfield, Connecticut. Their first child, Henry Parkhurst Larkham, was born on March 1, 1881. A baby daughter, born on February 17, 1886, died in infancy. George and Sarah were buried in the Carey Cemetery in Canterbury, Connecticut.

Left to right: George Edwin Larkham, Sarah (Kenyon) Larkham, Henry Parkhurst Larkham

Sarah (Kenyon) Larkham and George Edwin Larkham

 

Excerpt from biography of George Edwin Larkham from A MODERN HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY CONNECTICUT, A Windham County Treasure Book, by ALLEN B. LINCOLN. Editor, ILLUSTRATED, VOLUME II,CHICAGO, THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1920, pp. 1391-1392.

"George Edwin Larkham, who follows farming in the town of Canterbury, is numbered among the self-made men of that section. He started out in the business world empty-handed, and for a long period worked as a farm hand by the month at small wages, but from his earnings as the result of his industry and economy he at length saved a sufficient sum to enable him to begin farming on his own account. At first he operated rented land, but is today the owner of a good property as the result of his perseverance and intelligently directed efforts."

"He was born in Voluntown, Connecticut, November 12, 1849, at which time Voluntown was then a part of Windham county, although it is now in New London County..."

"George E. Larkham was reared in Voluntown to the age of seven years and then accompanied his parents on their removal to Griswold, where he obtained a district school education. He likewise attended school at North Stonington and then with the return of the family to Griswold attended the school where he had formerly been a pupil. In 1864 he went to Canterbury, where he completed his education. He then took up farming and worked by-the-month at small wages in Canterbury and adjoining towns until 1895. He was ambitious, however, to engage in business on his own account and then rented the farm upon which he now resides, near Canterbury Green. In 1897 he bought this fine farm of one hundred and seventy six acres and here carries on general agricultural pursuits and dairying. His labors are rewarded with a substantial measure of success, for he is diligent, persevering, practical and progressive."

"On the 27th of November, 1879, Mr. Larkham was married to Miss Sarah Kenyon, of Canterbury. She was born in Plainfield, Connecticut, a daughter of Anthony B. and Jane (Farmen) Kenyon, who were likewise natives of Plainfield. Mrs. Larkham passed away in Canterbury, November 21, 1912. The only son of that marriage, Henry Palmer [should be Parkhurst], was born in Canterbury, March 1, 1881, and has spent his entire life in the town of his nativity. He is now farming with his father and lives upon the home place. He wedded Clara V. Towne at Canterbury, a daughter of William Towne, a farmer of Canterbury, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work."

"In his political views Mr. Larkham is a democrat and has served on the board of relief but has never been an office seeker. He belongs to the Congregational church and has lived a quiet, unassuming but useful life, and his record should serve to inspire and encourage others, showing what can be accomplished by determination and energy. He has justly won the proud American title of self-made man, and his prosperity is the merited reward of earnest labor, intelligently directed."