Mail call: A note from Robert Ranhauser, A.B. Farquhar collector
Way back in 2010, I wrote a series here on Only in York County called Names of York, in which I looked at some of York County’s schools, parks and businesses that bear particular names and tried to give a little context to who those notable folks were.
One in that series was industrialist A.B. Farquhar.
Well, I was only providing snippets of info in that series, but I recently received a letter from someone who is MUCH more knowledgable than I about Farquhar in particular.
Today’s letter comes from Robert Ranhauser, who bills himself as an A.B. Farquhar collector!
He writes, “I asked a friend who collects Civil War photos about A.B. Farquhar. A.B. had a nickname, and only a handful of people know it. I asked my Civil War photo collector friend the question, ‘What was A.B. Farquhar’s nickname?” Right away, he said, ‘POLLY!’ I asked him how he got the name, and he said years ago, when you went to school, you had what they called Pollyannas, where you exchanged and traded gifts.”
Well, he continues, “A.B. Farquhar was born in Maryland and went to school with a lot of the rebel generals and knew them personally. He drove to Gettysburg, PA (horse & buggy) and made deals and promised a lot of things so they wouldn’t burn York, PA, down, this is how A.B. Farquhar got his nickname Polly – they dropped the Anna! P.A. Small also helped save York, PA, but he didn’t get a nickname!”
Among his Farquhar collection, Robert especially is proud of his collection of the Farquhar Bugles, the WWII shop magazine published by the company. He adds that he is still missing a few issues – so if you have any copies of the Farquhar Bugle, Robert would love to hear from you!
