Andrew Jackson Farris
1854-1942
A. J. Farris
A Gospel Preacher and Builder of Congregations
Andrew Jackson Farris’s ministry began with a concern for the Christians around him. After his baptism in 1887, he found himself among church members who were doing little to advance the work. He began encouraging them to fulfill their responsibilities. In time, others recognized him as a preacher. From that modest beginning grew a ministry of more than fifty years, devoted especially to establishing congregations, strengthening their members, and bringing people to Christ.
Farris was born September 4, 1853, in Martin County, Indiana. His parents were Henry Percel Farris (1824 – 1897) and Sarah “Sallie” York (1832 – 1894). Records show that when he was grown, at some stage he moved to Illinois, as the 1880 Census showed him as a 26 years old, and living, on June 5th, in Pleasant View, Macon County, Illinois, working as a farm laborer for the Eleazer Household. One biographical sketch says he moved to Texas in 1879, so we know it was around this time that a transition west took place. It was while in Texas that several things changed in his life. Most importantly was his exposure to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In 1887, when he was about thirty-three or thirty-four years old, G. W. Thompson baptized him. What was impressive was the immediacy of his response: he was baptized the same hour of the night in which he confessed his faith in Christ, a truly Biblical response to the simple message of the gospel.
His development as a preacher followed practical service within the congregation. As he urged less active members to take up their work, he developed the ability to teach and encourage others. As a result he was soon recognized for his preaching abilities. Soon his field of influence was felt in Texas and Oklahoma.
Brief notices in the religious papers give substance to that description. In the April 19, 1910, Firm Foundation, Farris reported one baptism and one restoration at Wimberly, Texas, on the fourth Sunday in March. He also announced his availability to conduct protracted meetings in Hays and adjoining counties. These extended preaching meetings offered opportunities both to reach new hearers and to renew the commitment of existing church members.
By March 1912, Farris was in Geary, Oklahoma. A notice in The Christian Leader and the Way stated that he wished to locate with a congregation where he could help build up the work. It specifically mentioned his attention to the practical work of the church. Read alongside the earlier notices, the announcement reveals a consistent purpose: he wanted congregations to become active, capable bodies of Christians.
By the spring of 1918, Farris was established in Logan County, in the NW section of Arkansas. On April 16, his credentials as a preacher among churches of Christ were certified, as recorded in Ministers Credentials, Book A, page 232. The ministers and elders associated with that certification included John W. Spain, W. F. Green, Robert H. Johnson, J. W. Stanfield, Milan Findley, William D. Walker, L. W. Parker, C. C. Casey, and G. A. Casey. These names placed him within a network of Christians connected with Booneville, Liberty, and Chismville. The recognition documented an already experienced preacher whose ministry had begun decades earlier.
Brother Farris was married twice. His first wife was Dora A. Polk, whom he married in 1882. The following year, they had one son, Willie H. Farris (1883-1963), who also preached. At this writing, records are not available as to when Dora died, but Austin McGary praised her greatly in and 1899 report in the Firm Foundation, for her support of her husband, running a farm while her husband was away preaching the gospel (FF, 09.05.1899, p.1 - article below). Some time after her passing, on August 4, 1918, he married Mrs. Ida Spain Findley in Logan County, Arkansas. The marriage record describes both as residents of Chismville and gives their ages as sixty-four and forty-two. W. D. Walker, justice of the peace, performed the ceremony. Ida was a daughter of preacher John W. Spain and his wife, Jane Sharp Coleman. Their marriage joined Farris to a family with established ties to the religious life of the area.
The Liberty community, where Farris would eventually be buried, had a history of shared religious and educational use. Bill Hanks’s published history of Liberty-Coleman Cemetery reports that the 1881 deed for the church grounds provided for religious and school purposes and access by all religious denominations. The church building was moved to its present position in front of the cemetery in 1947, five years after Farris’s death. This distinction helps preserve an accurate picture of the setting he knew. The Arkansas Family Historian, March 2007, pp. 13–14
Farris’s obituary names G. H. P. Showalter, J. D. Tant, Joe S. Warlick, J. W. Chism, and C. R. Nichol among the men with whom he had worked. It does not supply the dates or circumstances of those associations, but it preserves the memory of a preacher whose connections extended across a substantial fellowship of gospel workers in the brotherhood.
His later years brought prolonged illness and financial hardship. According to Voyd M. Ballard’s obituary, Farris endured disabling infirmity for about six years. Even during that period, Ballard remembered his determination to attend worship. By early 1942, however, he was confined to bed and needed material assistance.
An appeal in the Firm Foundation brought help from Christians in Texas and Oklahoma. The January 27, 1942, report acknowledged seven gifts of one dollar each and a ten-dollar contribution from G. H. P. Showalter—a total of seventeen dollars. C. R. Nichol was also among the contributors. Ballard conveyed Farris’s thanks and urged others who knew him to help.
That small account of gifts adds a deeply personal dimension to his story. A man who had spent decades strengthening churches had reached a time when he depended on the kindness of fellow Christians. Former associates and other believers responded to his need, expressing their fellowship through practical care.
Ballard’s remembrance also reveals Farris’s affection for his wife. As death approached, he spoke of his readiness to depart, but his concern was for Ida: “I had rather go; the only thing that I dread is to leave my wife.” After years of illness, his hope of heaven remained closely joined to his love for the companion he would leave behind.
A. J. Farris died Thursday, April 30, 1942, at 4:15 in the afternoon. He was eighty-eight years, seven months, and twenty-six days old. The following afternoon, May 1, he was buried at Liberty, described in the obituary as five miles northeast of Magazine, Arkansas. His wife and one son survived him. Ballard addressed his closing words of sympathy to “Sister Farris and Brother Willie,” apparently identifying the surviving son by that familiar name.
The tribute published in the Firm Foundation on May 12, 1942, remembered a man of upright character whose delight was in the Lord’s law. Its account of more than fifty years of preaching accords with the story of a ministry that began soon after his conversion in 1887.
The surviving record offers only glimpses of the congregations Farris established and the people he taught. Yet those glimpses form a consistent portrait: a preacher who encouraged inactive Christians, sought places where he could strengthen the church, rejoiced over individual responses to the gospel, and continued to value worship through years of infirmity. His life preserves an example of the patient, practical service through which local congregations were built and sustained. May God continue to bless the memory and legacy of this great and good man.
-Scott Harp, 09.19.2026
Firm Foundation, September 9, 1899, p.1
Firm Foundation, April 19, 1910, p.4
Firm Foundation, January 27, 1942, p.6
Firm Foundation May 12, 1942, p.8
Directions To Grave
The Liberty Cemetery is located in NW Arkansas, between Booneville and Ozark, just a few miles north of Magazine. Take Hwy. 109 north a few miles out of Magazine. Just before coming into Driggs, turn right on Revielle Valley Rd., the church is about a mile on the right. Go behind the church and the grave is located out to the rear of the building. See the photos below to get a better idea of where to look. GPS below is an estimated location in the cemetery.
GPS Location
35°13'15.8"N 93°44'55.1"W
or D.d. 35.221061,-93.748634
FARRIS
A.J. - 1854 - 1942
Ida Spain - 1876 - 1962
Photos Taken 08.17.2025
Webpage Produced 09.18.2026
Courtesy Of Scott Harp
www.TheRestorationMovement.com
Special Recognition: Special thanks to Bradley Cobb for providing graves photos of A. J. & Ida Spain Farris. He visited the old Liberty Church Cemetery in August, 2025.