| State House: | Louisiana |
| Speaker: | 17th |
| Death Place: | Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Termstart2: | 1847 |
| Termend2: | March 7, 1850 |
| Termstart: | 1847 |
| Termend: | March 7, 1850 |
| State Senate3: | Mississippi |
| District3: | Wilkinson County |
| State House4: | Mississippi |
| District4: | Wilkinson County |
| Termstart3: | 1836 |
| Termend3: | 1837 |
| Termstart4: | 1838 |
| Termend4: | 1841 |
| District: | unknown |
| Birth Place: | Lexington, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Alma Mater: | Transylvania University |
| Relations: | Abram M. Scott (father-in-law) |
Colonel Preston Withers Farrar[1] (1805/06 - March 7, 1850) was an American lawyer and Whig politician. He was the Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1848 to his death in 1850.[2] [3] He also served in both houses of the Mississippi Legislature.[4]
Preston Withers Farrar was born in Lexington, Kentucky.[5] [6] He had a brother, Daniel Foster Farrar (died 1841).[7] He graduated from Transylvania University. Farrar moved to the state of Mississippi in 1827, where he began practicing law in the town of Woodville. In March 1833, Farrar married Eliza Scott, the only daughter of Mississippi Governor Abram M. Scott.[8] Governor Scott unexpectedly died of cholera in June 1833. In 1837, Preston and Eliza took control of half of the late Abram's plantation and enslaved people in Rapides Parish, Louisiana. In 1838 they mortgaged the property and 43 enslaved people to obtain a loan of $29,000, which Farrar then used to pay off a $24,443 debt he owed to a New Orleans firm. When the Farrars could not repay a majority of the $29,000 loan the bank threatened to foreclose on the plantation property.
Farrar was a member of the Whig Party. In the 1836 and 1837 sessions, Farrar represented Wilkinson County in the Mississippi House of Representatives. He represented the same county in the Mississippi State Senate from 1838 to 1841.[9] In 1839, Farrar experienced bank losses and moved to New Orleans, Louisiana.
In 1847, Farrar served on the first board of the University of Louisiana.[10] In 1847 he served as Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives.[11] [12] He was again elected Speaker for the 1848 session, and the 1850 session in which the state capital moved from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.
In March 7, 1850, Farrar died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at age 44.[13] [14] He was survived by his widow and several children.[15]