Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Farman, Elbert Eli 1831-

Jurist; born in New Haven, Oswego co., N. Y., April 23, 1831; graduated at Amherst College in 1855, and studied in Warsaw, N. Y., where he was admitted to the bar in 1858. He studied in Europe in 1865-67, and on returning to the United States was made district attorney of Wyoming county, N. Y. In March, 1876, he was appointed United States consul-general at Cairo, Egypt, and there became a member of the commission to revise the international codes. Later President Garfield appointed him a judge of the international court of Egypt. He was also a member of the international committee appointed to investigate the claims of citizens of Alexandria for damages caused by the bombardment of that city by the British in 1882. It was principally through his efforts that the obelisk known as “Cleopatra's needle,” which stands near the Metropolitan Art Museum in Central Park, New York City, was secured. When he left Egypt, Mr. Farman received from the Khedive the decoration of Grand Officer of the Imperial Order of the Medjidi, an honor rarely bestowed upon a foreigner.