Floyd Farnsworth

Dr. Floyd Forney "F.F." Farnsworth (2 April 1869 – 2 January 1946) was a West Virginia state legislator, state health official, physician, and author. In the years before antibiotics were available to treat venereal diseases, he worked to stem the spread of the diseases in his state. He helped establish the West Virginia Department of Health, where he served as Director of the Bureau of Venereal Diseases, and he sought to use his fiction to educate the public about the increasing prevalence and tragic results of syphilis.

Farnsworth was born in Upshur County, West Virginia, in or near Buckhannon, a son of Franklin Leonard Farnsworth and Martha Jane (Currence) Farnsworth. He was educated in the local schools and, on October 25, 1890, married Lasora Martin of Holly Grove, West Virginia. He graduated from Buckhannon Union College in 1897 and then taught in the Buckhannon schools, advancing to the positions of principal and, finally, superintendent. The bill increased the appropriation to the Board, enabling the Board to retain its secretary as a full-time official, establish a laboratory, and launch programs in public health education.

His second work of fiction, The Man on Horseback: A Story of Life among the West Virginia Hills, published in 1921, had the serious intent of instructing young West Virginians in how to cope with social changes that were taking place in the state. The novel is set mainly in Altoona, a fictitious village near Buckhannon, and explores the effects of alcohol abuse, prostitution, and venereal disease around the time of the World War I. According to WorldCat, the book is held in 11 libraries

Dr. Farnsworth's memoir, The Saga of a Country Doctor among the West Virginia Hills, was included in a collection of memoirs.

Dr. Farnsworth died in Milton, Cabell County, West Virginia.

Works Doctor Terrell Investigates and Other Writings. Charleston, W.Va.: Tribune Printing Company, 1920. The Man on Horseback: A Story of Life among the West Virginia Hills. Charleston, W.Va.:Tribune Printing Company, 1921. The Saga of a Country Doctor among the West Virginia Hills. 1940(?)