Charles Frederick Farlin was born in Palmyra, Michigan; he studied medicine at the North Western Institute in Toledo, Ohio for two years, and eventually moved to Jackson, Michigan. While in Jackson Dr. Farlin began to deliver lectures on Freethought and Spiritualism.
In 1883 Jan 29 the Democrat and Chronicle published a lecture given by Dr. Farlin at the Spiritualist Meeting on Sophia Street titled, "Address by Dr. Farlin on the Character of the Deist Patriot and Philosopher, on the Occasion of His One Hundred and Forty Sixth Birthday - A Tribute to His Patriotism and Genius - Paine as an Inventor."
Dr. Farlin was a close friend of the Post family. He was a regular visitor to the Posts' pharmacy that was located on exchange street; he spent most of his summers in Sea Breeze, and he and Jacob Post put in money together to have a summer cottage their families could enjoy by the Lake.
Dr. Farlin was part of a highly public and somewhat scandalous court case dealing with the legality of a divorce and marriage between himself and an ex wife. While the matter was settled with a judge, the case was highly publicized in Rochester newspapers.
Dr. Farlin acted as a facilitator to a seance by visiting medium Mrs. C. M. Sawyer visiting from Washington. Mrs. Sawyer was a physical medium who was said to have produced phenomena such as materializations and direct voice phenomena while she was secured in a cabinet. Mrs. Sawyer welcomed reporters to observe the seance, and the writer recording the article had nothing positive or negative to report, and wrote, ""the performance last evening was certainly very curious to say the least.""
Dr. Farlin passed away in August 1896. While swimming in the Lake he suffered a stroke and was brought ashore by his friends and passed away, he had been a resident of Rochester for 14 years
