He won the city commission for all mail and express freight arriving in Cleveland, which made him a wealthy man.

He left school before the age of 16 to take over the wholesale grocery and liquor business owned by his elder brother, Andrew, who had died.

In his tenure as mayor, Farley had to request the state militia to support Cleveland police in maintaining order during the streetcar strike in 1899.

He was elected president of the Mutual Building & Investment Co., and a director of the Guardian Savings and Trust Co.[2] Farley married Margaret Kenney of Cleveland on November 23, 1884.

[5] Farley suffered a stroke in Public Square in downtown Cleveland while riding in a streetcar on the evening of February 9, 1922.