John A. McFarland

GEDCOM Note

Spent his minority on the farm of his father, availing himself only of the advantages of the district school; but so improved these opportunities that he was able at the age of 18 to begin teaching. His natural ability as an instructor has given him rank among the most successful teachers of the State, and secured for him a reputation worthy of the emulation of young men of today, who unassisted, must meet the obstacles coincident with self-made men. At the age of 18 began teaching, by which means he secured a sufficient competence to prepare for college, which he did in Cambridge Washington Academy, under Rev. E. H. Newton, D. D.

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry.com New York, State Census, 1865 Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2014; @R1@

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry.com U.S., School Catalogs, 1765-1935 Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2012; @R1@

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry.com U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2012; @R1@

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry.com U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2012; @R1@

GEDCOM Source

Crisfield Johnson History of Washington Co., New York Name: Everts & Ensign; Location: Philadelphia; Date: 1878; @R9@ 9613052 History of Washington Co., New York JOHN A. MoFAELAND.
The ancestry of the MoFarland family ia traced to the Scottish High- land clan Macfarlane, or Pharlan, the only one, with one exception, whose descent is from the charters given the ancient Earls of Lennox, from whom the clan sprang, and who held possession of their original lands for over six hundred years. From the most reliable informa- tion at hand, Aluin was the first Earl of Lennox, and died in the year 1225. The eighth Earl of Lennox died without male issue, and his eldest daughter, having married the Duke of Murdook, held the pro- prietorship. Upon her death (1395) three families claimed the earl- dom, — the Macfarlanes claiming the earldom as heirs male. They resisted all other clans, and in the struggle became scattered to difl'erent parts of the kingdom. The timely support by the Darnley family (some of whose members had married into the clan) restored their ancient family estate, and upon the establishment of the Stuarts as Earl of Lennox, the clans nnder their patronage became, in 14S8, separate and independent. The principal of these was the Macfar- lane. From the subject of this sketch the descent is traced back six generations to Duncan, the father of .lames, the father of Malcom, the father of Daniel, the father of .lohn, the father of Daniel, the father of John A. At the time the ohm was separated the ancestors settled in the lowlands of Scotland, at Thorn Hill, whence the great- grandfather, Daniel, emigrated to America in the year 1785, with his wife and one son, John, bom 1764, and are supposed to have settled, upon first coming to this country, in the town of Salem. The great- grandfather lived for many years in the town of Salem, and was there in 1805, but subsequently moved to the town of Argyle, where he died at an advanced age. The grandfather was a resident of the old town of Cambridge in the earlier part of his life, and followed prin- oipally-the occupation of a farmer; but during the latter part of his life lived in the town of Jackson, where he died in the year 1847, leaving six children, who reached advanced ages of over sixty years, all dying between the years 1867 and 1869. Daniel, the eldest of these children, and father of the subject of this sketch, was born in the year 1793, in the town of Cambridge ; married Miss Jane Shiland, of the same town, daughter of Deacon John Shiland, great-grandson of John Shiland, who emigrated from Scotland prior to the French war: was taken prisoner, with his family, by the Indians in Pennsyl- vania, carried to Canada, where they were kept in continement for some time ; they were finally released and settled there, but at the close of the Revolutionary war returned to Cambridge, N. Y. Daniel McFarland spent his life as a farmer mostly in the town of Jackson : was a soldier in the war of 1812. He was closely allied to the promotion of the best interests of society in his day ; was an elder in the Scotch Presbyterian church at Coila, town of Cambridge, for many years ; raised a family of five children, viz. : John A., Mar- garet, William, Robert, and James, of whom Margaret died in the year 1850, at the .age of twenty-four, and Robert died in the year 1854, at the same age. The father of these children was a man of strong decision of character, inheriting from his Scotch ancestry that firmness and resolution to do whatever he conceived to be right char- acteristic of the people of the mother-land, and instructed and reared his children to respect and honor all that makes true manhood and secures happiness and longevity. He died at the age of seventy-six, in the year 1869. The wife and mother still survives, and in the year 1878 is in her seventy-ninth year, retaining that vigor of both body and mind uncommon to people of that advanced age. John A. McFarland was the eldest son ; spent his minority on the farm of his father, availing himself only of the advantages of the district school ; but so improved these opportunities that he was able at the age of eighteen to begin teaching, by which means he secured a sufficient competence to prepare for college, which he did in Cam- bridge Washington Academy, under Rev. E. H. Newton, D.D., enter- ing in the advance course of third term sophomore of Union College, graduating from that institution of learning in the year 1848. During his college course his health had become considerably im- paired, and be went to South Carolina, where he spent some time ; but, regaining his health, engaged as a teacher at Parrotsvillc, Tenn., where he remained aijout one year. In the fall of 1849 he returned north, and was married to Miss Amanda H., daughter of Ransom Hawley and Margaret Tice, of Cambridge. After his marriage he returned south, and was principal of Wythe- viJle Academy for two years, ard from 1856 to 1859 had charge of the Rural Seminary at Pembroke, N. Y. His health again failing, ho returned to hi.-;" native county, but soon after took charge of Washington Academy, at Salcm, Washington Co., N. Y., where he has remained, and still remains (1878), with the exception of two years, for nineteen successive years. Prof. McFarland, in recounting his past history in connection with the last-named institution, is enabled to see tho.se who have graduated under his instruction filling important positions in the various professions, and ranking among the first as attorneys, physicians, clergymen, and business men. His natural ability as an instructor has given him rank nraong the most successful teachers of the State, and secured for him a reputation worthy the emulation of the young men of to-day, who, unassisted, must meet the obstacles coincident with self-made men. He has one son, Edwin Stanley McFarland, of Salem, N. Y. https://archive.org/details/historyofwashing00john