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JAMES MCFARLAND/MCFARLIN - SCOTS/IRISH IMMIGRANT and OHIO DISTILLER (1
795 - 1838)
(Research by Peter Folsom McFarlin - May, 2012, revised June 2019)
ARRIVAL IN PENNSYLVANIA - THEN TO OHIO
James McFarland, was just one year old when he arrived in America wit h his family in 1796. This date of arrival is chosen since his two old er brothers, Alexander and William, both stated that was the year whe n they had immigrated to America (*1
). I assume the whole family arriv ed in America together, including their father John.
As shown before, in the notes for his mother and older brothers and si sters, the family spent about four years elsewhere in Pennsylvania. Th en by 1799/1800 they lived about two years in Hopewell (New Bedford) , Mercer county, Pennsylvania with h is mother's brother, John Anderson . (see his 1800 US census pg 433 for Mercer co, PA)
About 1802/1803, the widow Margery McFarland, with her four sons and t wo daughters, came to Coitsville, Ohio. James was about seven then an d no doubt helped out on the family farm. He remained with his mother , Margery for the rest of her life i n Coitsville (she died in 1835).
By the 1820 census, he is newly married and head of his own family, ha ving settled "...on the road leading west from the village..." (*2 p 1 68). His wife is Melissa Hard, possibly a weaver, since she is from th e sheep farming area of Huntsbur g (Franklin co), Vermont.
James is said to have had one of the four early distilleries in Coitsv ille, his older brother William having another (*2 p 171). They "...pu shed their business with energy for some years, consuming about twenty -four bushels of grain daily at le ast one hundred and fifty days out o f the year, thirty-six hundred bushels per annum, and putting upon th e market nine thousand gallons, more or less, of ardent spirits". Jam es, the distiller, may be the person in his 1820 Ohio census househol d , 'engaged in manufactures' (unless it might be his wife Melissa, runn ing a loom?).
When his first son is born in 1823, they name him John Anderson McFarl and; probably the John after James' father, and the Anderson for his m other's maiden name. By 1830, they have three children living with the m; probably Mary, John and Louisa . Also in their household is James' m other, widow Margery, the original pioneer matriarch from Ireland. How ever, she dies in 1835, seventy-nine years old.
James then died in June of 1838 at age 43 (*3). His estate was probate d from 21 June 1838 to June 1841. At the latter date, a John Stewart w as chosen guardian by both his son John Anderson McFarlin, age 18, an d daughter Louisa McFarlin, age 14 , and the same John Stewart is appoi nted guardian to the younger children; Sarah M McFarlin, age 8, Lysand er J McFarlin, age 6 and Robert W McFarlin, age 4. The 'McFarlin' spel ling of the surname was used in these probate record's (*4). James w a s buried near his mother in the Hopewell Presbyterian cemetery, New Be dford, Pennsylvania (*5). This is where most of the early settlers o f Coitsville were interred since it was the nearest church in the earl y 1800's.
The Hopewell Cemetery records indicate that his mother's name was MARG ARET, and James' last name in 1838 was spelled MCFARLIN (*6).
Melissa carried on, raising the family, and remained a widow for forty -seven years.
PFM's SOURCES for James McFarland(McFarlin);
1820 census; Coitsville, Ohio p 240; (his age 16-26, engaged in manufa ctures)
1830 census; Coitsville, Ohio p 249; (his age 30-40)
REFERENCES
*1 1809 Depositions On Contested Election; OGS Report 24:3(1984) p 202
*2 History of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties; Williams, 1882 v 2
*3 Henry R Baldwin Records Index; p 833
*4 Trumbull county Probate; James McFarlin Sr. 9-266, 9-313, 9-316, 11 -61, 11-150, and 11-168.
*5 Henry R Baldwin Records; LDS microfiche 6051349-1 p 1
*6 Hopewell Cemetery Records, New Bedford, Lawrence co, PA; "IN Memor y of JAMES MCFARLIN who departed this life 11 june 1838 aged 43 years " (verbatum from headstone)
FSID 2Z3X-HLR
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