| Notes |
- WILLIAM KIRK MCFARLAND/MCFARLIN 1860 - 1943 by Peter F McFarlin - 2008
THE EARLY YEARS
William Kirk McFarland was born at the Anderson McFarland family farm, on the Hazelton road in Coitsville, Ohio March 12th, 1860. He was the sixth child of Anderson and Sarah Jane Kirk(patrick) McFarland, and the first son to live to maturity. Th e William part of his name came from his grandfather William, born in Ireland in 1780, and the Kirk part was from his mother's shortened maiden name. By 1879, in his Ohio State University registration, Will had changed his last name's spelling fro m McFarland to McFarlin, as did his brother, Thomas Edward McFarlin.
He had three older sisters; Vine, by six years, Olive, by four years, and Betty, by two years. In the early years it's likely they helped their mother care for him, and also were likely his first playmates, which soon included his brother Frank , born in 1864, when William was aged four. Soon after that, William started at the local country school nearest to his home. He attended during the winter months, and then, in the long summer vacation, which usually began in spring and overlappe d into autumn, he would probably spend in assisting his father in the operation of the home farm. Young William was required by his family to stay working on the home farm until he reached twenty-one.
LEARNING MORE
When the family moved up to their larger farm in the Coitsville village center, his father also became the town's postmaster, for a period of seventeen years. This was during the 1860's and 1870's, and visits to the post office quite possibly gav e young William a taste of the larger world expanding into the west via the many railroads being built. Also, both of his sisters, Vine and Bettie were school teachers around 1878-80 while they were still living at home, and may have had some infl uence on William's desire to continue his own schooling.
From discussions (# 1, # 2, # 3) between Peter F McFarlin (PFM) and his uncle, Charles Kirk McFarlin, in 1966 and 1974, it was learned that William McFarlin was enrolled in the newly formed Ohio State University, in Columbus, while still at his fa ther's farm. The 1862 federal Land Grant Act provided for the proceeds from the sales of public lands to be used by the states to "finance colleges whose leading object was to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes , primarily in the areas of agriculture and mechanics." Classes began in the new Ohio college in September, 1873, with twenty-four students enrolled on the first day. In 1878, the first class of six men graduated, and in 1879 the University gradua ted its first woman.
Upon writing Ohio State, their response to PFM (# 4) was; "The original registration book of the University shows a Will K McFarlin to have registered in September, 1879. He gave his residence as Coitsville, Ohio, his age as 19, and his parent o r guardian as A. McFarlin. He attended the University for one term taking Elementary Physics (in which he received a grade of pass), First Year Civil Engineering (passed with merit), and Second Year Agricultural Drawing (passed)."
The June 1st, 1880 Coitsville census for Anderson McFarland indicates that his son William is attending school at age twenty. The next year, when William reached twenty-one, he immediately left home for work with the Rock Island Railroad Line.
CAREER IN RAILROADING
As uncle Kirk explained it to PFM in 1974 (ibid.# 3)... "In those years, all farm boys were apprenticed to the family. I call it apprenticeship, they served without pay until they were twenty-one, the year of maturity in those days. At which tim e they had served their time, so-to-speak, and were free to do as they wished. Some stayed on the farm, maybe inherited it, you know, and others went out. Apparently he went out immediately he was free. I don't think he cared for farming. The onl y word that we have is that he joined the Rock Island Railroad, and that was quite a firm then."
In 1882, when Will was twenty-two, the History of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties writes..."William K (McFarlin) is now engaged on the new through line in the capacity of civil engineer..."(# 5 Williams p 175). He continued engineering and surveyin g for the Atchison, Topeka and Sante Fe railroad in the early to mid 1880's. He was helping to establish their new lines in Kansas, westward from Topeka. The 1885 Kansas state census lists Wm McFarland rooming at widow Cora VanBuskirk's, in Whit e Cloud, Kansas. This was, at the time, a fading corn and wheat milling town which had shipped a great deal of Kansas grains via the Missouri River. William's younger brother, Edward McFarlin also worked for the railroads and later married Anna, o ne of the VanBuskirk daughters.
Kirk continues; "He got some job on the Rock Island and this became almost a permanent, or long-time connection. He apparently surveyed the lines as they were laid west and that is where he met up with the man who would become his partner, who's n ame was Frank Hyde. They were men of an age. He had come from ... Wisconsin? And they became very close friends."
MCFARLAND, KANSAS
Kirk continued with another story to PFM; "...I think he was probably a division engineer by that time (1887) and he worked up and down a division. As they went along, each time they built a water tank, they named a town you see, and when they ra n out of names, they used his - which is our only claim to fame." The present small town of McFarland, Kansas, about thirty miles west of Topeka, had a population of 271 in 2000, and is still located just on the north side of the through rail line , and just south of exit 330 of Interstate 70. In October 2007, while passing through, Peter visited the town, looked over the railroad line, met with the town historian and read all the extant references to confirm(?) the family story. William Mc Farland/McFarlin's name doesn't show up in any reference and, in fact, the town was named after another; Judge Noah C McFarland of Topeka in the year 1887. Perhaps William was an engineer on the line at the time, and helped to lay out the line, bu t the town was not named for him.
In 1890 William was listed in the Kansas City directory living in Kansas City at 122 Reynolds Ave, and then Topeka, Kansas by 1891.
MARGARET WILTSIE
When asked how William met his future wife, Margaret Wiltsie, uncle Kirk explained..."I think, while he was working in Kansas, he came in contact with certain people in Topeka who had membership in a camp in Colorado. This was in the near vicinit y of Creede, which is up at the top of the divide at the head waters of the Rio Grande. My mother was invited there by a different family, to the same fishing camp. They met there under those vacation conditions in the early days of that country , 'cause that was the late 'eighties. He'd been west and was progressing back to Chicago. I have some of his courtship letters that were written from points in Kansas. Well, so one thing led to another, the letters were very formal; courtship lett ers of those days...It came to the point that they were married...in Elgin, where her family were."
In January of 1891, for their marraige license, William Kirk McFarlin, age thirty-one, gave his place of residence as Topeka, Kansas, and occupation as; superintendent of railroad maintenance. Margaret Welles Wiltsie gave her age as twenty-six an d residence as Elgin, Illlinois. They were married in Elgin, Illinois June ninth, 1891, by A H Ball, pastor of the 1st Congregational Church. The witnesses to the marraige were Mr. John Wiltsie and Carrie Dickenson. The groom's parents were Anders on McFarlin and Sarah J Kirk. William's place of birth was Coitsville, Ohio. The bride's parents were John C Wiltsie and Mary Welles, and Margaret was born in Elgin, Illinois.
The first of their two children, Charles Kirk McFarlin, our quoted story-teller here, was born in Topeka in June of 1892. However, no official record could be found in any of the Kansas state files which might help show where they lived and Willia m's occupational status then. No William McFarland/McFarlin owned property in the Topeka area at that time either.
COMING EAST
William settled for a few years in Davenport, Iowa by 1894 where he is found listed as the Superintendent of Maintenence and Construction for the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Co. The Iowa state census of 1895 also lists William, Margar et and Charles, but spelled McFarland. In 1896 Davenport, William McFarlin lives at 1751 Grand Ave and in 1898 at 409 E 14th, Davenport.
Kirk relates more of his father's story, picking up a few years later-on, in the late 1890's..."Continuing his history, he was stationed in Davenport, Iowa, when some opening came up, here in the east, to which he was introduced by his friends i n the Rock Island. And he came east to become chief engineer of this road here - the Lackawanna system from here to Buffalo. The headquarters are here (New Jersey), so this is where he came. And that was about 1899 or 1900."
William and his family are found in the June 1st, 1900 East Orange, New Jersey US census, renting at 16 Hawthorne Avenue. He is listed as a Chief Engineer for the Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad. Living in the household are his wife Marga ret, age thirty-five, son Charles, age eight, and William's mother-in-law J Mary Wilsey, who was sixty-seven. Donald Welles McFarlin, his second son, is born there in October of 1900.
RR CAREER AND INVENTIONS
"Now, he..." (William) "... stayed with them in that position for about ten or twelve years. In the meantime, his later-to-be partner (Hyde) had become a very successful railroad builder and he had even built one of the Grand Central Stations. An d so eventually he left the Lackawanna and they went together as contractors to railroads. That was about 1910, and they worked here in that way until 1925. (McFarlin family anecdote has it that Kirk laid out much of the newer railroad systems i n New Jersey.) "But the war caused them difficulties because the war was a complete changeover in the method of doing business and he and his partner had been brought up to do business by hand and by word, not by contract. Then when the age of con tracts came in, and the unions, this they couldn't combat. So at that time they both began to retire."
While active in the railroad contracting business, William's engineering mind came up with the practical idea of improving the outdoor railroad platform roofs, which shed water and snow down onto the passengers while they were getting on and off t he trains. His new design had a row of single supporting columns in the center of the platform between the two railroad tracks at the station. These columns held up the protective, reversed roof by a cantilevered truss, all of which appears as a ' Y' shape in cross-section, and which cupped the 'elements' away from the patrons and down central drain pipes. This simple innovation was revolutionary and most all railroad termini installed them until they became commonplace. William never paten ted the design himself and so never gained recognition or royalties.
William is listed in the 1910 East Orange, New Jersey census, owning his own home at 180 Glenwood Avenue, age fifty, a railroad manager and married nineteen years. He is living with his wife Margaret and sons Charles K, age eighteen and Donald, ag e nine. They also have one Swedish servant cooking for them. Whoever the informant was on April 25th that year (wife Margaret?), gave some erroneous data to the census taker, by saying that William "MacFarland" was born in Scotland, with both pare nts born in Scotland, and being a naturalized citizen in 1885. It is certain that William was born in Coitsville, Ohio, proven with data taken from many other records and reports.
The partner of William's was Frank Davis Hyde, born in Wisconsin, and occupied as a railroad contractor. He was listed in the 1910 South Orange, New Jersey census, living at 576 Center Street with his wife Ada and their only child, a newborn daugh ter Frances. They had three Finnish servants; cook, maid and waitress.
By the 1920 census, William, Margaret and their two sons are now found living at 170 Glenwood Ave in East Orange, which is about a mile and a half walk from a RR station into NYC. William is occupied as a railroad contractor and as an employer. Th e family is now prosperous enough to have five others in their service at their home: George Ader, age forty-nine, chauffeur; Anna Ader, cook, age forty-five; Carrie Ader, nurse, age nineteen (the three Aders were black and born in New Jersey); El izabeth M Merritt, widow age forty-two, maid; and Margaret A O'Connor, age sixty-one, maid. All these domestic helpers are living in the garage at the rear of the main house. (In 2008, Google Earth shows the home from both the air and the street l evel.) In 1920, Frank Hyde, William's partner of about fifteen years, was still living with his wife Ada and daughter Frances a few miles away at 471 Center Street in South Orange. That census lists him also as a railroad contractor, and being a n employer. They, too, are prospering well enough to have four servants who are living with them.
DIFFICULTIES
We pick up uncle Kirk's story again about this time..."Now my father - it was in 1921 or 1922 that my father and mother separated. My father set up single living in an apartment down in East Orange. My brother went with him. He (William) lived a t a small family hotel down in East Orange and my mother lived variously in this area here. Always by herself, never with us."
William took a trip to Hawaii in 1923, returning to San Francisco on February 21st after a two day passage from Honolulu. This was perhaps to relax and settle his mind after the separation. Again, in 1926, William Kirk McFarlin returns to the US f rom another trip, this time in the West Indies, where he cruised for a month on the S.S. California during the month of January. He gives his birth place as Youngstown, Ohio and address in the United States as; 90 West St NY, NY, likely his plac e of business. In March of 1928 William arrives back from Cherbourg, France from another trip, with his home address given as 120 Hamson (sic=Harrison) St, East Orange, NJ
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RIFE - AND A BUSINESS THEFT
Question by PFM to his uncle Kirk; "When did the Rife Company come in?"(# 6)
"Well, this is how that happened. About the time he and Frank Hyde had completed some substantial work for the Lackawanna, they had a period of nothing to do. Some clever promoters from down in Roanoke who had opened an office up here, had manage d to work off a substantial part of the stock of this company on my father and Frank Hyde. They were then not active, so it looked like a good business. So they decided they'd get into this. Acquired enough of the stock to make it possible. He wa s an inactive stockholder from 1910 to 1918, then they were more engaged and he went into it to fill time. From that time on he continued, even though the company's condition went to pot - terribly.
"It (Rife) had been founded in '85. and he became active from 1920 until 1927. At that time, the office manager, in whom he had entrusted everything...and his wife, who was his book keeper, committed the inevitible; they walked out one night wit h all the records of the company. And they had all the customer lists, and they set up business right down the street. There were a great many details involved that I had to become familiar with in the process...He had an infinite faith in people . This was one of the causes of his difficulties, because when I had to step into this picture, I discovered that there was a great deal of dishonesty at his expense during the progress of this business which he had tried to operate during the yea rs. I have to admit I saw this through settling several of his scores...in process of continuing what had to be done.
"But, the men of that generation were simply sitting ducks for the slap-happy crowd that came up with the two wars, you know. The times changed...It was a different generation. They dealt by the word, not the written agreement or with lawyers. H e would not deal with a lawyer. Repeatedly, as he went through history, there were occasions where he was taken advantage of because he did not have faith in lawyers. He would rather forget it.
"This created an almost impossible condition which my father fought for the rest of his life. When he died - and in my opinion - considerably from the conditions resulting from the Depression. You see, this fellow took off and immediately followe d the Depression which was followed by the recovery of the late 'thirties, and then the War. It was enough to knock a stronger man out. He was eighty-two when he died. I think it had considerable to do with his death. The strain and this disappoin tment, you know?"
The census of 1930 finds William K McFarlin, age seventy, living alone at 120 Harrison Street, East Orange, renting for $120 a month. He reports that he is married, was born in Ohio and was currently occupied as a construction engineer.
During 1935 to 1937 he was occasionally invited over to his son Donald's home to visit with Donald, wife Peggy and their little daughter Alison and baby son Peter. He took his 1936 Thanksgiving dinner there, (with their little dogs and cat at hi s feet getting turkey scraps). "We played rummy too, and had a good time." (Peggy McFarlin letter)
Kirk continues, regarding Mrs McFarlin's financial support from William and the Rife company..."Now, this I did want to say to you, which I think is a matter of great interest. As my mother's condition became more and more difficult, it becam e - I had tried to stay out of this affair - I had spent years trying to keep it together and when it failed, I let it go. I mean I stayed away from it. I supported my mother, which I thought was the right thing to do. But, as the years went on, i t became necessary, as a matter of fact, I was the fiscal agent, everything came through me. My father did his best to offer support..." (to wife Margaret) "...until the time when he passed away. But we came to have considerable respect for each o ther. We used to visit him down at this little hotel. I'd often stop there on a saturday afternoon. He had a room. He was very happy because he could have his food, he could have everything and there was this room.
"He had three things in that room outside of the furniture, most of which they had furnished. Let me think, he had a bible, he had a dictionary, and he had an atlas. That was the furnishings of his room. He, of course, was always reading, he woul d get a book, but he would pass it on, or return it where it came from."
WILLIAM'S CHARACTER
"But, I have thought that any man who has mastered himself to the point of disposing of all of his - everything worldly - was something really extraordinary.
"He was a tremendous reader, he had definite characteristics. He was a great naturalist, tremendously informed. He had been a very expert golfer in his time...He was a very gregarious person. He had many, many friends and he was highly esteemed b y an awful lot of people... but when it came to politics, I guess he and I were somewhat the same, we never took it seriously... He was always a decent man, but to my knowledge never really had a (church) affiliation...
"He was an extremely social person...but he went more to the company of men. Of course, you see this thing (living together with his wife and socializing together) was cut off when he was sixty - about the time of this break and thats a hard tim e to judge.
"His hair was a very dark brown, not black, (later) his hair was white... He always had good color and he had extremely strong, blue eyes...In later years he suffered from cataracts. He had one eye repaired...I did hear he had had a heart attack , but I was never told about it. Outside of this eye trouble, that was all I knew of. He was a very strong man...and was six feet, but he was heavier than I am, even when he died, he was heavier. (than Kirk's 160 lbs)
"Eventually he passed away very quietly and very quickly, hurrying up a pair of stairs to take a train to his office, at the age of eighty-two. Bang, just like that."
PASSING
William Kirk McFarlin died unexpectedly on a Monday morning at the Brick Church railway station platform in East Orange. He was on his way to work, as usual. His son, Charles Kirk McFarlin, of Delwick Lane, Short Hills, New Jersey, gave informatio n for William's death certificate in 1943, saying William was a mechanical engineer, living at Hotel Alvord, East Orange, New Jersey, born March 12, 1860 in Coitsville, Ohio, son of Anderson McFarlin and Sarah (Patty-Betty?) Jane Kirk, both born i n Coitsville. The medical examiner gave reason for death as, "Sudden death on Brick Church Station platform; Cardiac failure, arteriosclerotic heart disease, Dec 6, 1943, 8:20 am." William was cremated (and buried?) at Rosehill Cemetery, Linden, N ew Jersey, December 9th, 1943.
FSID LKD7-N4R
(Research):Family Tree DNA (www.familytree.com)
Family Tree for Mr. Peter Folsom McFarlin
Whenever asked by Peter in later years, his mother, Peggy McFarlin and his aunt Mary (Folsom) Applegate always spoke highly of his grandfather William and were sorry not to have continued contact over his remaining years, from 1938 to 1943.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
(# 1) McFarlin; 1966 - In October, while living in Riverdale, NJ and working at Alpine Geophysical Associates in Norwood, NJ, PFM first ever looked up (and 'phoned) his uncle Kirk and aunt Polly McFarlin. This was followed in November by a visit f rom PFM to the McFarlin's home on Delwick Lane in Short Hills, NJ. At that time, uncle Kirk gave PFM a small amount of data and information.
(# 2) McFarlin; 1974 - Many of the McFarlin (McFarland) births, marriages, and deaths, with the names, are from the 1832 William McFarland bible, presented to his grandson, William Kirk McFarland by Wm K's mother, Sarah (Kirk) McFarland, March 9 , 1877 (1897?). Photocopies of the vital records pages in that bible, plus copies of other vital record notes, photos and letters, were given to Peter F McFarlin in 1974, by his uncle, Charles Kirk McFarlin, in Short Hills, New Jersey, who had th e bible and notes in his possession at that time.
(# 3) McFarlin; 9-10 October, 1974 - Personal conversations between PFM and Kirk and Polly McFarlin at their home in Short Hills NJ. These were willingly taped and later transcribed to text. Occasional letters from Uncle Kirk to PFM followed betwe en 1967 and March of 1977, one month before Kirk died.
(# 4) Ohio State University; March, 1971 letter to Peter McFarlin
(# 5) History of Mahoning and Trumbull Counties; Williams; 1882 v 2
(# 6) Rife Hydraulic Engine Manufacturing Co, Millburn, NJ; 1965, Water pumps driven only by the water's gravity power.
OTHER SOURCES
-1860 census; Coitsville, Ohio p 13 with his father Anderson McFarland (William K's age 4 months, born in Ohio)
-1870 census; Coitsville, Ohio p 107 with his father Anderson McFarland (William's age 9, born in Ohio, attending school)
-1880 census; Coitsville, Ohio ED 95 p 89 with his father Anderson McFarland (W K's age 20, son, born in Ohio, both parents b in Ohio, attending school)
-1885 census; Kansas, White Cloud, Doniphan co p 2; Wm Mcfarland sic a 25, single, b Ohio, came from Ohio to Kansas, residing at 30 yr-old widow Cora VanBuskirk's rooming house, with her daughters; Anna 14 and Edith 10, and; Thomas Cecil a teache r of Ohio a 30, James McConnor a clerk of Missouri a 18, George Westfall a boat captain of Kansas a 25, and Lucy Moore a cook of Kansas a 18.
-1890 city directory; Kansas City 1890/1891; "William McFarlin r 122 Reynolds avenue"
-1891 marraige register #2 Illinois State board of Health p 296; marraige license # 7511; Wm Kirk McFarlin and Margaret W Wiltsie.
-1900 census; East Orange, Essex co, New Jersey ED 180 p 201(his age 39, born in Ohio March 1861, m 9 yrs, Chief Eng Delaware, Lackawanna and Western RR, renting house at 16 Hawthorne Ave)
-1893 city directory; Davenport, Iowa;
-1910 census; East Orange City, Essex co, New Jersey ED 163 p 266 (his age 50, m 19 yrs, born in Scotland, b parents b Scotland, nat 1885, manager of railroad, working, owns home free of mtg at 180 Glenwood Ave)
-1920 census; East Orange, Essex co, New Jersey ED 31 p 70 (his age 50, born in Scotland-overwritten by Ohio, b parents b in Ohio, working as a Railroad Contractor employer, owns home free of mtg at 170 Eastwood St corn of Glenwood Ave)
-1930 census; East Orange City, Essex co, New Jersey ED 376 p 167 (his age 70, still married, married at age 30, born in Ohio, both parents b in Ohio, working as a Construction Engineer for highway, rents with 7 other households at 120 Harrison St , for $112/month)
-1943 New Jersey State Department of Health; death certificate
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1860 - 1943 (83 years)
