| Notes |
- 1 - Daniel McFarland, born in Thornhill. Scotland, came to America in 1785, and settled in Salem, on what is now the Samuel Beattie farm. He afterwards moved to Argyle, settled near Argyle Corners, and died, his remains being buried in the cemetery at that place.
By his first wife he had one son, John McFarland, already twenty-one years old when the family came to America. He settled first in Cambridge, on a farm about two miles west of Cambridge village, and afterwards in what is now Jackson, the old homestead being near East Greenwich.
By his second wife the pioneer Daniel had four sons :
David, who settled in St. Louis when it was only a village, passed his life there, and died at an advanced age in 1873 ;
Alexander, settled and died many years ago in Salem ;
Daniel. Jr., settled in Greenwich, and afterwards in Fishkill ;
James, moved to Ohio and settled near Columbus, - a man of note, holding many public offices, and a member of the Legislature for one or more terms.
In the original family there were no daughters.
("History of Washington County" published in 1878)
2 - Residence 1785 - Age: 52 Salem, Washington, New York, USA
Settled in Salem upon arriving in America
Residence 1785 - Age: 52 Cambridge, Washington, New York, USA
Settled first in Cambridge, on a farm about two miles west of Cambridge village, and afterwards in what is now Jackson, the old homestead being near East Greenwich.
Residence 1805 - Age: 72 Salem, Washington, New York, USA
(Research):No IGI records found for Name: Daniel McFarlane, Event: Birth, Event Range: 1730-1735, Father Name: Malcolm, Country: Scotland, Record Type: Birth, Baptism, and Christenings
On 9 October 2015 at 09:40, Sue Sheldon <sue.sheldon@gmail.com> wrote:
No, Terrance - I don't know which Thornhill. We got this information from the History of Washington County book published in 1878.
Here is a transcription:
Daniel McFarland, born in Thornhill. Scotland, came to America in 1785, and settled in Salem, on what is now the Samuel Beattie farm. He afterwards moved to Argyle, settled near Argyle Corners, and died, his remains being buried in the cemetery at that place.
By his first wife he had one son, John McFarland, already twenty-one years old when the family came to America. He settled first in Cambridge, on a farm about two miles west of Cambridge village, and afterwards in what is now Jackson, the old homestead being near East Greenwich.
By his second wife the pioneer Daniel had four sons :
David, who settled in St. Louis when it was only a village, passed his life there, and died at an advanced age in 1873 ;
Alexander, settled and died many years ago in Salem ;
Daniel. Jr., settled in Greenwich, and afterwards in Fishkill ;
James, moved to Ohio and settled near Columbus, - a man of note, holding many public offices, and a member of the Legislature for one or more terms.
In the original family there were no daughters.
The children of John, the oldest son, who settled in Jackson, were eleven, five of whom died young.
The six remaining were Daniel, John, William, Alexander, Mrs. Wm. Robertson, and Mrs. Robert Richardson.
A son of Daniel is Prof. John A. McFarland, who is now, and has been for nineteen years, principal of Washington Academy,
Salem.
This last Daniel mentioned is my 3rd ggrandfather. He married Jane Shiland and had James Stanley MacFarland. James Stanley married Francis Almira Bent and had my great grandmother, Grace Margaret MacFarland. Grace married Jasper Whitlock Sheldon and had my grandfather, Dwight MacFarland Sheldon I. Then my Dad is the II and my brother is the III.
Also in the book is an account of John A. McFarland, who was the older brother of my 2nd ggfather James Stanley MacFarland.
JOHN A. McFARLAND.
The ancestry of the McFarland 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.
I'd love to know if the account of the McFarland Clan in Scotland that is written in this book is accurate. I don't know who the author would have gotten the information from, since the book is written 100 years after Daniel arrived here in 1785.
Anyway, this is all we know and perhaps the book is in error and we have been barking up the wrong family tree! :)
Sue Sheldon
PO Box 1575
Shelton, WA 98584
360-427-3119 home
360-490-5925 cell
sue.sheldon@gmail.com
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1733 - 1810 (77 years)
