The Arthur McFarland Family

Arthur McFarland (1788) is shown by Gary Morris in his well researched, web published account "Robert McFarland (1675-1740) of Ireland and Pennsylvania [1]" to be the son of Joseph (1761) McFarland and his wife Margaret White. He also shows Arthur McFarland as born in April of 1788 and died on November 22, 1834. He does not, however, show any additional children or his spouse, nor does he include the source information necessary to support his claims. The purpose of this article is to present the available evidence, and to further determine Arthur's (1788) wife and children.

The following chart shows only those individuals who play an important role in this investigation.

                         Robert (1675)
    _______________________|_________________________
   /                                                 \
Robert (1705)                                      William (1731)
  |                                      _____________|_____________________
  |                                     /             |                     \
William (1755)                Joseph (1761)        Benjamin (1765)         William (1763)
  |                 ____________|____________                                |
  |                /                         \                               |
Rebecca (1793) + John A. (1788)            Arthur (1788) + Jane Claypool   Arthur (1790) + Jane Junkin
               |                        ______|______
               |                       /             \
         William Madison (1814)  +  Eliza (1814)   Greene Clay (1812)
         Daniel Green (1834)     +  Martha (1834)  Sophronia (~1815)
                                                   Lucinda Mock (~1817)
                                                   Jesse Nathan (1819)
                                                   Rachel (~1823)
                                                   Mary Jane (~1826)
                                                   Margaret (1832)

Who Was the Father of Arthur McFarland

Before determining who the father of Arthur (1788) was, we will need to first prove that he was the father of Eliza (1814). Very little is known of Eliza (1814). One of the few sources that mention her is a biography written about her husband William Madison (1814), which is found in "The History of Adams County, Illinois [2]", 1879, page 929-930, where it states that William Madison (1814) and his wife, Eliza (1814), were "twin brothers children". The book was published while they were both still living, so we have no reason to doubt its claim. Also, according to Brenda Bennett, who is a great-granddaughter of Osa Ann Suter, who was in turn a granddaughter of William Madison (1814) and Eliza (1814), Osa wrote in a preserved family document, "twin brother's children do not a happy marriage make."

In another biography written about William McFarland (1814) found in the "Portrait and Biographical Record of Adams County, Illinois [3]", 1892, which was also published while he was still living, William Madison (1814), was born six miles east of Xenia in Greene county, Ohio on August 12, 1814, his father John was born in Tennessee, and his grandfather Joseph came from Virginia. It further goes on to state that John married Rebecca McFarland in Tennessee, came to Camp Point, Adams county, Illinois in 1832 and died there on July 24, 1840 in his 53rd year. These references are referring to John A.(1788) and his father Joseph (1761). John A.'s (1788) tombstone is found in the Hebron Cemetery [4] in Adams county, Illinois. His tombstone says he died at age 51 years, 3 months, and 22 days, which would make his birthdate April 1/2, 1789. In an uncredited bible record for his family published in DAR Magazine [5], Feburary 1986, page 123, his birthdate is shown as April 3, 1788. It is thought the tombstone is less accurate because it would have been dictated by one of his children sometime after his death, where the bible record would have been written by his parents at the time of his birth. The April 3, 1788 birth date is supported by Thomas Simms McFarland in his "Genealogy of the Joseph and William McFarland Branches of the McFarland Family 1675 to 1910 [6]", 1910, where Joseph's (1761) children are also listed along with their birth dates. We know this account is independant because there are disagreements in the birth dates for some of the other children.

Since William Madison (1814) was the son of John A. (1788), Eliza must be the daughter of John A.'s (1788) twin brother who must have also been born on April 3, 1788. The next step is to find someone matching this description. According to the transcriptions of the headstones at the Old Baptist Cemetery [7] in Cedarville, Greene County, Ohio, There was an Arthur McFarland who died on November 22, 1834 at the age of 46 years, 7 months, which places his birth date in April of 1788. We also find Eliza listed as a daughter in Authur McFarland's will dated November 1, 1834 and proved November 27, 1834.

It is necessary at this point to understand the migration pattern the McFarland family took to get to Greene county, Ohio.

From Morris' manuscript [8] we find that Joseph (1761) and William McFarland (1755), cousins, both originally from Peters Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, fought in the revolutionary war, after which they settled together in Rockbridge County, Virginia where they married the sisters Rebecca and Margaret White. Around 1783, Joseph (1761) removed to Greene county, Tennessee, where his son John A. (1788) was born. He remained there until about 1793 when he removed to Harrison county, Kentucky. About the same time, his father William (1731), his brothers William (1763) and Benjamin (1765), and his cousin/brother-in-law, William (1755), joined him there. These five gentlemen were the only McFarland families to settle in Harrison County, Kentucky in the 1790s. They began to migrate to Greene County, Ohio beginning with William (1763) who is found at Beavercreek township in 1803 and Ceaser's Creek Township in 1804. Arthur (1790), his son, was a young boy so he must have come with his father. According to George F. Robinson in his "History of Greene County, Ohio [9]", 1902, Joseph McFarland (1761) is found in Ross township in 1810, and in the same year, both John A. (1788) and Arthur (1788) are found in Greene county. Benjamin (1765) disappears after the 1810 census for Harrison county, Kentucky, and none of his children are known. The patriarch of the family, William (1731), died around the time of the migration; it is thought his wife survived him and died in Ohio. William (1755) remained in Harrison county, Kentucky until his death; his daughter, Rebecca (1793) married John Arthur (1788).

Arthur McFarland (1788) having been born while still in Tennessee, and haved traveled with his family to Kentucky and then Ohio, must have been the son of either William (1755), Joseph (1761), William (1763), or Benjamin (1765), as they were the only male McFarlands to have been in Greene county, Tennessee, to have been the correct age to be his father, and to have made the migration at least as far as Kentucky, where Arthur (1788) came of as before moving onto Ohio. According to Morris, William (1755) had a son William born in November of 1788, so could not be Arthur's father. William (1763) had a son Arthur (1790) with the same name. so he is also not his father. Since none of Benjamin's children are known, I think we can rule out the unlikely possibility that Arthur (1788) was his son. We are left then with Arthur (1788) being the son of only Joseph (1761).

It should be noted here that Arthur (1788) does not appear in either the bible record or in Thomas McFarland's list of children, both previously mentioned. As far as the bible record is concerned, which listed only 12 children, since it is only a transcription, we cannot know conclusively what was actually written. It seems likely that the transcriber saw the two names, John A. and Arthur, both dated April 3, 1788, and thinking the second a duplicate, collapsed the names, and then omitted one of the records. As far as Thomas McFarland's account, it cannot be readily explained. He stated that Joseph (1761) had twelve children, but only listed eleven, leaving off Benjamin who was born in 1795. Perhaps since Arthur (1788) and his wife both died relatively young leaving orphaned children, the family was simply forgotten as their nephews and nieces would have no living memory of them. Perhaps it was just another mistake leading to the confusion and controversy we arrive at today. In the "History of Greene County [10]", 1881, R. S. Dills says that Joseph (1761) came to Greene county with 13 adult children, which would account for Arthur (1788). Regardless, the evidence is clear that John A. (1788) had a twin brother which was left off both of these accounts.

Who Were the Children of Arthur McFarland

We have a complete list of his children from his will [11]. As further evidence of their names, we will show that several of them show their relations through other records. We have already proved in the previous section that Eliza (1814) is the daughter of Arthur (1788). In the volume "The Past and Present of Vermilion County, Illinois [12]", 1903, it states that Francis Gaines, the son of Alexander Gaines, married Mary J. McFarland, the daughter of Arthur McFarland, in Greene county, Ohio in 1845, after which in 1847, they removed to Vermilion County, Illinois. Alexander Gaines was a witnesses to Arthur McFarland's (1788) will, and an appraiser of his estate. However, there were two Arthur McFarland's of age in Greene County, Ohio at that time, Arthur (1788) and Arthur (1790).

John A. (1788) had, besides William Madison (1814), another son named Daniel Green [13] (1834). According to his obituary in "The Quincy Daily Journal [14]", June 28, 1905, Page: 8, in 1855 he married his "cousin" also, Martha McFarland (1834), she being the daughter of Arthur McFarland, of Green county, Ohio. We also know from her obituary [15], that she was born in Greene county, Ohio on August 25, 1834, and was left an orphan at the age of eight, after which she was reared by her brother. It also states that in 1853 she went to live with a sister in Vermillion county, Illinois, and then in 1854, another sister in Houston township, Adams county, Illinois. Undoubtedly, the sisters she went to live with were first Mary Jane (~1826) and then Eliza (1814). William Madison (1814) and Eliza (1814) can be found in the 1850 United States Federal Census for Houston township [16].

The last piece of this puzzle is to locate the brother which whom Martha (1834) was living in the 1850 census [17]. We find she was living in the household of Greene (1812) along with her sister Margaret (1832), aged 18 years. Greene has three children, Manersa, Arthur, and John. A photograph of the tombstone of Greene C. McFarland (1812) is available at FindAGrave.com where we find he died on March 12, 1862 at the age of 50 years, 1 month and 20 days, which places his birth at about January 23, 1812. We also find the tombstone of Jesse N. McFarland (1819) and his wife Manersa McFarland. It seem clear that if Greene C. (1812) named his daughter Manersa, that he and Jesse N. (1819) were brothers. Jesse's (1819) tombstone shows his birthdate as November 10, 1819, and his death date as December 20, 1880.

We now know of six of Arthur's (1788) children, with a large gap between some of them indicating that there were probably more unaccounted for. The easiest place to determine this, and to validate our assumptions is to check the census records for Arthur (1788).

We must bear in mind that there were two Arthur McFarlands present in Greene county, Ohio in the early days, and since Arthur (1790) is not found the Old Baptist Cemetery [18], or in the Old Massie Creek Cemetery (where his father William (1763) and his wife were buried), it is likely that Arthur (1790) left the area at some point. Starting with the 1820 census, because no census records were taken in Ohio in 1810, we find both Arthur McFarlands. One Arthur is living in Ross Township [19] with a wife, one son under 10 and two daughters under 10. This cannot possibly be Arthur (1788), because as we have already determined, he would have had two sons listed. Arthur (1788) is living in Xenia township [20] near Joseph (1761), his brother, John Arthur (1788), and another brother Robert. He is shown with a wife, three daughters under 10 and two sons under 10. Arthur (1788) therefore must have had two more daughters under 10 years of age besides those already identified.

Both Arthur McFarland's are again shown in the 1830 census records for Greene county, Ohio, as before, one in Ross Township [21] and the other in Xenia Township [22]. It is interesting that in 1830, the Arthur that was living in Ross seems to now be in Xenia, and the Arthur that was in Xenia now appears in Ross. Ross Township was created in 1811 from a portion of Xenia Township, so it is not entirely clear how far they each may have moved. Arthur (1788) is shown age 40 to 49 living next door to his brother Robert in Ross Township, and Arthur (1790) is shown age 30 to 39 living Xenia Township. Joseph (1761) and John Arthur (1788), also in Xenia, do not appear to have been very close to him as they are located 26 pages away on the census forms. Arthur (1788) is shown along with his spouse age 40-49, 1 son 15-19 (Greene Clay), 1 son 10-14 (Jesse Nathan), 1 female 15-19 (Eliza), 2 daughters 10-14 (which are those daughters seen on the 1820 census), 1 more daughter 5 to 9, and 2 more daughters under 5, 1 of which would have been Mary Jane. The list of children shown in the 1830 census record for Arthur (1790) is 1 son 10-14, 1 son 5-9, 2 sons under 5, 2 daughters 10-14, and 1 daughter 5-9. This roughly matches Morris' account [23] of his children.

Arthur (1788) was dead by the time the next census was taken, and Arthur (1790) is not found in the 1840 census for Greene county, Ohio.

Arthur McFarland's will [24] lists all of his children's names, and their order of birth which match the census records exactly. Here then appears to be a complete list of Arthur's (1788) children. Additional information is provided when known, though not necessarily documented here.

1. Greene Clay (27 Jan 1812 - 16 Mar 1862, 50y, 1m, 20d) m1. _____, m2. Evaline Hicks (11 Feb 1813 - 28 Dec 1884)
2. Eliza (3 Feb 1814 - 4 Dec 1882) m. 20 Nov 1837, William Madison McFarland (12 Aug 1814 - 11 Sep 1896)
3. Sophronia (abt 1815/6 - aft 1830) m. John G. Smith
4. Lucinda "Synda" Mock (abt 1817/8 - aft 1830) m. Joseph Smith
5. Jesse Nathan (10 Nov 1819 - 20 Dec 1880) m. 7 Sep 1842, Manerva/Manersa/Manersy Ann Harper (29 Sep 1820 - aft 20 Jan 1886)
6. Rachel (abt 1819 - aft 1840)
7. Mary Jane (abt 1826 - 20 Apr 1871) m. 27 Nov 1845, Francis Gaines (28 Jul 1823 - aft 1903)
8. Matilda (abt 1829 - aft 1840)
9. Margaret Ann (abt 1832 - aft 1850)
10. Martha (25 Aug 1834 - 7 Dec 1895) m. 19 Jul 1855, Daniel Green McFarland (26 Sep 1834 - 27 Jun 1905)

Who Was the Wife of Arthur McFarland

We are now left with the most difficult tasks of identifying Arthur's (1788) spouse. There are many published genealogies that make claims of one sort or another, but unfortunately, none of them provide any source for their claims, so I am not able to review their conclusions to see if there is some piece of evidence I have overlooked.

Robinson's "History of Greene County, Ohio [25]", page 353, states that the Arthur who died in November of 1834, Arthur (1788), married Jane Junkin on August 12, 1813 [26]. Robinson gives his death date as November 27, 1834 instead of November 22, 1834, but this is most likely because he used the date that his estate went to probate, perhaps being unaware of the date on his tombstone. Since I have not seen a photo of the tombstone, I have no way of determining if the transcription is actually correct. It should have no bearing on this discussion, so we will leave that mystery for another time. On page 469 [27] of the same source, It says that an Arthur McFarland married Martha Claypool and their daughter Sophronia married John G. Smith who had a son John R. Smith born November 18, 1839. This would put Sophronia born probably between 1815 and 1822, and her father then in the 1790s. In any case, Arthur McFarland must be of the same generation as Arthur (1790), so I would be tempted to conlcude that he married Martha Claypool.

Morris, on the otherhand, in his discussion on the descendants of Robert McFarland (1675), places Jane Junkin as the wife of Arthur (1790) and does not list a wife for Arthur (1788). Neither Robinson or Morris provide references to their original sources. So whom are we to believe?

Firstly, the original marriage record [28] for Arthur McFarland and Jane Junkin, August 12, 1813, does not indicate which Arthur McFarland married her. Next we have Arthur's (1788) will [29], which lists a daughter by the name of 'Suffrong'. The source we have for this is a secondary source, having already been transcribed from the original, so I am betting the 'g' at the end of the name was actually an 'ia' making the name Suffronia, which is more likely than not the same name as Sophronia. Also, Arthur's (1788) oldest son was born in January of 1812, indicating that he was probably married closer to his emigration from Harrison County, Kentucky in 1810. Lastly, we have a copy of William McFarland's (1763) estate sale [30], which took place in 1816. The sale shows that an Arthur McFarland bought much of the estate. Presumably this was then his oldest son, Arthur (1790). It is also seen the he and James Junkin bought books, and that he and Lancelot Junkin both bought bee stands. Lancelot Junkin, being the father of Jane Junkin. This 'seems' to tie Jane Junkin to Arthur (1790). It would appear then that Morris was correct, and Robinson incorrectly assigned Jane Junkin as the wife of Arthur (1788).

We still have no proof of this conclusion, so the next step is to see if any other information comes to light that may support or refute it.

Let us review the facts we know from our previous discussions on Arthur McFarland's (1788) wife. We know that her daughter Martha was left an orphan prior to 1850, and according to her obituary [31] when she was 8 years old, so around 1842. We also know she was living in 1834 when Arthur's (1788) will [32] was written. That's it! We know nothing else for sure.

The next step then is to check the 1840 census records for a widow McFarland and then check the local cemeteries for her tombstone. We are expecting to find either a Jane McFarland or a Martha McFarland.

In the 1840 census for Greene County, Ohio [33], we find a record for Jane McFarland, age 50-59, with one son 20-29, 1 daughter 15-19, 3 daughters 10 to 14, and one daughter 5-9. No other McFarland widows were found. Jane is living near G. C. and Robert McFarland. The son listed is undoubtedly Jesse Nathan (1819), the eldest daughter is Rachel (~1823), the youngest daughter is Martha (1834), and the other daughters are Mary Jane (~1826), Matilda (~1829), and Margaret Ann (~1832). G. C. is her eldest son Greene C. (1812), and Robert is her brother-in-law. Her three eldest daughters would have been married by then.

In the headstone transcriptions for the Old Baptist Cemetery [34] in Cedarville, Greene County, Ohio, we find a Jane McFarland [35] who died on March 20, 1846 at the age of 56 years and 11 months, being born then in April of 1789, making her the correct age for all the census records. The transcriptions are listed by family and hers is listed next to Arthur's (1788) making it clear that she was his wife. Martha (1834) would have been 11 years old, not 8 as was claimed in her obituary, but her obituary was written by her children, almost 50 years after her mother's death. It seems reasonable that Martha (1834) when relating this to her children many years later may have remembered her age at the time of her mother's death incorrectly.

It should be noted there are possibly two tombstones found in the Old Baptist Cemetery for Martha McFarland, for which neither could possibly be for Arthur's (1788) wife. A photograph of the tombstone for the Martha who died in January 11, 1873 specifically states that she was the daughter of Joseph (1761) and Margaret McFarland. Thomas McFarland in his list of children for Joseph (1761) indicated that that Martha McFarland never married. The second record for Martha McFarland, found in the tombstone transcriptions for the same cemetery, also claims that she is a daughter of Joseph (1761), but this is obviously not correct and was evidently added by the transcriptor without concern for the facts. No photograph has yet become available. The death date for this Martha is listed as December 3, 1867, which if true could not be Arthur's (1788) wife who would have been dead by 1850. The "Revolutionary War Veterans of Greene County Ohio [36]", published by Greene County Chapter, Ohio Genealogical Society, 1995, lists under the children of Lancelot Junkin and Martha Galloway, "Jaine, b. 24 Feb 1790; m. Arthur McFarland, 12 Aug 18??". This birthdate does not match that of the tombstone found for Jane McFarland.

So, the problem that we are left with is whether or not Jane McFarland is the same person as Jane (Junkin) McFarland or not. And if not, who is Jane McFarland and what happened to Martha (Claypool) McFarland.

It should be noted that there are many online genealogies showing that Arthur (1790) died on September 21, 1846 in Olena, Henderson County, Illinois and that his wife Jane Junkin died either on October, 30, 1843 in Warren County, Illinois or on April 11, 1858 in Linn County, Oregon. An Arthur McFarlin is found in the 1840 census records for Warren County, Illinois age 50 to 59 with a wife 50 to 59 and 1 son 15 to 19, 2 sons 10-14, and 1 daughter 15-19. It is possible that this is Arthur (1790), but not enough information is included in the census record to determine his wife's name, or even his children, since only his youngest children were included.

I have recently found online sources that claim there was a Jane Claypoole, the daughter of Jesse Claypoole, of Bourbon County, Kentucky, who was born in 1790 and married _____ McFarland. Jane's brother, Jonathan, is found in Harrison Kentucky in January of 1810 when he is listed, along with Arthur's (1788) uncle, Benjamin McFarland and Jane's brother-in-law John Berry, in the estate sale for Hezekiah Doan. In the 1810 census for Harrison County, Kentucky [37], Jane eldest sister, Margaret Claypool and her husband John Berry are found living 2 doors from Arthur's (1788) father Joseph McFarland (1761). In 1810, Jane is found still living at home in Stoner, Bourbon county, Kentucky [38]. We can see then that Jane has the correct name, was the correct age, and was found in the correct location to have become Arthur's (1788) wife. A brief search of the census records shows that Jesse Claypoole is the only person of that surname in Kentucky, and who was of the correct age to be her father (no Claypools are found in Greene County, Ohio). Jesse Claypoole's will [39] shows a daughter Jane, but no birthdate or husband's surname. I have not yet found the document, which the online sources base their claim on that shows that she married a McFarland. I expect the secondary source for all these claims is "The Claypoole Family In America" Volume II and V, by Evelyn Claypool Bracken. Unfortunately I do not have access to volume 5. Volume 2 [40] shows the connection, but does not list a source. One online source even shows a birth date of April 5, 1789 closely matching her tombstone, which calculates to be April, 1789. Arthur (1788) and Jane would have had to marry between the 1810 census enumeration date of August 7, 1810 and March of 1811, when their first child Greene Clay was conceived. Arthur (1788) was also supposed to have moved to Ohio in 1810. This marriage time frame fits well.

Assuming Jane married a McFarland in Harrison or Bourbon County, Kentucky around 1810, then there were only the sons of William (1755), Joseph (1761), William (1763) and Benjamin (1765) to choose from. We can eliminate all but Joseph's (1761) son Arthur (1788) and all of Benjamin's (1765) sons, because all the other sons' wives, if we can believe Morris, are accounted for. No children are known for Benjamin (1765), and he disappears after 1810. The circumstances overwhelmingly lead to toward Arthur (1788) anyway.

So if Arthur (1788) married Jane Claypoole, why did Robinson call her Martha Claypool, it would seem that perhaps he simply got her name wrong. That or one or the other was a middle name, as in Martha Jane.

Furthur research will need to be done to prove this connection conclusively, but based on what evidence we have it does seem the most likely scenerio.

Final Thoughts

I have recently received documents involving property of James McFarland [41] brought in suit by his sister Thirza (McFarland) and Uriah Lawrence against all other heirs of James McFarland. In the documents, all the children of Joseph McFarland (1761) are listed including both John (1788) and Arthur (1788). John (1788) is shown married to Rebecca McFarland and Arthur (1788) is shown married to Jane McFarland, and John's (1788) son William M. (1814) is shown married to Arthur's (1788) daughter Eliza (1814). All of rest John (1788) and Arthur's (1788) children are also shown. This, of course, supports the results of my research, and in effect obsoletes the need for most of it. The census records are still useful for obtaining approximate ages for some of Arthur's (1788) children. According to this suit, Rachel McFarland (~1819), Arthur's (1788) daughter was an adult (21 years old) on September 4, 1840, which may mean that she is a twin of Jesse McFarland (1819). The research done to uncover Jane Claypool is still valuable as this suit does not list her maiden name. We still have no proof of this conclusion, so the next step is to see if any other information comes to light that may support or refute it.

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