California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


JAMES HENRY CLAY McFARLAND. Prominent among the successful citizens of Tulare county, 
Mr. McFarland occupies a place of importance as a horticulturist, as well as rancher and 
stockman. In 1891 he purchased his present property, consisting of eighty acres located four 
miles south of Tulare, and he has since devoted his time and attention to its improvement and 
cultivation. Born in Springfield, Mo., August 19, 1849, ne i s tne youngest child in a family of 
three sons and five daughters, all of whom attained maturity though only five are now living. 
His grandfather, Jacob McFarland, a native of North Carolina, took his family to Cooper coun- 
ty, Mo., in which state William McFarland, the father of James H. C. McFarland, spent the re- 
mainder of his life. In manhood he followed the occupations to which he bad early been trained, 
becoming a farmer and stockman on property located five miles from Springfield, where his 
death occurred in 1863. In bis political affiliations he was a stanch Whig and a supporter of the 
Union, and upon the breaking out of the Civil war he organized the first Home Guards in the 
county. His wife was in maidenhood Martha Roberts, a native of East Tennessee, whose father 
John Roberts, took the family to Missouri, locating first in Cooper county and later in Springfield, 
where his death occurred. Mrs. McFarland died in 1880. Of her three sons all volunteered their 
services to the Union : George, now a resident of Springfield, serving in a Missouri regiment ; 
John, also a resident of Springfield, serving in the Eighth Missouri Cavalry ; while James Henry 
Clay McFarland, no more than a lad in years, was mustered into service in the Fourteenth Mis- 
souri Cavalry, in Company F, at Springfield, in March, 1865. 

James Henry Clay McFarland was reared to young manhood upon his father's farm in Missouri, 
attending the district school until taking up the duties of manhood, which came early in the 
pioneer days. After his enlistment for service as a soldier his regiment was sent west for 
frontier duty against the Indians in western Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. A battle was 
fought at Salt river with the Cheyennes and Comanches, who were defeated, the army con- 
tinuing in that location until the government made a treaty on the site of Wichita, Kans. In 
November, 1865, Mr. McFarland was mustered out of service at Fort Leavenworth, being dis- 
charged at St. Louis. Then just a little more than seventeen years old he returned to school for 
a time, shortly afterward beginning farming and stock-raising for himself. He located upon a 
farm of eighty acres five miles from Springfield, and conducted the same with success until 1887, 
when he came to California and located in Tulare county. In 1891 he purchased his present prop- 
erty, the first purchase consisting of twenty acres, to which he later added sixty acres. Twenty-
nine acres of this property are in orchard and forty-five in alfalfa. Until recently he engaged in the 
dairy business, but this interest he has now disposed of. In addition to this ranch he owns 
three hundred and twenty acres of the bayou three miles from Tulare, used for stock-raising. 

Near Springfield, Mo., Mr. McFarland was united in marriage with Martha Wharton, a native 
of Greene county, Mo., and daughter of Emsley Wharton, who moved from North Carolina to 
Missouri as an early settler and there his death occurred. During the Civil war he served 
in the Eighth Missouri Cavalry, U. S. A. To Mr. and Mrs. McFarland have been born two children, 
Clara, the wife of W. C. Abercrombie, of Tulare, and Charles, engaged in stock-raising and 
dairying six miles south of Tulare. Mrs. McFarland is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. In his political convictions Mr. McFarland holds himself independent of party 
restrictions, giving his support to the man whom he considers best qualified for public office.