Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 654 - 656 

JOHN G. MCFARLAND. The Wichita Foundry and Machine Shop, which was inaugurated by the father of the subject of this sketch, has become one of the important industries of the city, and a leading factor in its industrial interests. Mr. McFarland, who is now carrying it on, is but little over thirty years of age, and for a gentleman who has not yet reached the prime of life, has certainly distinguished himself. 

            Our subject was born in Lexington, Mo., June 28, 1858, and after completing a common-school education learned the machinist's trade of his father, Robert McFarland, who served a life-long apprenticeship at the business. Before coming to the West he had been superintendent of a large foundry in New York City and Cincinnati, and when first crossing the Mississippi filled the same position in St. Louis. In Cincinnati he was connected with the stove and plow manufactory of Hitchcock, Joy & Beardsley, who controlled one of the leading industries of this kind in the Queen City. The father of our subject, in 1877, came to Wichita and established the machine-shop and foundry which is now operated by his son, while the father is living comparatively retired from active labor. The latter has been a man prominent in the community wherever he has made his home, is a stanch Democrat politically, but during the days of the Rebellion was a firm supporter of the Union. When Col. Mulligan was stationed in Lexington, Mo., for the defense of the city against the rebels, Mr. McFarland proffered his services in casting the shot with which the troops were equipped, and which offer was gladly accepted. Before the war was over he enlisted as a Union soldier in Company A, 14th Missouri Infantry, being some of the time under Gen. Pleasanton, and was in the fort at Lexington when it was captured by Gen. Price. At the foundry, in Lexington he had just started to cast a thirteen-inch gun when the rebels captured the town, and they were obliged to leave and go to the fort.

             The McFarland family is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and the paternal great-grandfather of our subject, who was a native of Scotland, crossed the Atlantic, and settled in New York City during the period of its early history. There he married, and reared a family, and among his sons was Robert, the grandfather of our subject, who was born in 1798. The records show him to have been a youth of unusual promise, and by his own efforts he became highly educated, his tastes leading him into the medical profession. He was a practicing physician during the cholera scourge in New York City about 1832, but a few years later gradually abandoned his profession and engaged in merchandising in Bergen, N. J. He was a great lover of history, chemistry, and the arts and sciences, of which he obtained an admirable knowledge. He was a man of high moral principle, and as a citizen greatly respected in his community. He died in New Jersey in 1847.

             The wife of Robert McFarland was Miss Elizabeth Coultee, a native of Bergen, N. J., whose parents were of German ancestry but born in Canada. Her father was a large land-owner in the Dominion and a man of wealth. Mr. and Mrs. McFarland became the parents of nine children, only five of whom are living. William is connected with an iron foundry in Trenton, N. J., where he has a fine

property; the others are Robert, the father of our subject, and Bernhard, a resident of Quincy, Ill., and also an iron molder. Walter has charge of the Government works in New York City; he was educated at West Point, and served in the late war, being placed in charge of Fts. Philip and Jackson below New Orleans, where he was stationed when these were captured by the rebels. He also had charge of the surveying department of the Panama Canal during the administration of Gen. Grant. He obtained an enviable reputation as a military engineer, was given the title of Colonel, and held  many important positions under the Government. James is in the engineering department of harbors and rivers, as a clerk in the employment of the Government. All five of the brothers served through the late war and were strong Union men. 

            Robert McFarland was born in New York City, and began his apprenticeship at the foundry busness at the early age of twelve years. He became a first-class machinist, working in the same shop with John R. Roach, the famous ship-builder, who is recently deceased. In the year 1847 he visited the New England States, and the following year proceeded westward, traveling through Pennsylvania, Illinois and Michigan, taking in the Mackinaw Straits, visiting the Indians, and making the entire trip on horseback. He then went south to New Orleans and Galveston, Tex., and upon his return East took charge first of the Washington Iron Works in Pennsylvania. He next located in Philadelphia, where he was employed four years in a stove foundry, and then worked successively in Cincinnati, St. Louis and Lexington, Mo. In the latter place he established in business as we have already indicated. 

            In 1851 Robert McFarland was married to Miss Olive Edwards, and they became the parents of three sons - Robert, John G., of our sketch, and William. During the Rebellion and afterward Mrs. McFarland fully sympathized with the Union sentiments of her husband, and opened a negro school in the basement of her house in Lexington. This it is hardly necessary to say was carried on under many difficulties, and at one time, when the bushwhackers threatened to burn the town, the father was obliged to fly for his life, but the mother, probably on account of her sex, seemed to be exempt from the animosity of the rebel element. It may easily be imagined with what delight the Union residents of the city welcomed the United States troops when they entered. Mr. McFarland could now return, but was obliged to go armed, while his wife went on with her pious labors, and had about sixty-nine day scholars and twenty-four evening scholars. The colored pupils learned easily and paid their tuition promptly, and their honesty was illustrated in the fact that during the whole period of her labors as a teacher Mrs. McFarland lost only seventy-five cents by the delinquency of a scholar. Guns were frequently discharged under the windows and open threats were made, but the brave woman persevered, resolved not to abandon her good work unless life itself were really in danger. One old gentleman, an ex-slaveholder and bitterly opposed to the school, entertained the popular idea that the colored people possessed but little intellect, and would only be able to receive a certain amount of instruction. He had a cane with a hook on the end of it, and one day as a negro girl was passing near the school he reached out and hooked her around the ankle with the cane, and said "Bets, can you spell baker." The girl made little reply, but repeated the matter to her teacher, who instructed her the next time he asked her to spell baker to reply, "Yes, sir, f-o-o-l, baker." The opportunity soon occurred, and the laugh on the old gentleman could be heard for blocks around. 

            Mrs. McFarland continued her school for three years, and was instrumental in teaching at least 300 colored people to read and write. She was assisted in her expenses by a donation from some person unknown in Switzerland, who sent her at one time $600 in gold. The father of our subject has in his possession an iron shackle which he cut from the ankle of a fugitive slave. It weighs four pounds and was secured by a heavy chain. After the war many of the Southern people who had been at enmity with Mr. McFarland and his family changed their tactics and abandoned their opposition to the colored school. 

            The parents of our subject located in Wichita in 1871, the father having little capital, and thus being armed only with his indomitable will and the knowledge of his trade. He first employed himself with a team and three boys for $1.50 per day, and when establishing his foundry had only the crudest tools and appliances, making many of them himself, and was often obliged to wait for days because he could not obtain lumber. His first building was a frame structure, 16x24 feet, which he erected for $75. He was determined to keep out of debt, and first used an old horse for power, and which he rented. He made a furnace of stone and brick with the aid of a couple of hogsheads, and with these rude facilities fashioned his first castings. He has three pictures of his foundry during as many stages of its existence, and the present extensive plant forms a striking contrast to the first establishment. He is now the owner of real estate valued at $50,000. 

             The wife of John G. McFarland was formerly Miss Belle Roush, of Louisville, Ky., daughter of Elisha and Emma (Wickersham) Roush. The mother of Mrs. McFarland lives in Los Angeles, Cal. Mr. McFarland and wife have two children, viz: Hazel Kirk and Frank. In politics he votes the Republican ticket.

            John G. McFarland, of our sketch, purchased the foundry of his father in 1886, and having a thorough knowledge of the business, there is every prospect that he will be able to operate it with its oId time success. He has already accumulated a good property, and in the shop givens employment to five men ordinarily and sometimes in the busy seasons to ten.

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