Susannah A. (Alexander) McFarland, b. 12 May 1809

GALBRETH, MCBETH, LEWIS, JOHNSON, HENDERSON, VAIL, DAVIS, SEYMOUR, KENDALL, SEELY

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 2/20/2004 at 12:21:56

This lady, who is living quietly at her pleasant home on section 1 in Van Buren Township, belongs to an old family which flourished in this country during the Revolution times, and she is still in possession of many old and valuable relics which money could not purchase. She was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, May 12, 1809, and was a maiden of fifteen years when coming to America with her uncle, cousin and aunt, Robert Galbreth and Thomas McBeth and their families, and they settled in Allegheny County, Pa. She was there reared to womanhood, and became the wife of Thomas L. McFarland. The latter was born in Allegheny County, Pa., and was the son of Andrew McFarland, a native of County Tyrone, Ireland, who came to America as a British soldier during the progress of the Revolutionary War. He was first made a Commissary Sergeant, later became a Lieutenant, and was finally taken prisoner at Ft. Duquesne. On account of threatened Indian hostilities he was removed with others into Virginia, and there took the oath of alligiance to the Continental Government. Afterward he became a Lieutenant in the American Army, and in due time formed the acquaintance of Miss Margaret Lewis, one of the celebrated Lewis family of the Old Dominion, and to whom he was married.

After the war was over he engaged in general merchandising and traded largely with the Indians, receiving their furs for his commodities. One morning a number of Indians came in friendly guise to grandfather McFarland, but as soon as he approached them they sprang forward and endeavored to capture him and carry him away. He discovered their intentions, and as one of the braves grabbed him he gave the canoe a kick and sent it out into the current of the river. This so enraged the savage that he drew a tomahawk and dealt the white man a blow on the head which felled him to the earth. His wife who had been brought up among the Indians of Virginia, suspected that one of them, attired as a white peddler, was merely a decoy, and had warned her husband not to go out. When she saw him fall she fainted, and upon recovering, the Indians, together with her husband had disappeared. She supposed they had murdered him and thrown his body into the river and so, disheartened, fled with her child through the February snows to seek safety at Ft. Duquesne, now Pittsburg. Three years later when her husband returned to her alive she could scarcely believe it was he. She had been almost crazed at the manner of his supposed death, and for a long time could scarcely be made to realize that it was himself and not his spirit which had returned.

Grandfather McFarland remained a captive of the Indians three years, and until the war was ended. They offered him his freedom in case he could escape unhurt when running the gauntlet, which he did. He spent his last years in Allegheny County, Pa., on his farm on the Monongahela River, near the city of Monongahela, and it is supposed was mostly engaged in farming pursuits. His son, Andrew, the father of Thomas L., was married in Pennsylvania, and to him and his wife there were born nine children. It is supposed they also followed agricultural pursuits in the Keystone State, where they likewise spent the remainer of their lives.

The subject of this sketch became a bride when a maiden of seventeen years, and having been for some time prior to this a pet of the McFarlands who lived near her own home, she heard many a tale of the scenes and incidents of Revolutionary times, in which the McFarland family bore so conspicuous a part. After marriage she lived with her husband at the old McFarland homestead until 1844, when they resolved to seek their fortunes in what was then the far West. Gathering together their personal effects and bidding adieu to old friends and associations, they started down the Ohio River, and thence came up the Mississippi as far as what was then Charleston, but is now Sabula. Between this and the place which they selected upon which to locate there was only one house. Mr. McFarland pre-empted a quarter section of land upon which he labored successfully, and afterward added to his real-estate until he was the owner of 200 acres.

Mrs. McFarland had been given a good education and was always greatly interested in schools. Mrs. McFarland's eldest daughter, Margaret L., is now Mrs. Johnson of Davenport. She officiated as a teacher over the first school organized at Green Island in 1847, and the first Sunday-School in Green Island was established by her. She is well versed in needle work and painting, and has also given instruction in these. The McFarlands were at first Presbyterians and afterward joined the Congregationalists in religion and are Democrats in politics. The old clock of Revolutionary times, and the first one to be brought from Pennsylvania to Iowa is still at the old homestead. It is a very large piece of mechanism, giving not only the hours and minutes, but the months and the changes of the seasons. It was manufactured by Thomas Hutchinson of Washington County, Pa., and when properly mounted stands nine feet high. It is one of the heirlooms which will probably be preserved for generations to come. There is also an old iron kettle in the family which was once the property of the old Revolutionary soldier, Lieut. McFarland, who cooked his meals in it during his army life. During the visit of Gen. LaFayette to America he presented the old Lieutenant with a snuff box which bore the inscription "Treaty of Ghent" and which is now in possession of Mrs. McFarland.

The subject of this sketch is the daughter of Lieut. William Alexander, an officer of the British army, a native of Tyrone, Ireland, though of Scotch descent, and who spent his last years in Ireland. The maiden name of her mother was Eliza Henderson. To Thomas L. and Susannah A. McFarland there were born the children whose record is as follows: Margaret Lewis is the widow of Elijah Johnson, and the mother of five children, three of whom lived to mature years, namely: Alanson, Mary A., and Andrew McFarland. Alanson died in California in 1888, leaving one child, a daughter, Margaret; Mary A. is the wife of John O. Vail, and the mother of two children - Elsie and Forest O.; (Andrew went to California at the age of nineteen, and is now engaged in silver mining. In those early days he was a great hunter, and frequently engaged in this sport with Gen. John C. Fremont.) Eliza married Israel Davis, and died at Sterling, Iowa, Feb. 15, 1865, leaving two children - Sarah and Susanna; John was married and died in California, and left two children - Susanna and Nowland; Anna St. Clair married David A. Seymour, and Mr. Seymour died Jan. 17, 1888, leaving five children, namely: Andrew, who died in Ventanas, State of Durango, Old Mexico, Jan. 9, 1880; Alfred M., Ezra D., Thomas A., died Aug. 12, 1873; and Herbert D. Mrs. Seymour now resides with her mother. Andrew went to California, and thence to Durango, Mexico; Alfred M. is married, and a resident of Whiteside County, Ill.; Ezra has charge of the homestead; Thomas A. died in infancy, and Herbert D. is at home. Miss Susan A. McFarland became the wife of C. C. Kendall, and resides at North Bend, Neb.; she is the mother of one child, Pearl, who also resides in North Bend. Thomas L. married Miss Emma Seely, and they reside in San Bernardino, Cal.; they have two children - Thomas L., Jr., and Emma St. C. Agatha L. McFarland died Oct. 20, 1862, and William A. McFarland is a resident of California.

Thomas L. McFarland, Sr., departed this life at the homestead in Van Buren Township July 22, 1873, at the age of seventy-six years. The homestead embraces 160 acres of thoroughly cultivated land with modern improvements, and the family is highly respected wherever known. Mrs. McFarland is a woman of much ability and energy, and is held in high esteem by her neighbors.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois)