is well known to its citizens, who have found much in his life history worthy of emulation and admiration. He is ever fearless in defense of political or other principles that he believes to be right, and even those opposed to him acknowledge his loyalty and his integrity in matters of public concern. He is always progressive and affirmative in all that he undertakes. He never fights under cover, but always in the open, and has a large personal following who admire him for his loyalty to his friends and devotion to any cause espoused by him.

                                                 _______________

                                            JOSEPH  McFARLAND

 

    Joseph McFarland, interested in farming operations and also manager of the large elevator of Shaw, Garner & Company at New Canton, was born in this town on the 12th of November, 1866, and is a son of George and Irene McFarland, was an early settler and prominent and useful citizen of the county. He was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, February 11, 1810, and his father, Joseph McFarland, Sr., was born in the same house. In 1812 the great-grandfather of our subject raised a company of eleven men in his own county and came with them to America, offering their services to General Jackson in the war against England. They were equipped, entered the army and Mr. McFarland and four comrades were killed in the first battle of New Orleans

     Joseph McFarland, the grandfather, was reared in the parish schools of his native county and when fifteen years of age he entered business life as a cattle dealer, being interested with his uncle in that enterprise until 1841, when he came to America to attend to the matter of securing a pension for his mother, who was a soldier's widow. From Philadelphia, where he landed, he went to Boston, where he became ill with ship fever and was confined to his bed for five weeks. This illness completely exhausted his capital of one hundred dollars, so that when he had recovered he had but fifty cents remaining. His clothes, too, and his watch had gone to meet the expenses of his illness, but he found a friend in Joseph Allen, who provided him with a good suit of clothes. He then entered the employ of Levi Farwell with the intention of earning money to bring his mother to America, but her death occurred before the fulfillment of his plans. He continued in Mr. Farwell's employ until the latter's death, covering a period of ten years and two months, and with the capital which he had saved from his earnings, amounting to twenty-five hundred dollars, he then started for Illinois, eventually reaching Barry, Pike county. He found this largely an unimproved frontier district with only here and there a settlement to show that the work of cultivation had been begun. He purchased one hundred acres of land in Pleasant Vale township, where he lived in true pioneer style until he was able to secure the comforts and conveniences known to the older civilization of the east. His little cabin house was furnished in primitive manner and the first chair he ever owned remained in his possession up to the time of his death. It contained a calf skin seat and was supposed to be over one hundred years old. As the years passed by he prospered, becoming the owner of one thousand acres of valuable land in Pleasant Vale township, of which four hundred acres was fine pasture land. He was for many years extensively engaged in raising and shipping stock as well as in the cultivation of his fields. He erected a fine home upon his farm, occupying a commanding site upon the bluff and from the front door he could overlook seven hundred acres of his estate. The land adjoins the village of New Canton and although he paid for it but eleven dollars per acre it now constitutes one of the most valuable tracts in the county. He erected a large number of dwellings upon his place and did much for the substantial improvement of this part of the state. In politics he was a democrat and his religious views were in harmony with the doctrines of the Protestant church. His life was actuated by a laudable ambition and indefatigable energy in business affairs, leading to successful accomplishment and in his social relations he was prompted by a spirit of helpfulness and of gen-