For the months of October and November, I’ve been focusing on Kansas and Missouri families. One county of interest is Johnson County, Missouri. I was fortunate enough to visit both the Midwest Genealogy Center in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, as well as the Mary Miller Smiser Heritage Library in Warrensburg, Missouri. (Shout out to Joyce who was very helpful at the Mary Miller Smiser Heritage Library!)
This week, the information I found filled in some blanks about a family that I haven’t had much success in researching in the past. The family in today’s post is Bart’s family. Specifically, his paternal 5th great grandparents – George William and Sarah (JACK) McFARLAND. The line of descent goes from George and Sarah to their daughter Sarah who married John BARKER. Then to Sary’s daughter Bethena BARKER who married Francis DEWITT. Then to Bethena’s son Milo (more about Milo), and Milo‘s daughter Lucille who married Dee Barton WILLIAMS and on down through the WILLIAMS’ family to my husband. I’ve linked each person to blog posts I’ve written about them so if you want to know more, click on an individual’s name above and you will be magically transported to other blog posts about this family. Don’t forget to make your way back here and read this post, though!
Before Johnson County, Missouri
George McFARLAND and Sarah JACK married in Jefferson County, Tennessee. I certainly don’t know everything about this family and am still sorting out what I do know. However, I have some very reliable and well-researched information from a website that indicates that the couple’s first child was born in December of 1792 and the couple married in January of 1793. I’m not sure if the baby was actually born out of wedlock, or the year is wrong on the baby’s birth, or perhaps George was married to a woman who died shortly after giving birth and he quickly remarried to Sarah. The website I mentioned also doesn’t say one way or the other how it all went down.1
In any case, the website has tracked the family from Tennessee, through North Carolina, into Missouri. The family settled in Missouri sometime between 1804 (when George sold his land in North Carolina to a family member) and 1819. What I found this past weekend while researching helps to nail down a little bit more of their migration pattern. I found two of George and Sarah’s children in the Missouri, History of Johnson County, 1881.2
George and Samuel McFarland
George is mentioned first and the history gives his birthdate so I know I have the right George. This is important because the McFarlands tended to re-use first names and they moved from state to state in a group. The text also specifically states that we’re talking about the George who is the brother of Samuel. The most valuable information comes in the detailed migration pattern of the family. It states that both George and Samuel were born in Tennessee. George and Samuel came to Missouri Territory in 1816 with their parents and siblings. The family settled near Otterville in Cooper County, Missouri. About 4 years after they arrived, the moved again to Sni-a-bar Creek in Lafayette County, Missouri. In 1843, the entire family migrated to Centerview, Johnson County, Missouri. The family settled about 2 miles east of the depot in Centerview. The location is specified as the depot location in 1881. I don’t know if the depot changed locations but the book was specific as to the “current” depot location.
Samuel purchased 400 acres of land and stayed in the area until 1850 when he moved to Texas. The book says Samuel died in 1861 but it doesn’t say where. (Just for your information, there are some sources that state he died in 1851 and some say 1861. There are also differences in his death/burial location. The differences being some sources say Texas and some say Missouri. His burial appears to be in Sluder Cemetery and a photo of his stone from Find-a-Grave is below.3) Toggling back to the Clan MacFarlane website, they show that Samuel died 11 March 1861 in Burnet County, Texas. An interesting tidbit that I found in the Johnson County history book states that Samuel McFARLAND was one of 2 men to make the first improvements in “the old town of Chilhowee”. Chilhowee was laid out in 1857 and was a “thriving” town up until the Civil War. Just as a point of reference, Johnson County, Missouri is on the Kansas-Missouri state line and just across the state line during the late 1850s to early 1860s were the massacres and other events that led up to Kansas being nicknamed “Bleeding Kansas”. For that history, see my previous blog post, Bleeding Kansas. It was a tumultuous time in that general area.
George was with the family in 1843 when they came to Johnson County. He settled about 2 miles south of the then-present day (1881) site of Centerview. The book states George died “sometime before the war”. Elsewhere in the book it states he died in 1862 in Chilhowee Township in Johnson County, Missouri. Again, toggling back to the Clan MacFarlane website, it says George died 23 April 1863 at Post Oak, Johnson County, Missouri. The Clan MacFarlane website lists George as being buried in Sluder Cemetery in Centerview. The Find-a-Grave website confirms this and has a photo of the stone.3
One of things I most loved about the piece on George was that it described his personality. The 1881 book stated,
He was given to quaint, dry expressions, which were wont to produce great merriment among his friends.4
I took a quick drive around Centerview this past weekend. I saw no sign of the depot. I did drive down Depot Street to check it out. I have no idea if the depot was in town or farther outside of town. I also haven’t looked at plat books so I wouldn’t be able to figure out where exactly George lived.
NOTE: After getting home from my trip I found some maps I wasn’t able to find while I was on the road. Here is a map of Centerview, Missouri, from early on – likely around the time the McFARLANDs were there. The maps were found on a blog post by the Johnson County, Missouri Historical Society. The post even mentions the McFARLAND family. If you want to read it or you want to see unmodified copies of the maps, you can click the line in the Resource section at the bottom of this post.5
The section of the map above has the old depot circled in red at the top of the map. It was located in between the two tracks. The two tracks are in between North Depot Street and South Depot Street. Below is a larger map showing all of Centerview. The location of the old depot is marked with a red arrow.
A couple of additional bits of information in the Johnson County, Missouri history book are the fact that for the family whose religious persuasion was mentioned, they were Presbyterian. There was also the mention of a white sulphur spring “on McFarland’s farm near the mouth of Post Oak, in Warrensburg Township. This seems to be somewhat close to where the McFARLAND brothers owned property so it’s possible this is describing a spring on their property but I can’t prove whether it is or it isn’t. The white sulphur springs were described in two different places. One description states the springs are 3 miles north of Warrensburg on Mr. McFARLAND’s farm and the spring, “boils up from the bottom lands one-half mile west of Post Oak.”6
If this is George or Samuel McFarland’s land, that at least gives us a little more information about where to look for his place. The brief article goes on to describe the white sulphur and how the sulphur water affects the land.
To recap, my initial find was the 1881 History of Johnson County, Missouri. Once I began writing this blog post, I found other resources listed below. One of the things that was so exciting about this find is that it may also help unlock the movements of Bart’s paternal 4th great grandparents, Dr. John BARKER and Sarah (McFARLAND) BARKER. Sarah was the sister of George and Samuel. I believe John went to Texas with his brothers-in-law and was gone a similar amount of time. I believe he also probably returned with part of the family group. I’ll be looking into that next.
Before I close this post though, I want to encourage you to go to the Johnson County Historical Society blog and look around. There are several of their posts that mention the McFARLAND family. The Chilhowee post explains a lot about why and how George McFarland (the son) went to Chilhowee. Be aware that it only calls him “McFarland” so you have to go in with the knowledge that it’s talking about George based on the evidence presented here in my blog post. I also discovered that as of 2024, the original McFARLAND home is still standing! I can’t wait to go back and find it.7
The Historical Society’s blog post about the history of Johnson County mentions George McFARLAND. Number 8 on the resource list will give you the link to that post. There is one other of their posts about the community of Knob Noster that mentions a McFARLAND but I can’t place that person yet in the family. You can find the link to that post at number 9 on the resource list below.
Final Thoughts
So…welcome to Clan MacFarlane. Embrace your Scottish heritage. Use it as an excuse to go to a Scottish Highlands event next fall. This line also extends back into Ireland so keep that in mind the next time St. Patty’s Day comes back around. Mark your calendars now and celebrate your heritage.
Based on my research this week into this family, it appears they were well connected with influential people including governors, senators, and local wealthy businessmen. This research find energized me. I’ve been researching so long that it’s a lot harder now for me to find new information, so something that moves me forward a little bit is definitely welcome.
I hope you enjoyed the post. I’m hoping to get a photo of the McFARLAND home soon. I’ll share it when I get it.
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Resource List
“Clan MacFarlane Worldwide Genealogy.” The Home of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://genealogy.clanmacfarlane.org/getperson.php?personID=I29599&tree=Mac1.
Kansas City Historical Society. The History of Johnson County, Missouri, Including a Reliable History of the Townships, Cities and Towns. Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Company, 1995.
Find a Grave. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14656973/george-mcfarland.
Kansas City Historical Society. The History of Johnson County, Missouri, Including a Reliable History of the Townships, Cities and Towns. Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Company, 1995.
“Centerview.” Johnson County (MO) Historical Society, January 9, 2024. https://jocomohistory.org/centerview/.
Kansas City Historical Society. The History of Johnson County, Missouri, Including a Reliable History of the Townships, Cities and Towns. Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Company, 1995.
“Chilhowee.” Johnson County (MO) Historical Society, August 12, 2024. https://jocomohistory.org/chilhowee-2/.
“The Story of How It Was and How We Got Here.” Johnson County (MO) Historical Society, September 16, 2024. https://jocomohistory.org/the-story-of-how-it-was-and-how-we-got-here/.
“Knob Noster.” Johnson County (MO) Historical Society, November 14, 2024. https://jocomohistory.org/knob-noster/.
