NORTHUMBERLAND — A plain, three story, gray-painted brick building across Queen Street from the post office was once the home of John McFarland, an Irish immigrant who came to Northumberland in 1860 and lived there until his death in 1873.
His great-grandson, Barry McFarland, has written an interesting book about his ancestor’s life, relying heavily on meticulous diaries John McFarland kept between 1859 and 1870.
The elder McFarland came to this country in 1847 at the age of 18, a refuge from the terrible potato famine in his native Ireland. By sheer grit and hard work, he became a successful businessman and was quite well-off by the time he died in 1873.
Barry McFarland, a retired industrial arts teacher, spent 19 years working on this book. Always interested in history, he had heard that John McFarland’s diaries had been preserved, but he didn’t know by whom. After several false starts, he learned that Ruth Billmeyer Zimmerman, of Lewisburg, also a descendant of John McFarland, had received the diaries, passed down through her side of the family.
“When I finally met her, she had the diaries in a shopping bag,” McFarland recalled. “She laid them out on her kitchen table, and I was amazed to find they were in immaculate condition.”
Unlike old family records that are often smudged or water stained, cracked and brittle from years of storage in attics or cellars, the McFarland diaries are complete, and every page is readable, he marvelled.
John McFarland landed in Philadelphia and apprenticed with a grocer, then moved to Schuylkill Haven, where he married. In 1854 he became an American citizen and in 1858 became a partner with James Sheppard of Sunbury, purchasing the Locust Summit Mountain Colliery near Mount Carmel.
He remained in the coal business for the rest of his life, brokering coal mined throughout the anthracite region, shipping coal by canal boat, railroad and horse and wagon to customers all over the east coast. In 1860, he moved his wife and growing family to Northumberland.
The McFarland diaries include entries about his business dealings as well as his family life. He traveled extensively for his business, and had some close calls. His entry on Feb. 27, 1865, notes “Spent the day in Philadelphia. Left there by 8:30 p.m. train for home. Accident on the Pennsylvania Railroad. Sleeping car which I was in burned up. Had a narrow escape. One mile from Lancaster.”
Later that year, on July 1, he fell out of a third story window in a Baltimore Hotel and broke his leg. He recuperated in Baltimore until Aug. 15, conducting business from his bed by letter and telegram.
Unlike many immigrants, McFarland was wealthy enough to be able to return Ireland to visit his mother and other relatives, and while on that trip, also visit London and the Continent. His observations are recorded in his diaries.
Barry McFarland’s book includes copies of various pages from his ancestor’s diaries, along with photos and illustrations from newspapers and magazines of the era.
John McFarland died in Northumberland in 1873, at the age of 44, but his diaries remained for Barry McFarland to assemble an interesting look into the life of a man who certainly lived the American dream.
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Book chronicles Northumberland ancestor’s life
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