San Francisco County
Biographies
Thomas
Bard McFarland, of San Francisco, was born in the Cumberland Valley, near
Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, April 19, 1828.
His father, John McFarland, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and his mother
(nee Eliza Parker) was of English stock; but his ancestors on both sides were
born and lived in the United States and the colonies for several
generations. Thomas was educated at
Marshall College, then located at Mercersburg, and was graduated in the class
of 1846. He studied law at Chambersburgh, Pennsylvania, in the office of Robert M.
Bard, a very able and eminent lawyer, the father of Thomas R. Bard and Dr. Cephas Bard, now of Ventura county, California. He was admitted to the bar in November, 1849,
by that distinguished jurist, now deceased, Jeremiah H. Black, who at that time
was presiding judge of the district which included Franklin county.
Young Thomas crossed the plains in 1850 to California, where he has resided ever since. He tried his hand a little at “prospecting,” and found a claim which though very small was quite rich. Being captivated by mining, he followed that business for three years in the counties of El Dorado, Placer, Nevada and Yuba, and in the winter of 1853 he began the practice of law in Nevada City. In 1861 he was nominated by the Republican party for the office of District Judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District, and was elected for the full term of six years. The district was then composed of Nevada county alone. The constitutional amendments which were soon afterward adopted cut off his term at the end of two years. In 1863 be was re-elected without opposition, the district then being composed of Nevada and Placer counties. At the end of his second term in 1870, having served eight years as judge, he removed to Sacramento city, and resumed law practice. In 1874, without his solicitation, and, at the time, against his desire, he was appointed to a second term, but resigned a month or two afterward and was elected a member of the California State Constitutional Convention, which met in the fall of 1878. He took an active part in the debates and proceedings of that body. He opposed nearly all the new features of the present constitution, and was one of the fifteen members who voted against it on the final vote in the convention. He also opposed its adoption, before the people, making several speeches against it. He was Superior Judge for Sacramento county from December, 1882, until 1884, when he was nominated by the Republican County Convention, by acclamation, as a candidate for the place, and was elected by a very large majority for a full term of six years.
Judge
McFarland originally belonged to the Whig school of politics; but since the
first election of Lincoln he has been continuously an active, unwavering and
persistent republican. He is a
“stalwart” in the fullest sense of the word.
He always believed in the Republican party,
through evil and through good report, and his confidence in it was never shaken
by the assaults of its enemies, or the treachery of its friends. One of the strongest and most courageous of
Judge McFarland’s speeches was made in the California Republican State
Convention of 1880, against the resolutions instructing for Blaine and in
eulogy of Grant. It was made in the face
of an immense and hostile audience, but it commanded the closest attention, and
compelled hearty applause.
As
a jurist, Judge McFarland’s decisions and opinions stand high, and but a
remarkably small percentage of them have been reversed by the Appellate Court.
Judge
McFarland was married in November, 1861, to Miss Susie Briggs of New York, and
his family consists of his wife and one daughter.
Transcribed Karen L. Pratt.
Source:
"The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 1, pages 650-651, Lewis Publishing Co,
1892.
© 2005 Karen L. Pratt.