San Francisco County

Biographies

HORATIO McFARLIN

HORATIO McFARLIN, a rancher of San Joaquin County, residing in Oakland, was born in Carver, Massachusetts, June 3, 1830, a son of Samson and Polly (Shurtleff) McFarlin. The father, born in Plymouth county, Massachusetts, a son of Hewitt and Mercy (Tilson) McFarlin, both natives of that State, was a farmer and lived to the age of eighty four; his father, also a farmer, reached the age of eighty, and his mother was sixty at her death. His wife, Polly Shurtleff, died at the age of thirty-seven, the mother of ten children, of whom seven are now living: William Samson, a farmer on the old homestead; the subject of this sketch; Charles Dexter, a farmer in Oregon; Henry S., who was killed in the civil war, at the battle of Cold Harbor; one died an infant; Peleg, a manufacturer of ironware in Carver, Massachusetts; Jason B., in the same business; and a fourth son, Thomas Hewitt McFarlin, an iron-founder of Carver, Massachusetts, now deceased, left two children, Polly and Samson. The two daughters are Mrs. Myra L. Maxim and Mrs. Polly S. Cushing. The great-grandfather McFarlin was born in Plympton, Massachusetts, of Scotch parentage or descent.

H. McFarlin, the subject of this sketch, received his early education in his native town, being for a brief period a pupil of his kinsman, Dr. G. A. Shurtleff, now of Stockton, California. He learned the trade of wheelwright, beginning at Middleboro and finishing in Wareham, where he worked as journeyman until he left for California in 1853. Settling out with one comrade about March 1, he reached Peru, Illinois, by railroad, and St. Joseph, Missouri, by boat, by way of St. Louis. For the overland journey across the plains he was employed as one of the eight drivers of a cattle train, arriving in Sonora, October 5, 1853. Continuing with the herd until they reached their destination near Modesto, he thence came to Stockton, where he worked two or three months. In 1854 he engaged in farm work a few miles out of town, and in 1855 rented a farm and bought the crop. Having accumulated some money he went East in 1856, by the Panama route, and returned by the same in 1857. He resumed farming, buying a claim to 200 acres, which he sold the ensuing year at a loss. In 1858 Mr. McFarlin went to the Gopher Gulch in Calaveras county, near what is now Copperopolis. Remaining about a year he dug a three-pound chunk of gold, probably the largest nugget ever found there. In 1859 he engaged in the sheep-raising business, which he followed twenty years, having at one time over 8,000 head. In 1868 he began to buy land for pasture, mostly in San Joaquin county, where he still owns 4,000 acres, which are cultivated to wheat. He resided on his ranch ten or twelve years, but of late years has usually rented it for a share of the crops.

Going East again, Mr. McFarlin was married, in Plymouth county, Massachusetts, in 1867, to Miss Susan M. Atwood, born in Carver in 1846, a daughter of Sumner and Clio (Humphrey) Atwood; both are now living, the father aged eighty-three and the mother about seventy-three. Mr. and Mrs. McFarlin have had five children, all born in San Joaquin county: Myra H., in 1869; Herbert Samson in 1870, who was graduated at the Stockton high school in 1887, and is now a member of the class of 1891 of the University of California; Francis Horatio, born in 1874 and died in 1877; Ralph Atwood, born in 1878 and died in 1879; Rufus Cobb Freeman, in 1878, now attending school in Oakland. Mr. McFarlin came to reside in this city in 1887 for the better education of his children. Besides the visits to the East already mentioned, he made one in 1883, going and coming by railroad, which afforded a striking contrast to the plains thirty years before. Mr. McFarlin is a member of Charity Lodge, No. 6, I. O. O. F., of Stockton.

Transcribed by Donna L. Becker

Source: "The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 2, Pages 189-190 Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.

California Biography Project

San Francisco County

California Statewide

Golden Nugget Library