McFarland, James, a Presbyterian divine, was born in March, 1800. at Dumbarton, within the present limits of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. He entered the grammar school in Glasgow when seven years old. He next passed to St. Andrew's College, and afterwards to the divinity school of the Established Church, and was licensed to preach the Gospel at the age of twenty- one. During his college course he served as private tutor to an only son of a branch of the great familv of Argyle. At the age of twenty-six he became the' as- sistant and successor of the Rev. Dr. Mushett, at Shet- tleston, a suburb of Glasgow. Soon after he was called to the largest and most numerous congregation in the whole of Scotland at Aberbrotheck, a seaport and man- ufacturing town between Montrose and Aberdeen, situ- ate on the German Ocean. In the year 1835 Mr. Mc- Farland came to New York, and a little later went to Delaware County, settled by Scotch people, many of whom were the associates and schoolmates of his boy- hood. After a few years he removed to Ulster County, and in 1838 was called to be the pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of IJloomingdale. During his ministry in that place a beautiful church was erected in the neighboring village of Rosendale, principalh^ through his personal efforts. Unusual accessions were made to the membership, and he continued as pastor of the united congregations until the year 1844, when he was called to a large and flourishing congregation at Canajoharie. In 1848 he became the pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of English Neighborhood, where he remained seven years. After a brief visit to Canada, he returned to Ulster County as pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of Esopus and St. Remy Chapel. In 1861 he relinquished Esopus and St. Remy, and the next year became minister of a Presbyterian congregation in Gal- way, Fulton County. From this date until his death his ecclesiastical relations were with the Presbyterian body. In 1866 he left Gahvay, and became pastor of a congregation at Port Washington, a pleasant summer retreat on the Shrewsbury River, Monmouth County, N. J. He died JMarch 23', 1870. Mr. McFarland was distinguished for his scholarship. He was an excellent linguist. " As a preacher, INIr. IMcFarland was careful in his preparations, which he delighted in making even to the last. There was the careful use of language, brev- ity in treatment, and such use and application of the truth as was suited to excite the spirit of devotion, to awaken love and reverence, and to administer satisfying consolation to the penitent and mourner. His positions
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in the ministry attest popular qualities, his labors evince practical tact, and his success in gathorinp; men and ■women into the fold attest the blessing of the Good Shepherd upon his ministrations." (E. de P.)
McFailaud, James Hunter, a Methodist Epis- copal minister, ;vas born in Harrisburg, Pa., March 10, 1809; was converted in 1827, and soon after licensed to preach, and admitted to the Philadelphia Conference in 1830. His ministerial charges were Trenton Circuit, Es- sex, Bergen Neck Mission, I'laintield, Westchester, Bus- tleton, Dover, Elkton, Agency for Dickinson College, Newcastle, Columbia, Eighth Street, Philadelphia, pre- siding eldership of Reading District, Frankford, Borden- town, and Haverstraw, N. J. In 185"2, while a member of the New Jersey Conference, his health failed, and he was transferred to the Philadelphia Conference as a su- pernumerary. In June, 18G2, he was appointed chaplain of the United States Hospital in Philadelphia, and in this relation he prosecuted his ministry to the close of his life, March 23, 18G3. His last words were addressed to his wife: "Mother, I am dying! Lord Jesus, take me !'' IMcFarland was for more than twenty years a corresponding member of the Academy of Natural Sci- ences in Philadelphia, and was also a member of the Entomological Society. " He was a very faithful and devoted minister of Christ, and did the work of an evan- gelist succcssfulh% He was warm in his friendship, faithful to the demands of dut_v, and above everything that looked like a compromise of Christian principle." — Conference Minutes, 1863, p. 47.
McFarlane, Jessie, a female preacher of the So- ciety of Friends, was born about the year 1842 ; com- menced preaching at seventeen, at first to girls and ^^•omen, but later also to men. After eight years of this service, she Ijccame the wife of Dr. Brodie, of Edinburgh, and spent the remainder of her life in more private ac- tivity for the cause of her Master. She died about 1869. llcr preaching was impressive, her life one of uncommon purity and devotion, her death triumphant. She wrote a paper on the scriptural authority for the preaching of women, which is inserted in a memoir of her life, entitled In Memoiiam Jessie McFarlane, by J. (t. (Loud. 1872, 12mo). See Friends' Review (Phila.), 0>;t. 12, 1872.
McFerrin, James, a distinguished minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in Washington County,Va., March 25, 1784. His ancestors emigrated from Ireland to this country about the year 1740. His father was a Presbyterian, a ftirmer, a strict observer of the Lord's day, and esteemed for his sobriety, good judg- ment, and intelligence. Mr. JMcFerrin's educational ad- vantages were very limited, the years of his minority being passed on his fiither's farm, where, however, he ac- quired habits of industry, sobriety, and enterprise. On his tweutietli birthday he was married to Jane Camp- bell Berry ; shortly after which event he removed from Virginia to llutherford County, Tenn. The country was new, the settlements exposed to depredations by the Indians; hardships and dangers were consequently inseparal)le from .such a condition of things. Mr. Mc- Ferrin gave great attention to military tactics, in which he became thoroughly skilled, and, on the breaking out of the war with Great Britain in 1812, he was called into service, and, as captain of a company of volunteers, was engaged in a campaign against the Creek Indians under that renowned man, general Jackson. On ac- count of his brave conduct at the battle in which the Indians were defeated, Mr. INIcFerrin was elected colonel. In his thirty-sixth year his whole course of life was changed, the result of which was that he thenceforth de- voted himself to the work of the ministry. In 182o he became a member of the Tennessee Annual Conference, and was appointed to the Jackson Circuit, in the north- ern part of Alabama. He had charge of this circuit two years. The two subsecjuent years (1826 and 1827) he travelled the Limestone Circuit, and at the close of this