Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/139

MACFARLANE, Robert, editor, b. in Ruther- glen, near Glasgow, Scotland, 23 April, 1815 ; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 21 Dec, 1883. His early educa- tion was limited, and, after learning his father's trade, that of a dyer, he emigrated to the United States in 1836 and settled in Albany, N. Y., in 1840, where he became editor of a paper in the in- terests of the working classes. In 1848 he was ap- pointed editor of the " Scientific American," which post he held for seventeen years, but, being threat- ened with failing eyesight, he relinquished literary work in 1865, returned to Albany, and engaged in dyeing. In 1874 he retired, and thenceforward re- sided chiefly in Brooklyn. He revisited his native land twice and wrote sketches of his travels, also devoting himself to Scottish antiquities and to the history of Scottish emigration to this country. He was the author of " Propellers and Steam Naviga- tion " (New York, 1851 ; new ed., Philadelphia. 1854), and edited Love's " Treatise on the Art of Dyeing" (Philadelphia, 1868).

MACFEELY, Robert, soldier, b. about 1828. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1850, served as lieutenant of infantry in scout- ing against the Snake Indians, in the Yakima expedition of 1855, and against the Oregon In- dians. He was made a captain on the staff on 11 May, 1861, and was commissary for the state of Indiana, and afterward chief of the commissa- riat of the Army of the Ohio, and then of the Army of the Tennessee during the Vicksburg cam- paign and the subsequent operations until the close of the Atlanta campaign, after being com- missioned as major on 9 Feb., 1863. He received two brevets on 15 March, 1865, for faithful services during the war. After serving as chief of com- missariat at Cincinnati, Detroit, and Chicago, he was appointed commissary-general of subsistence, with the rank of brigadier-general, on 14 April, 1875, which office he still (1888) holds.

McFERRAN, John Courts, soldier, b. in Ken- tucky in 1831 ; d. in Louisville, Ky., 25 xVpril, 1872. He was graduated at the IL S. military academy in 1843 and assigned to the infantry. He served in the military occupation of Texas and the war with Mexico, being engaged at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. He was with his regiment on the frontiers of Texas and New Mexico until he entered the quartermaster's department and was made a captain on the staff on 20 Aug., 1855. Be- fore and during the civil war he was on duty in New Mexico, being promoted major and appointed chief quartermaster of that department on 30 Nov., 1863. In 1864-'5 he was Gen. James H. Carleton's chief of staff, and at the close of the war was bre- vetted brigadier-general. He was promoted lieu- tenant-colonel on 29 July, 1866, and served subse- quently as chief quartermaster of the Department of Washington and of the Division of the South.

McFERRIN, James, clergyman, b. in Washing- ton county, Va., 25 March, 1784; d. in Tipton county, Tenn., 4 Sept., 1840. He was of Irish Pres- byterian extraction, was brought up as a farmer, and, after marrying at the age of twenty, settled in Rutherford county, Tenn., where he was often en- gaged in combats with the Indians. After the declaration of war with England he was chosen captain of a company of volunteers, and marched under Gen. Andrew Jackson against the Creeks, was present at Talladega, and suffered great priva- tions during the campaign. Capt. McFerrin was elected colonel on his return, and for several years took pride in leading the best-trained regiment of the state troops. At the age of thirty-six he united with the Methodist Episcopal church, and on 25 Nov., 1823, was received into the Tennessee con- ference as an itinerant preacher. His ministry, which was in Alabama after 1828, and in western Tennessee after 1834, was attended with great suc- cess. — His eldest son, John Berry, clergyman, b. in Rutherford county, Tenn., 15 June, 1807 ; d. in Nashville, 10 May, 1887, was appointed a class- leader in 1823, licensed to exhort in 1824 and to preach in 1825, and joined the Tennessee confer- ence the same year. The next three years he spent on circuits in Tennessee and Alabama, and he was then missionary to the Cherokee nation for two years, six years in stations, three years presiding elder, and in 1840 elected editor of the " Christian Advocate." In this post he was continued till May, 1858, when he was elected book-agent. This office, with the further appointrrient of missionary to the Army of Tennessee, he held eight years. In 1866 he was elected secretary to the board of mis- sions, which office he filled till 1878. In that year he was again elected book-agent, and he continued in this office till his death. Randolph-Macon col- lege gave him the degree of D. D. in 1851. He represented American Methodism in the oecumeni- cal conference in London, England, in 1881, and he was at the centennial conference in Baltimore in 1884. His chief work was a " History of Method- ism in Tennessee " (3 vols., Nashville," 1870-'2). A memorial volume, edited by Rev. 0. P. Fitzgerald, is now (1888) in preparation. — Another son, Ander- sen Purdy, clergyman, b. in Rutherford county, Tenn., 25 Feb., 18i8, entered the Methodist minis- try in 1854, and has published " Sermons for the Times '" (Nashville, 1884), and " Heavenly Shadows and Hymns" (1887).

MacGAHAN, Januarius Aloysius, journalist, b. near New Lexington, Perry co., Ohio, 12 June, 1844 ; d. in Constantinople, Turkey, 9 June, 1878. His father died when the son was seven years old, leaving a farm on which the latter worked till the age of sixteen, attending school during the winter months. He went to Huntington, 111., in 1860, taught for two terms, then became a book-keeper, and, removing to St. Louis in 1864, followed the same calling after first passing through the course of instruction in a business college. He also wrote news-let- ters to the Hunt- ington " Democrat," gave public readings from Charles Dick- ens's works, and dur- ing his spare hours read law, which he intended to make his profession. In Janu- ary, 1869, he went to Europe, visited Lon- don, Paris, and oth- er places, and then spent many months in Brussels, where he

devoted himself to

the study of civil and international law, and perfected his knowledge of French and German. When about to embark for home he was engaged in the autumn of 1870 as special correspondent of the New York " Herald." He overtook the retreating army of Gen. Charles D. S. Bourbaki, and then went to Lyons and next to Bordeaux, whence he despatched a series of interviews with the leaders of the Republican and the Monarchical and Clerical parties that attracted much attention, and on the removal of the seat of the National government to