THE
��GRANITE MONTHLY.
A NEW IIAMPSHIllE MAGAZINE
Devoted to Literature, Biography, History, and State Progress.
��YoL. YII.
��MAECH, 1884.
��:N'o. 4.
��.4SA McFARLAND.
��I!Y GEO. E. JEXKS.
��The portrait given in this number has a more stern expression than was habitual with its subject ; still it is so exact a likeness as to be at once re- cognized as that of Asa McFarland, the veteran editor and publisher of the New Hampshi)-e Sfatcstiian. Of the contributors to the Granite Monthly, which was established in June, 1877, he was the first to pass the boundary line of time. To the date of his death, he had held longer connection with the printing business in Concord than any other man, and he had filled a quarter century of service as editor and pub- lisher of the Statesman. His pen was in use to the last, contributing to this magazine in 1879 articles entitled " Il- legible Manuscripts in Printing Offices," " Early History of the Concord Press," and " Hymnology of the Churches."
Asa McFarland was born in ,Con- cord, May 19, 1804, and died in the house where he was born, December 13, 1879. He was of the fourth generation in descent front Andrew McFarland, who came from Scotland (where the name is usually McFarlane) •and settled in Worcester, Mass. His father. Rev. Asa McFarland, d. d., was a native of Worcester, the son of a farmer, and a graduate of Dartmouth College in the class of 1793. After sjraduation the father was for two years VII — 7
��l)rincipal of Moore's Charity School in Hanover, and then for two years a tu- tor in the college, which he also served later (1809-182 2) as a member of the Board of Trustees. His portrait Jiangs in the art gallery of the college.
He was called to and installed in the pastorate of the First Congregational Church in Concord, March 7, 1798, and remained in that connection until 1825. He married, September 5, 1803, Elizabeth Kneeland, of Boston, a woman of rare excellence and strength of character, who bore to him eight children. Of these three sons and four daughters were reared and edu- cated to positions of honor and great usefulness in there several spheres of life. A brother in Illinois, and a sister in Ohio, are the survivors of the fam- ily. The parents both died at the age of 58 years.
Asa was the first-born of the family, and his early education was superin- tended by his parents. His subsequent educational privileges were such as the schools of Concord could afford, sup- plemented by a brief period of study at Gilmanton Academy, where, among his classmates, were the late Hon. Wm. H. Y. Hackett, of Portsmouth, and Hon. Ira A. Eastman, of Manchester. Further .opportunities for study and re- flection were furnished by that poor
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