Biography of Robert William McFarlane, Sebastian Co, AR

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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed 
Publishing Co., 1889.
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page 1341

Hon. Robert William McFarlane, attorney at law and real estate agent, of
Greenwood, Ark., was born in Grayson  County, Tex., in 1858, and is a son of
Dr. Robert S. and Isabella C. (Norton) McFarlane. The father is of Scotch
descent, and was born in Tennessee July 4, 1821, and when about seven years of
age was taken to Jackson County, Ala., by his father, Robert McFarlane, where
he resided until 1840, when he went to Texas, and for  about two years was one
of the Texas Rangers. He then returned to Alabama, and from there moved to
Arkansas, locating at Dripping Springs, and two years later removed to He has
served as  justice of the peace a few years, and was elected to the Arkansas
Legislature in 1852, in which body he served  with credit. He has been twice
married, his first wife, Miss Norton, being born in Tennessee in 1831; she died
in  1866. By her he became the father of four children who lived to be grown.
He is the descendant of three  brothers who emigrated from Scotland to the
United States in 1716, two brothers settling in Virginia (from one  of whom he
is descended) and the other in South Carolina. Hon. Robert William McFarlane is
the third child  and the only son, and received his rudimentary education in
the common schools of Sebastian County, supplemented by a course in the State
University at Fayetteville, which institution he entered in 1876, and from
which he graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1882, the degree of A. M. being
conferred upon him two years  later. In 1877 he entered the teacher's
profession, his first term being taught in the Indian Territory, and  continued
that occupation [p.1341] four terms. After leaving college he became a disciple
of Blackstone, his  studies being carried on under the instructions of Hon. J.
S. Little, now circuit judge of the Twelfth Judicial  Circuit, and in June,
1885, he was admitted to the bar. He immediately opened an office and entered
upon the  practice of his profession, and has met with good and well-deserved
success. He is well versed in legal lore, and  is considered one of the leaders
of the legal fraternity in He is quite an extensive dealer in  real estate,
which, with his profession, brings him in a handsome annual income. He is a
Democrat in politics, and in 1885 was appointed school examiner of Sebastian
County, which office he filled to the satisfaction of all  for three years. Mr.
McFarlane had but $75 when admitted to the bar in 1885, and has since purchased
160 acres  of improved farming land and six lots in the heart of Greenwood,
upon which he has built a cozy cottage, out of  his savings in the law. He is
unsuccessful in politics, having, as he remarks, invested $1,000 in politics
without  any return in the last four years. He is a Master Mason, and is Past
Dictator of his lodge in the K. of H. In  September, 1885, he became editor and
proprietor of the Greenwood Times, but at the end of twelve months he  sold the
paper to H. T. Hampton, and has since confined himself strictly to the practice
of law. November 29,  1887, he was united in marriage to Miss Maggie Harris,
who was born in Illinois in 1864, and is a daughter of  David D. Harris, of
Mound City, Ill. She is a worthy and consistent member of the Episcopal Church.