Wood County, West Virginia    Biography of Robert L. MacFARLAND

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Submitted by Valerie Crook, <vfcrook@trellis.net>, April 1999
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 124

ROBERT L. MacFARLAND is president and general manager
of the Ohio Valley Publishing Company, one of the largest
publishing and printing houses in West Virginia. The tech-
nical facilities, the business organization, and the magnifi-
cent trade territory of the concern are in a large and im-
portant sense a direct tribute to the phenomenal energy
and wisdom Mr. MacFarland has put into the business.

He was born at Parkersburg November 14, 1883, son
of Leander B. and Mary J. (Adair) MacFarland, the
former from Pennsylvania and the latter from Maryland,
of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and both of whom settled in
Parkersburg, in 1873 and 1877, respectively.

Robert L. MacFarland attended the public schools and
then entered the State University at Morgantown, where he
spent one year in the general course and after that in the
law school. He was admitted to the bar in Wood County
in 1904, though he has never made any effort to build up
a professional clientele. While in the university he formed
the working connections that led to his present business
career. He was employed at Parkersburg by the Elletson
Printery of Parkersburg, this being succeeded by the Ellet-
son-Carver Company. George Elletson began this business
as a job printing shop in 1851, and members of the Elletson
family have been connected with the business through all
its changes. E. B. Elletson, a son of George, is now super-
intendent and foreman of the Ohio Valley Publishing
Company.

After completing his law course Mr. MacFarland became
city salesman for the Elletson-Carver Company. Later he
resigned and for a year was city salesman for the Globe
Printing & Binding Company. In February, 1909, he was
appointed receiver for the Elletson-Carver Company, and
at once undertook his duties and had advanced to a point
in winding up the affairs of the company where in May,
1909, the business was sold to R. J. A. Boreman, and
he then reorganized it as the Ohio Valley Publishing Com-
pany. Mr. Boreman was president and Mr. MacFarland,
secretary, treasurer and general manager. In May, 1921,
when Mr. Boreman retired, he was succeeded as president
by Mr. MacFarland. Logically, therefore, the history of
the present business covers a period of seventy years. This
great growth and development has come within the past
ten years. The Ohio Valley Publishing Company now has
a business extending to twenty-five states of the Union.

Mr. MacFarland is deeply devoted to the welfare of the
city where he has spent practically all his life. At the age
of twenty-four he was elected a member of the City Council,
serving two terms, of two years each. He was the only
democratic member in the Council his first term, and he was
chosen by a margin of only nine votes. In 1909 he was
re-elected by a majority of 179. He retired in 1911, when
the commission form of government was adopted. Mr.
MacFarland is a member of the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, the Modem Woodmen of America, the United
Commercial Travelers and the Alpha Rho Chapter, Southern
Kappa Alpha College Fraternity at West Virginia
University.

April 19, 1911, he married Miss Angele L. Pinkley, of
Los Angeles, daughter of Virgil L. and Louisa M. (De-
vens) Pinkley. Her father for many years was a member
of the faculty of the University of Cincinnati. Mr. and
Mrs. MacFarland have one son, Lee Virgil MacFarland.
Mr. MacFarland is a member of the Rotary Club and Cham-
ber of Commerce.