Archibald McFarland was born 17 Dec 1832, in Dysart, Fifeshire, Scotland, the first child of William McFarland and Margaret McCormick. He emigrated to Utah in 1855 with his father's family and a new bride, Isabella Mitchell. They settled for a time in American Fork, but came to West Weber in the spring of 1859, being among the first settlers.

In his words: "I was baptized 27 Apr 1845. My father wanted me to learn a trade, but was unable to pay my way, so he sent me to work with a man to learn to be a shoemaker. I worked at this for two years, but didn't like it; I received one shilling per day which my mother thought was a great help to put bread on the family table. I then went to work in the coal mines at Boness, in Linlithgowshire, and there met Isabell Mitchell, who became my wife. She was born 5 May 1837, in Dunbarshire, Scotland. We were married 3 Aug 1854. at Bridgenesse, in the Parish Carrdon, Linlithgowshire, Scotland. We were later sealed by the power of the Holy Priesthood at the alter of the Endowment house in Salt Lake City, 4 Dec 1862.

"In Jan 1855 my wife and I and all my father's family left Liverpool in a ship called the "Charles Buck" and we all arrived safe in New Orleans 5 Mar 1855. From there we went to St. Louis, then to Atcheson, Kansas; there were only three houses in the town. From there we commenced to travel across the plains with our family of nine assigned to one wagon. Our journey across the plains and through the mountains was very laborious; when we arrived in the valley of Salt Lake most of our clothes were worn down and our shoes worn off our feet. We arrived in the valley 25 Sep 1855; settled in American Fork in Utah County. All the members of our family found work, but we still struggled through many hardships, just barely able to live to the spring of 1859, when we sold our places and headed north to the land upon the Weber River. We purchased land from Captain James Brown in West Weber that spring.

"We concluded we would go right to work plowing and putting in some grain. I will here say that if it could have been seen, the time and labor we had to pass through before we got water to our land, I don't think we would have had faith enough to start the work. We camped in the wagons all summer and into the winter, for we had crops to put in and water ditches to make. we then turned our attention to getting a house to live in for the winter. We got the walls up and the roof on, but there was nothing else no floors, doors, no windows, as I had no lumber to do these things. The adobes were not plastered, and we were scarce on bed clothes.

"We labored all that winter on our water ditch and we suffered much from the severe cold. My second son, Robert, who died afterwards, fell very sick of fever and laid almost all winter.

"The next spring there was a call for teams to go to the Missouri River after the Saints. When my brother, William was called I was left to attend to all his affairs as well as to the affairs of my father. I worked very hard to grow crops and when William returned in the fall, I gave him an equal portion of all we had raised.

'Within two years after the settlement of West Weber, we had a more plentiful supply of water and our settlement began spreading out. In the year 1861, there was a call from the First Presidency, for teams to go to the Missouri River for Immigrants. My brother, William was called to go. It was by the most strenuous efforts that we filled our quota of teams with groceries and supplies. I was called to furnish one-fourth of the sugar, which I did at 65¢ a pound, when there had not been any in our house for a year.

"On 8 Dec 1866, I married Janet Mitchell; we had one child, Mary Shepart.

"On 10 Oct 1870, I married Katherine Jones, we had six children: Thomas Jones, David Johnson, Mary Elizabeth, Hans Peterson, Peter Mitchell, and Alvirettia.

"I was Married to Elizabeth Hay, and we had six children: Elizabeth, Ann, George Hay, Catherine, Christian, and Dora.

"In the spring of 1867, I was called on a mission to Great Britain. During my ministry I baptized 62 and immigrated 54. I was released to come home 5 Sep 1875. Then I labored as a home missionary in the Weber Stake of Zion."

His community activities, as listed in the book Portrait, Genealogical and Biographical Record of the State of Utah, published in 1901, were as follows: "Mr. McFarland is a very energetic, wide-awake business man, taking a keen interest in the affairs of his community and has rendered his county some valuable aid in the way of building roads, bridges, schools and meeting houses. He also helped build the canal in West Weber, which is the biggest undertaking of the kind in the county. For some years he followed railroad contracting, doing the rock work and grading on the Southern Pacific at Promontory and three miles in Spanish Fork Canyon on the Denver and Rio Grande, and built 4-3/4 miles of the Utah Central, which is now a part of the Oregon Short line system. He also did some contracting on the Lucin cut-off. He served as a member of the School Board and for two terms was Justice of the Peace. In 1900 he was elected on the Republican ticket as a member of the lower House of the Utah State Legislature.

Archibald remained active in the church throughout the years and is recorded as bearing his testimony in church services just nine days before his death, on the 14 Dec 1915. He was just three days short Or his eighty-third birthday. He left a large posterity of whom he was justly proud, most of whom, as he did, engage in agriculture and the raising of livestock. He is buried in the West Weber Cemetery.

Submitted by Dee and Virginia McFarland, and Ruth McFarland White, granddaughter

Source:

In The Bend Of The River

History Of West Weber 1859-1976