Lieutenant William McFarland

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Photos of the William McFarland house taken by Harriette Merrifield Forbes

William McFarland was baptized in Marblehead, MA on July 19, 1722, and was the oldest surviving of his parents' eight children. His parents, John and Margaret, were "Scots-Irish" (Presbyterians) and had come to the Worcester area to settle in the late 1720s. Their land was located in the northeast part of Worcester on what is now Salisbury Street in the area near Assumption College.

In 1740 the old garrison house used by the Presbyterians as a meeting house was demolished by angry Worcesterites. Many Presbyterians left the town, but Andrew and his family stayed. At some point William joined the town church; he owned pew no. 54 in the meeting house.

William married Elizabeth “Elisa” Browning of Rutland on November 7, 1745, and they had eleven children: James (died aged three), Rebecca (died young), Elisa, Andrew, Margret (died young), William, Mary, Hannah, Martha, James, and Samuel.  Before his marriage he had been briefly engaged to Mary Graham of Rutland. William's sister Rebecca married Elisa's brother William. After their marriage Andrew gave the northern part of the family land to William and moved himself to the southern part on what is now Pleasant Street.

During the Revolutionary War William served as a Lieutenant in Captain Benjamin Flagg’s Company and marched with them on the Lexington Alarm on April 19, 1775.  He was also a Private in Captain Chadwick’s Company in 1777 when they marched on the Bennington Alarm. 

William served Worcester as a Selectman in the early 1780s. 

He died in Worcester on January 27, 1805 and left the majority of his lands to his son William, but left money and other supports to all six of his surviving children. The household furniture and indoor goods William willed to his unmarried daughter Hannah, and made the provision that she should be allowed to live in the house until she married. He also left her his chaise (small horse-drawn carriage), but asked that her brother William be allowed to use it "when he had the occasion to."

William was originally buried in the Mechanic Street Burial Ground before being removed with the rest of his family to Hope Cemetery in 1878.