In 1834, Jimmie, Jane, and their first
10 children traveled to Arkansas, then moved to southern Fannin County
in 1836, settling a few miles north of present-day Ladonia.
As a married man, Jimmie was allowed
to file claim on 1,280 acres of land in the Republic of Texas. His eldest
son, Jackson McFarland (1817-1883), was allowed 640 acres. On August 17,
1838, Jackson McFarland took the oaths of citizenship in the Republic of
Texas.
In 1845, Jackson married Artemissa Pence (1829-1907); they had five children. In 1864, as a 49-year-old private in Captain Wes Dulaney’s Company K, Regiment of Texas State Troops, Jackson (description: 5’10", dark complexion, black eyes, black hair, and, by occupation, farmer) was granted furlough to visit home and, after one month, rejoin his company at Camp Luluch, Fannin County, "or wherever it may then be." Artemissa was described as "tall, thin and very courageous."
Jackson’s and Artemissa’s eldest son,
James Franklin McFarland (1847-1917), served briefly in the Confederate
Army during the Civil War when he was 16 years old. He married Mary
Jane Harper (1852-1935) in 1872; their assets at the time consisted
of
176 acres of raw land outside Ladonia
and a $20 gold piece. They had 10 children, whom they reared on the homestead
(which grew to 3,000 acres in Fannin and Hunt counties) and in town on
Mill Street.
James and other prominent citizens founded
the First National Bank of Ladonia and the Pecan Gap Cotton Oil Company
to encourage the area’s commercial growth. Another son of Jackson and Artemissa,
Cyrus Sylvester (Bose) McFarland (1843-1925, husband of Susie Lee and father
of Will and Ethel), also left his mark on Ladonia:
"C.S. McFarland" is spelled in tile
at the entrance to his former store on the southeast corner of the town
square. Several McFarlands are listed as founders on the cornerstone of
the First Christian Church on Main Street.
-information from "A Family History" by Lola McFarland Hill (1966)