William McFarland (Tennessee politician)

[2] McFarland initially worked as a salesman for a Tazewell businessman, but returned home to manage his family's affairs following his father's death in 1844.

[1] During the years following the Civil War, McFarland supported President Andrew Johnson and the conservative faction of the state government.

[7] In April 1869, Governor Dewitt Clinton Senter appointed McFarland judge of the state's second judicial circuit to finish out the term of James P. Swann, who had resigned.

[2] In 1874, McFarland ran on the Democratic ticket against four-term Republican incumbent Roderick R. Butler for the 1st district congressional seat.

[11] During his lone term in Congress, McFarland sought to limit federal prosecutions for illegal whiskey distilling in East Tennessee, which many of his constituents felt had gotten out of control.

[12][13] He also introduced legislation that would allow farmers to sell the first $100 of their annual tobacco crop tax-free, and sought appropriations for improvements to the Tennessee River and its tributaries.

[16] While McFarland campaigned for presidential candidates Winfield Scott Hancock in 1880 and Grover Cleveland in 1884,[17][18] he mostly turned his attention to local politics.