M. C. McFarland was a son of one of the most substantial citizens of Bedford township.  His youth was spent on the farm, at school, in teaching, and in reading law.  He was for several years deputy clerk of the court and county school examiner.  In 1863, he was elected probate judge, and subsequently re-elected, keeping, it is said, the records of the office in unusually neat and correct manner.  Before his second term expired, his health was greatly impaired.  Having spent some months in vain efforts to re-establish his health, he at length died at the house of his father-in-law in Newark, on the 12th of July, 1870, in the thirty-sixth year of his age.
He was a man of more than usual talent, literary taste, and social excellence.  he married a daughter of Judge Wm. Sample, and by her had one son.

Source:  Historical Collections of Coshocton County Ohio 1764-1876
Author: William E Hunt, pub. 1876