What’s online?
The entire collection is scanned and online.
What’s in the entire collection?
The papers of the McFarland-Hall-Beck Families are the records of three families who originally settled in Virginia (now West Virginia). The papers include correspondence, as well as memoirs and accounts of battles, particularly during the Civil War. This collection includes genealogies, histories, correspondence, memoirs, journals, business and legal papers, photographs and memorabilia of the McFarland, Hall, and Beck Families.
About the McHarland-Hall-Back Families
The McFarland Family traces its descendants from William McFarland, born about 1750 in County Tyrone, Ireland. William's eldest son, James, immigrated to the United States, and William, with part of the family, followed in 1812. William Jr. began manufacturing cotton goods for the Providence Dye House (Providence, Rhode Island), before becoming a U.S. citizen and enrolling as a volunteer in the cadets. William Jr. moved west and settled in Finley Township, Washington, Pa., where he volunteered in the Monroe Standard until honorably discharged. William Jr. went on to hold several county offices over the next few years before moving to Marshall County, Virginia, in 1834. Here he served as Justice of the Peace, sheriff, and school commissioner before his death on March 13, 1866. The McFarland Family (including the parents of William Jr.) are buried in a cemetery on Roberts Ridge, West Virginia.
The Hall Family immigrated to this country from England during the mid-eighteenth century. The family descends from Thomas Hall who was married to Rebecca Story. The Halls raised a family in Delaware and may have lived in Snow Hill, Maryland, at some point. Thomas Hall died May 29, 1772, near Duck Creek Cross Roads, Delaware. The remaining family moved west after the end of the Revolutionary War, settling by the forks of the Cheat River, a few miles below Morgantown, West Virginia. During that time the area was considered a part of Virginia and was heavily forested. Stockades were built to protect settlers from attacks by Indians. As the attacks became less frequent, the Halls and other settlers began moving up the Monongahela River, trading their furs in Pittsburgh.
The Beck Family of Ohio County, West Virginia, are descendants of Lemuel Beck. One of the descendants, Samuel Beck, received a commission as first lieutenant of Company S, First Regional, West Virginia National Guard on November 30, 1898. Samuel Beck was the administrator of the T. B. McFarland Estate.