History of Rush County Indiana Brant & Fuller Chicago 1888 Page 484 and 485 BENJAMIN L. MCFARLAN, whose portrait appears in this volume,is a farmer and stock-raiser of Orange Township, Rush Co., Indiana, and wasborn in Trumbull County, Ohio, October 14, 1844, and is the son of James andJane (Kelly) McFarlan. The father was born in Mercer County, Pa., and was theson of a native of Scotland. He was a steamboat man by calling, but died inearly life, and when our subject was only a small boy.  Our subject was reared by his maternalgrandparents, who resided in Mercer              County, Pa., but who removed to Indiana in 1853, andsettled in Decatur County. Benjamin received a common school education incountry schools. He was born a poor boy, and in early life had many obstaclesto contend with. He was but a youth of seventeen years when the Civil War brokeout, and in August, of 1861, he enlisted in Company E, Seventh IndianaInfantry, and was the youngest of his company, in which company he served till64, when he re-inlisted as a veteran volunteer of the same; and at              the expiration of the threeyears, of the Seventh Infantry, the veterans of the Seventh, Fourteenth,Nineteenth, and Twentieth were consolidated and known as the Twentieth Infantry,and in which Regiment our subject served till he was mustered out of theservice              on the 14th ofJuly, 1865, as Orderly Sergeant of his company.  At the close of the war he returned to Rush County, and has sincebeen engaged in agricultural pursuits, commencing with a very limited means,but by bard toil and energy he has been successful in the pursuit. He now ownsa fine and well-improved farm of eighty acres, and is one of the representativefarmers of the County of Rush. He is a progressive and representativecitizen.  In politics he is an ardentRepublican, and has served as County              Commissioner of Rush County for one term. In 1866, hewas united in marriage with Susan Wood, daughter of Benjamin Wood. One child, adaughter, Alice by name, has blessed the marriage.