McFERRAN, John Courts, soldier, born in Kentucky in 1831; died in Louisville, Kentucky, 25 April, 1872. He was graduated at the United States military academy in 1843 and assigned to the infantry. He served in the military occupation of Texas and the war with Mexico, being engaged at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. He was with his regiment on the frontiers of Texas and New Mexico until he entered the quartermaster's department and was made a captain on the staff on 20 August, 1855. Before and during the civil war he was on duty in New Mexico, being promoted major and appointed chief quartermaster of that department on 30 November, 1863. In 1864-'5 he was Gem James H. Carleton's chief of staff, and at the close of the war was brevetted brigadier-general. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 29 July, 1866, and served subsequently as chief quartermaster of the Department of Washington and of the Division of the South.

--BEGIN-James McFerrin

McFERRIN, James, clergyman, born in Washington county, Virginia, 25 March, 1784; died in Tipton county, Tennessee, 4 September, 1840. He was of Irish Presbyterian extraction, was brought up as a farmer, and, after marrying at the age of twenty, settled in Rutherford county, Tennessee, where he was often engaged in combats with the Indians. After the declaration of war with England he was chosen captain of a company of volunteers, and marched under General Andrew Jackson against the Creeks, was present at Talladega, and suffered great privations during the campaign. Captain McFerrin was elected colonel on his return, and for several years took pride in leading the best-trained regiment of the state troops. At the age of thirty-six he united with the Methodist Episcopal church, and on 25 November, 1823, was received into the Tennessee conference as an itinerant preacher. His ministry, which was in Alabama after 1828, and in western Tennessee after 1834, was attended with great success.--His eldest son, John Berry, clergyman, born in Rutherford county, Tennessee, 15 June, 1807; died in Nashville, 10 May, 1887, was appointed a class-leader in 1823, licensed to exhort in 1824 and to preach in 1825, and joined the Tennessee conference the same year. The next three years he spent on circuits in Tennessee and Alabama, and he was then missionary to the Cherokee nation for two years, six years in stations, three years presiding elder, and in 1840 elected editor of the " Christian Advocate." In this post he was continued till May, 1858, when he was elected book-agent. This office, with the further appointment of missionary to the Army of Tennessee, he held eight years. In 1866 he was elected secretary to the board of missions, which office he filled till 1878. In that year he was again elected book-agent, and he continued in this office till his death. Randolph-Macon college gave him the degree of D. D. in 1851. He represented American Methodism in the (ecumenical conference in London, England, in 1881, and he was at the centennial conference in Baltimore in 1884. His chief work was a " History of Methodism in Tennessee" (3 vols., Nashville, 1870-'2). A memorial volume, edited by Reverend O. P. Fitzgerald, is now (1888) in preparation.--Another son, Andersen Purdy, clergyman, born in Rutherford county, Tennessee, 25 February, 1818, entered the Methodist ministry in 1854, and has published "Sermons for the Times" (Nashville, 1884), and "Heavenly Shadows and Hymns" (1887).