McFarland, Ernest William, 1894-1984

The papers of Ernest W. McFarland document the life and career of one of Arizona's most prominent and distinguished public servants. Ernest W. McFarland is the only person in Arizona's history to have served in the top three positions in state government. He was United States Senator (1941-1953), Governor (1955-1959), and Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court (1965-1970).

His pioneer parents, William T. and Keziah Smith McFarland, had migrated westward from Tennessee in the 1890s, first into Texas and then into Oklahoma Territory. Their third child, Ernest, was born in a log cabin on a farm near Earlsboro, Oklahoma, on 9 October 1894. He shared farm chores with his two brothers, Forrest and Sterling Carl, and one sister, Etta Pearl, and attended school in Earlsboro. He taught school and held various jobs to pay his way through East Central State Teachers College in Ada, Oklahoma, where he earned a teaching degree in 1914. Three years later, McFarland graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor's degree.

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