William McFarland (September 15, 1821 – April 12, 1900) was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1875 to 1877, representing the 1st congressional district of Tennessee. He is one of only two Democrats to have won this district's seat since the Civil War. McFarland also served as a state court judge in 1869, and as mayor of Morristown, Tennessee, from 1882 to 1885. A Southern Unionist, he was a member of the Jefferson County delegation at the pro-Union East Tennessee Convention in 1861. Early life McFarland was born in Jefferson County, Tennessee, the son of Robert and Mary Ann (Scott) McFarland. His grandfather, also named Robert McFarland, was a Revolutionary War veteran, and his father was a War of 1812 recruiting officer, militia colonel, and justice of the peace. While still a child, William moved with his family to Springvale Farm near Morristown in what was then northern Jefferson County, but is now part of Hamblen County. He was educated in the common schools, and attended Tusculum College near Greeneville. McFarland initially worked as a salesman for a Tazewell businessman, but returned home to manage his family's affairs following his father's death in 1844. He operated a mercantile business and tannery throughout the 1850s. During this period, he began to take an interest in railroad construction, helping to raise funds for the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad. McFarland remained loyal to the Union during the secession crisis of 1860–1861. He attended the Knoxville session of the East Tennessee Convention in May 1861, and represented Jefferson County on the Convention's powerful business committee. During the war, he studied law under Judge Robert M. Barton, and was admitted to the bar in 1863. In 1866, he moved to Morristown to practice law. Postwar politics and congress During the years following the Civil War, McFarland supported President Andrew Johnson and the conservative faction of the state government. He was a delegate to the pro-Johnson National Union Convention in August 1866. In April 1869, Governor Dewitt Clinton Senter appointed McFarland judge of the state's second judicial circuit to finish out the term of James P. Swann, who had resigned. That same year, he ran for state attorney general, but was defeated by the incumbent, Thomas M. Coldwell. In subsequent years, he was active at the municipal level in Hamblen County, which had been created in 1870, and