1890 McFeron Fruit Farm
Introduction
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Thomas and Lois McFeron's Fruit Farm
Thomas McFeron
Backstory and Context
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Thomas McFeron and his bride, Lois, settled on 240 acres just west of Cheney in 1877. McFeron established the Fairview Fruit Farm, a large fruit orchard and tree nursery that supplied the early orchard industry here.
The Fairview Cemetery was established as the burial ground for the town in December 1880. Having a cemetery was a requirement for the incorporation of Cheney as a city. Seventeen acres of the southeast corner of his farm was acquired for the new town's burial ground.
McFeron's wife, Lois died and she was buried near the top of the hill in the new cemetery. There is a story that after Thomas McFeron remarried to Catherine Benoist, he felt uncomfortable with the idea that his dear Lois was looking down from the hill watching him and his new wife. In 1892, McFeron sold his farm to H.H. Schultz and the couple left Cheney.
Sources
History of Fairview Cemetery, Cemetery Association.
The Cheney Sentinel. Vol. IX No. 38. Friday, December 26, 1890