Dr. Mac was born and raised in St. George UT followed by two years of college at the Branch Agricultural College (B.A.C.) in Cedar City. He entered the University of Utah medical school in 1905, graduating from Jefferson medical college (Philadelphia) in 1913. His education journey was broken several times as he returned to Cedar City to teach at the B.A.C.

After graduation he returned to Cedar City and opened his practice. He built up a wide reputation and a distinctive recognition as a surgeon (Funeral services held).

He married Katherine (Kate) in 1911, and as the Macfarlane family grew, they outgrew their two-bedroom home. In 1926, an opportunity arose. Arthur Jones was planning to build a modern undertaking parlor in the family neighborhood next to the Macfarlane’s small home. Dr. Mac sold that property to Jones at a favorable price and then Jones helped Dr. Mac arrange to buy a lot near the recently built Iron County Hospital. “To plan the new house, the doctor turned to the best architect he knew, his friend Ray Ashton” (Macfarlane).

Ray Ashton had warm friends and a solid clientele in Ceder City based on Ashton’s many visits to his Cedar City relatives. Arthur Jones was Dr. Mac’s business associate and was Ashton’s second cousin through his great aunt, Sage Treharne! In addition to family connections, Ashton & Evans were well known in Cedar City having just completed the designs of the Iron County Nurses Home (1924) and the Bank of Southern Utah (1925) which housed Dr. Mac’s medical office on the second floor.

Negotiations between Dr. Mac and his wife over the home’s design were not easy. Eventually Ashton took Dr. Mac to visit Ashton & Evans’ designs in Salt Lake City. “One house, at about Eleventh South and Fifteenth East, seemed to please [Dr. Mac] particularly … The house had a steeply pitched roof, in the modified Tudor style quite in vogue at the moment” and reminded Dr. Mac of Cedar City’s mountainous terrain (Macfarlane). Kate disliked the showy appearance of the Salt Lake home but agreed as long as her requirements could be met: the bedrooms should be on the second floor so she could entertain without ‘muss,’ Dr. Mac’s office should be located off the front door so sick patients would not expose her children, there should be a maid’s room on the main floor, and there should be a half bath on the main floor. Most importantly, the basement should be small, so Dr. Mac would not offer a basement apartment to his mother! Ashton estimated the home would cost about $11,000, but after Dr. Mac and Kate added extras and demanded the highest quality, the total cost was over $17,000. Dr. Mac carried the home debt for many years (Macfarlane).

The actual blueprints (Special collections) show a marked resemblance to the D.A. Jenkins’ residence at 1080 S 1500 E in Salt Lake City: the roof is steeply pitched with an English Cottage style. Blueprints of the Macfarlane residence show that Kate’s requirements were also met.