Check out the "Ferguson Genealogy" e-Book in the link below!!
Ferguson Genealogy e-book
---> UPDATE 15 OCT 2018: <---
It appears that we may have a mystery to solve in the Ferguson family history.
When a Y-DNA match was discovered in 2013 between this author and Wayne Thomas Ferguson, it was thought that the lineage of Wayne's line back to Alexander Ferguson (who m. Mary "Polly" McNutt) had been determined with a significant amount of certainty. Perhaps that is not entirely the case, as other contributors to sites such as ancestry.com have claimed a relationship with Alexander and Polly, but through a different path.
The mystery centers upon determining which Benjamin Ferguson, son to Alexander and Polly, is being considered. Two Benjamins are documented as residents of Tennessee in the early 1800's. One is the Benjamin that married Sarah Frances "Fanny" Coker in 1825 in Knox County, TN. The other is the Benjamin that married Easther Elizabeth Capshaw, both of whom were recorded as being born in North Carolina. The couple was in Tennessee by 1830 for the birth of their first child. Both of these Benjamins were born in the first decade of the 1800's it seems.
For ease of reference, let's call the Benjamin who m. Fanny Coker "BenOne" and call the Benjamin that m. Easther Capshaw "BenTwo."
BenOne's Story:
Marriage record dated 26 Jan 1825 in Knox County, TN. Married Sarah Frances "Fanny" Coker,
daughter of Charles (Jr.?) and Ann (Berry/Bovey) Coker. The U.S. Census records that include
names of spouse and children start in 1850. He does NOT appear in the 1850 census, so he
apparently died abt. 1846. His widowed wife and children appear in Subdivision 15, Knox
County, TN and include:
Name Age Gender Born In Occupation
Fanny Ferguson 45 F Tenn Farmer
Charles N 21 M Tenn
William 18 M Tenn Farmer
Nancy J 14 F Tenn
Sarah A E 12 F Tenn
Elizabeth 20 F Tenn
Benjamin A/H? 10 M Tenn <-- BenOneJr - Tracing him
John H H 7 M Tenn
Martha L 5 F Tenn
BenTwo's Story:
He appears in the 1850 U.S. Census, b. abt 1809 in NC, living in Dist 3 of Giles County, TN.
His family includes:
Name Age Gender Born In Occupation
Benjamin 41 M N.C. Black Smith
Easther 43 F N.C.
Carline 20 F Tenn <-- Clorinda Caroline "C.C."
Syreign 17 F Tenn <-- Serena
Alzena 15 F Tenn
James 13 M Tenn
Benjamin 10 M Tenn <-- BenTwoJr - Tracing him
Easther 7 F Tenn
Rhoda 6 F Tenn
William 3 M Tenn <-- William Polk Ferguson
BenTwo apparently dies before 1860 in Giles County.
In the 1860 U.S. Census, Easther appears in the Southern Subdivision (Post Office Oakflat)
in Giles Co., TN. Her name is recorded as Easter E Fargason. The family includes:
Name Age Gender Born In Occupation
Easter E 53 F N.C. Farmer
Clorinda C C 30 F Tenn
Sirena N 27 F Tenn
James A 23 M Tenn Farm Labor
Benjamin W 21 M Tenn Shoe Maker <-- BenTwoJr - Note middle initial
Easter C 18 F Tenn
Roda 16 F Tenn
William P 13 M Tenn
Ephraim E W 4 M Tenn
Now note the birth years of the two sons, BenOneJr and BenTwoJr... Both are born around 1839-1840. What is known fairly accurately is that Benjamin Harvey Ferguson, who married [1] Dorinda C. Medlock, had eight children, one son being Thomas Milo Ferguson. We can accurately trace Thomas Milo's son, Bonner Farr Ferguson, eventually down to Wayne Thomas Ferguson. At this time, the only physical document that would likely answer the mystery is the death certificate for "B H Ferguson," who died 25 Apr 1921 in East Chattanooga, TN. On his certificate, his father is listed as "Benjamin Ferguson," with birth place listed as simply "Tenn" and his mother's name is listed as "No record" with a birth place of Tennessee. This is, unfortunately, insufficient evidence to completely determine which Benjamin he was.
At this point, there is a reasonable certainty that Wayne and this author are both
descendants of Henry and Margaret, but the only uncertain part is determining with a
bit more confidence which Benjamin (Sr.) and Benjamin (Jr.) Wayne's path flows through.
---> UPDATE August 2018 <---
Information from other contributors to sites such as ancestry.com includes new
parental information for Richard Scott (Sr.)... Inclusion on this web site is
shown, but is still under further review and (hopefully) additional verification
beyond someone's possible hypothesis.
---> UPDATE 2013 <---
At last!! A DNA match! Back in 2006, this author had his Y-DNA analyzed (37 markers)
and in August 2013, Wayne Thomas Ferguson also had his Y-DNA analyzed. He was quite
surprised to find that we matched all 37 markers except for one... and that one only
differed by one count!
Wayne did not know anything about his 3rd-great grandfather's parents. But as
a result of his match, we now know that the Benjamin Ferguson who was Wayne's
3rd-great grandfather was the same Benjamin Ferguson who was the son of Alexander
and Mary "Polly" (McNutt) Ferguson. Alexander is one of the three sons of Henry
and Margaret Ferguson (our oldest known Ferguson ancestors) that have descendants
living today. This match also proves the integrity of the male lines of our
two branches of the family. Now, all we need to confirm that Thomas is also one
of Henry and Margaret's sons is to have a living male Ferguson descendant from
that branch also get a Y-DNA test and check it against the two results that we
now have.
---> UPDATE 2008 <---
New data was discovered 4 Apr 2008 for James Matthew Scott's parents and for
Mary Ann Howes' parents, along with an additional generation of her ancestors!
(A complete upload of new entries was made Mar. 4, 2008. There were several
thousand new entries added, mostly due to the inclusion of family data from a
"new" cousin, Diana (Smith) Chesser. She added a lot of new information from
the Nelson/Ferguson family connections. The uploading process has a slight "bug,"
where NOTES attached to an entry will occasionally have two words run together
in the text. This will be slowly corrected as I make time to update various
entries, but I will probably NOT have the time to do them all... so bear with
us and know that those mistakes were not in the original GEDCOM file that was
uploaded.)
The Ferguson Plaid
This plaid is associated with the Highland Scots. The Scots are probably
part of our family heritage, since so many pieces of evidence point to our
family's ancestry being that of the "Scots-Irish." However, at this time
no direct ancestral link has been found which joins us to any of the present
Scottish clans that rightfully claim the use of this plaid in their tartans.
To understand who we are, it sometimes helps to know from whence we came...
Winston Churchill is quoted as saying, "The farther back you can look, the
farther forward you are likely to see." Perhaps this gives a good
justification to those of us who pursue our family's genealogy.
We each carry a legacy of our forefathers and pass along a heritage to our
offspring. We remember growing up, going to school and visiting relatives.
At Christmas, sometimes there were people there we didn't always know too
well. "She's a distant cousin," we might be told. Or, "That's your great-
uncle." And then they would proceed to tell some funny story about them and
everyone would have a good laugh... And a small piece of our history was
passed on. It can be a sobering realization that tracing back just eight
generations means you could have as many as 256 ancestors!
Who were all those people? Where did they come from? How did they meet
their spouse(s)? How did they get to where they called "home"? And what
about those fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh cousins out there... Somewhere...
Who are we related to?
Fortunately, we have a tool, the computer, to help us find out... and keep
track!
But beware of the surprises you find, since you just never know how fate is
going to pop up and add some new family to your world. Like finding a
previously-unknown seventh cousin at an Alumni Marching Band practice... Or
your best friend from high school shows up in your data because he married
an almost-cousin, and his wife's sister and husband were each in your
wedding... Then, after being out of high school for 34 years, you discover
some of your classmates are fourth cousins, once removed! Or the director
of a family history library (whom you had never met before), during a short
presentation on joining the SAR, rattles off names of her ancestors that are
the same as yours! She turns out to be another fourth cousin, once removed. Then
you might even discover one of those 256 ancestors is a descendant of the King
of Scotland, which makes the Queen of England your 21st cousin and Robert "The
Bruce" (remember the movie "Braveheart"?) your 22nd great grandfather! Also,
your spouse turns out to be your 26th cousin, 7 times removed... and a first
cousin, seven times removed to Daniel Boone! And, oh yes, a third cousin is a
Golden Globe Award winning actor, another third cousin is a nationally recognized
American historian and a sixth cousin once removed is a Pulitzer Prize winning
playwright.
So we collect some photos, take some video, tell some stories and pass along our traditions. And perhaps, maybe 150 years from now, our gr-gr-gr-great grandchildren will have some small appreciation for their own heritage. And they will re-tell the old stories and add to them with stories of their own.
And the family will go on...
NOTE: This database is a subset of my complete file. The "big" version has
over 114,000 entries, so I trimmed down some distant lines of relatives to
stay within the limits of this site. Email me for more information if you
find errors or have updated information. If you are family, then this site
is just as much YOUR site as mine! Help keep track of your/our distant
cousins and let me know if you have material to contribute. Thanks!
To begin with our oldest-known Ferguson ancestor,
Click Here.
To begin with our oldest-known Sellers ancestor,
Click Here.
To begin with our oldest-known Bacon ancestor,
Click Here.
To begin with our oldest-known Nolte ancestor,
Click Here.
To begin with our oldest-known McCord ancestor,
Click Here.
To begin with our oldest-known Howes ancestor,
Click Here.
To begin with the web site administrator's entry,
Click Here.
