John Ferguson
(1829- ? )
John Ferguson was born in 1829, presumably in Perry County, OH, the son of John H. and Sarah (Miner) Ferguson.
When John was a boy or teenager, sometime before 1850, he and his parents and siblings migrated to Michigan. They settled in Constantine, Saint Joseph County, MI, where they spent many years. He and his father labored as a teamsters.
We are exploring whether John served during the Civil War as a member of the 168th Ohio Infantry, Company K.
It's likely that he married Martha Churchill (1831- ? ). She was a native of New York.
The federal census of 1850 shows John and Martha residing just three homes away from his parents in Constantine. At that time, they had no children.
The Fergusons lived in Constantine in 1856, where one of their daughters were born. The Fergusons had six children -- Frances Ellen "Ella" Bristol, Samuel (or "Lemuel") Ferguson, Hugh Ferguson, Ellsworth Ferguson, Carrie (or "Callie") Arnold and Alice Grinder.
John and his brother in law, Lemon W. Bristol, were "pioneer" lumber operators who worked together and ran a sawmill on the banks of Little Fish Lake in Ropertown, Cass County, MI. (Ropertown has long since disappeared.)
When the federal census was taken in 1860, the Fergusons resided in nearby Porter, Cass County, with their children Lemuel (age 9), Alice (6), Ellen (5) and Hugh (1). That year, John labored as a farmer.
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| Old view of Constantine's buildings and unpaved streets |
Sometime during the decade of the 1860s, John migrated westward with his wife and children, with Nebraska as their destination. By the time the federal census was taken in 1870, they made their home on a farm in Town 9, Range 9 of Pawnee County, NE. Their post office was Tipps Branch. (Today Tipps Branch no longer exists, and is considered a "ghost town." The 1942 booklet, History of Plumb Creek, states that it was named after the tributary of Plum Creek, and was started in 1870 about 2½ miles south and two miles west of Burchard.)
It's thought that John may have married Margaret H. (?) and died in about 1895, when she began receiving his monthly Civil War pension payments.
Daughter Ella (1856-1929) married her first cousin, Harvey S. Bristol. Click for more.
Son Lemuel Ferguson (1851- ? ) made his home in Whittier, Los Angeles County, CA in 1929.
Daughter Alice Ferguson (1854- ? ) married (?) Grinder. Circa 1929, she lived in Omaha, NE.
Son Hugh Ferguson (1859- ? ) also resided in Whittier, Los Angeles County, CA in 1929.
Daughter Carrie Ferguson ( ? - ? ) married (?) Arnold. They lived in Los Angeles in the 1920s.
More will be reported here when learned.
Copyright © 2007, 2008 Mark A. Miner