THOMAS FERGUSON
1795-1855
of
VIRGINIA AND TENNESSEE
Possible Antecedents, Some Descendants and Collateral Lines

Compiled By
Wyatt Lanier Ferguson, Jr.
And
James Cosby Fry
November 1997


PREFACE

Somewhere in Virginia in about 1795 Thomas Ferguson first saw the light of day. There is apparently no known record of his birth and no record of the identity of his parents. It is certain, however, that some time between the date of his birth and his coming of age he migrated to Rutherford County, Tennessee. From various records it appears that he, along with his parents and other family members, was in Rutherford County no later than 1811.

(Note: The name Ferguson was spelled many ways in the various 18th and 19th Century documents that were examined in preparing this treatise. Those spellings are used herein as appropriate. Extreme care has been taken to ensure the correct identity of individuals regardless of documentary spelling.)

There is reason to believe that Joel Farguson who was in Buckingham County, Virginia from 1773 to 1810 may have been Thomas' father, or perhaps his grandfather. Joel Farguson was on various tax lists of Buckingham County from 1773 to 1809 and on the federal census of Buckingham County in 1810. He performed patriotic service during the Revolutionary War by providing food to the army as recorded in Virginia Public Causes, Buckingham County, compiled by Janice L. Abercrombie and Richard Slaten. Identified as sons of Joel on some Buckingham County tax lists were Joel, Jr., Lewis and Jurdin Farguson. Joel Farguson is not on personal property tax lists in Buckingham County after 1809 and is not on land tax lists after 1812. He sold the bulk of his land, 300 acres, in 1810 to William Webb and the rest of it also to William Webb in 1813. It was common practice for migrating land owners to leave land to be sold by a relative or friend or by someone to whom was given power of attorney. Joel's disappearance from both personal and land tax lists is pretty convincing evidence that he left Buckingham County and went somewhere else about that time.

In 1811 a Joel Farguson appears for the first time in Rutherford County, Tennessee. He is listed on a tax list with two free polls. He is listed on the tax lists with one free poll in 1812 and 1813. In 1814, Rutherford County Court minutes show that Joel Forgurson purchased 105 acres of land from James Nelly.

Rutherford County, Tennessee records clearly indicate the presence of several Fergusons in the county in the early 1800's. They also reflect the probability of a close relationship among several Fergusons as well as the possibility that they came from Buckingham County, Virginia. The minutes of the Rutherford County Court show that Thomas Furguson was a juror on Wednesday 11 October 1815 and again on the following day. In October 1817 Lewis Furgerson was found guilty of assault and later was found not guilty of some offense which was not named. These are recorded in Rutherford County Court Minutes, Book L, pp 196, 197. Recall that Lewis Farguson was identified as a son of Joel in Buckingham County, Virginia. On 17 March 1818 the county court minutes show that Lewis Furgerson failed to appear in court as ordered and Joel Furgerson and another citizen who had posted bond were required to forfeit $50 each. On 18 June 1819 the county court minutes show that Samuel Wallace charged Thomas Furgerson and others with trespassing.

Concerning this charge by Samuel Wallace the county court minutes show that Wallace decided to drop charges against Thomas Furgerson, Douglas Furgerson, Wyatt Tweedy, Joel Furgerson, Jr. and Obediah Furgerson all of whom he had charged with trespassing. (County Court Minutes Book N, p. 194; on p. 200 is another mention of Joel, Jr.)

The presence of Joel, Lewis and Joel. Jr. in the same locale certainly suggests that this is the same family that was in Buckingham County, Virginia before 1811 as does the apparent "togetherness" of these Fergusons. Douglas Furgerson, who was closely associated with these Fergusons in Rutherford County and later in Dyer County, Tennessee, has been determined to be their blood relative, the specific relationship still to be determined.

At Appendix A is a more detailed discussion of the probability that these Rutherford County, Tennessee Fergusons came to Tennessee from Buckingham County, Virginia.

Before 1820 Thomas Ferguson married Nancy Tweedy, daughter of Joseph, Jr. and Elizabeth (Franklin) Tweedy and sister of Wyatt Tweedy, mentioned above. The Thomas Ferguson household is enumerated on the 1820 federal census in Rutherford County, Tennessee on page 76. Thomas is listed as Thomas Furgasson and as being between 16 and 26 years old. His wife, Nancy, the only female in the household, is also shown to be between 16 and 26 years old. A third adult in the household is a male between the ages of 26 and 45. This man is probably a relative or maybe a farm laborer. Two persons are shown to be engaged in agriculture. There are three male children under the age of five in the household. An examination of later records as well as Ferguson family lore that Thomas had four children leads to the conclusion that these three boys were the children of Thomas and Nancy; Wyatt and two older brothers whose names have yet to be identified.

The household of Joel Ferguson was also on the 1820 federal census in Rutherford County, Tennessee, page 80. It was a large household consisting of 14 persons. The composition of the household leads to the belief that probably the families of two of Joel's sons (or daughters) were in the household. There were two males under 10 years of age, one male 10-16, one 16-18, one 26-45 and one over 45. Of eight females in the household four were under ten years old, one was 10-16, two were 16-26 and one was over 45. The one male in the household 16-18 was probably Joel Ferguson, born 1804 in Virginia and who later went to Hardeman County, Tennessee where he married Sarah Flynt. It can be speculated that he was the son of Joel, Jr. or Lewis and grandson of Joel.

Supporting the thought that the Fergusons mentioned herein comprised a family is the fact that Joel and Thomas Ferguson owned land together according to a notation in the Rutherford County Court minutes which indicates that they, together, sold 200 acres to Robert Gregory, recorded 18 April 1825.

In 1824 some of the Rutherford County Fergusons including Joel and Thomas removed to West Tennessee settling in parts of Haywood, Dyer and Gibson Counties that later were incorporated in the new Crockett County. A History of Crockett County contained in Goodspeed’s History of Tennessee records the following:

      It was not until about the year 1824 that the territory now embraced within Crockett County was first settled. At about that time, a settlement was made near the Haywood County line, south of the present town of Bell’s Depot, by a number of Middle Tennesseans and North Carolinians who were attracted to the county by the large growth of yellow poplar, hickory and oak timber. Among the above settlers were Francis M. Wood and Charles Wortham, the former coming from North Carolina and the latter from Middle Tennessee. At about the same time, General Blackman Coleman, who lived at Murfreesboro, purchased a tract of land in the neighborhood of what afterward became Lanefield and sent out a party of laborers in charge of Thomas Ferguson to open up a farm and put in a crop. The following year, William Johnson and son, Isaac, and Timothy Parker came from Rutherford County, Tennessee, and settled in the same neighborhood. Other settlers of the neighborhood were Wyatt F. Tweedy, Wiley Dodd, William Dyer, Thomas Tweatt and William Kavanaugh. In 1826, Thomas Ferguson moved from the Lanefield neighborhood and settled what afterward became Ferguson’s Landing on Forked Deer River, and in a short time, James Wylie and Abram Eason came from North Carolina and settled near him.

Many years later, in the 1860's, Thomas Ferguson's widow, Nancy (Tweedy) Ferguson, came to live with the family of her son, Wyatt Ferguson, and his wife, Nancy (Singleton) Ferguson. John Alfred Ferguson, son of Wyatt and Nancy (born 1859), was a child during the time his grandmother lived with his family but he remembered and recorded her vivid description of the move from Rutherford County to West Tennessee, Here it is in its entirety in the words of John Alfred Ferguson, written probably in the early 1920's:

"The next thing of very much importance that happened was the coming of my paternal grandmother to live with us. She was eighty years old. (Note: She was actually seventy years old.) My mother was occupied with one or two babies younger than I and my two older brothers were able to take care of themselves, so I soon became "Granny's" pet and she used to keep me thrilled for hours with stories of her young life in Va, and the hardships of the trip moving from Va to Tenn. She seemed to have come from a wealthy family. She told me so much about her colored maid -"Barbara"- her individual property. She told me so much about her best girl friend, Miss Polly Poindexter, who later became her sister-in-law--how they would go to big balls and dance for a week at a time.”

“She would tell me of the customs of the people -- how they would brand men in the right hand with a hot iron for theft and that men who were thus branded would never shake hands with their right hand but give their left hand instead. She also told me that for other crimes they were branded in the forehead. She told me too about how they sometimes -- for certain crimes -- men would be condemned to death and they would get the wildest horse that could be found and tie the man behind the horse and give the horse the worse scare they could and let him drag the man to death as he ran in his awful fright. “

(Something appears to be missing here.)

“About this time the male members of the two families became filled with the desire for adventure and a wilder life and decided to move to Tennessee. So they prepared for the wilderness. They spent a year or two in Middle Tenn. (Note: Actually about 14 years.) That was too tame, and they built a flat boat and loaded their household goods on it and placed camping outfit and women and children on wagons to start through the roadless and unbroken forests while the boat wound its way down the Tenn. River. They were bound for the Forked Deer River country. She told me how they had to humor the Indians -- give them little things such as beads, combs and such things as they had not seen. She told me how they had to tie logs behind their wagons to drag behind coming down the steep hills. They had cows and extra horses which were driven behind the wagons.”

“She told me something of how a young woman of luxury and wealth felt as she was leaving the ballroom floors of the gayest society to live in the unbroken forests and canebrakes where the nearest neighbor was twelve miles away and the bears and panthers were numerous and dangerous.”

“The flat boat we left at the starting point floated lazily down the Tenn. River to the Ohio, thence to the big Mississippi and on down that big stream to the mouth of the Forked Deer River up which they must make their way in some manner which was yet to be discovered.’

“The boat would not float Upstream.”

“There were no steam or gasoline engines.”

“There were no driveways along the banks so horse power could not be used as on canals.”

“A big problem to be solved in a wilderness with nothing to do it with -- but it had to be done.”

“So with the two axes they had on the boat they went to work, felled some timber, split out some slabs and in some way constructed and attached a narrow walkway to each side of the boat fastening cleats a few inches apart on top of the walkway to keep their feet from slipping, then cut some small poles to push with. Two men would go to the front end of the boat, one on each side, and place their poles against the bottom of the river and walk toward the back end pushing the boat forward. Then two other men would be at the front with their poles and push while the other two would get in position for the next push.”

“After many days of this laborious and monotonous struggling they decided to rest one day. So, tying their boat and striking camp on the river bank they proceeded to the woods to kill some meat. They had succeeded in killing one half grown buck and one gobbler when they heard a rifle fire in the distance. HUSH!! What was that? Indians? While they listened in breathless silence expecting to be attacked by a pack of Indians the rifle cracked again. They were seized with consternation and were rapidly trying to think of some plan to hide their boat and themselves until danger was over when the rifle cracked again and some of them "struck a trot" when sturdy John who was less excited said, "Stop boys and listen if that gun that shot then wasn't Bill's Blue Mary I'm a blue witch."

"Well," said George, " if that was Blue Mary that spoke the injuns has either killed all our bunch and got all our outfit or else our folks have beat us to landing -- 'spose you let Long Tom speak and see if Blue Mary answers." (Long Tom was the gun that had proved the undoing of the young buck and gobbler mentioned above.) So, Long Tom turned loose a hearty "bang" and almost instantly Blue Mary replied, some nearer, and the faithful watch dog that had chased deer over the mountains of Middle and East Tenn. stuck his head toward the sky and let out a happy "Howoo-oo-oo, Howoo-oo-oo.” He too had recognized the voice of Blue Mary. Then the boys knew and understood.”

“When they separated on the banks of the Tenn. River they had some vague understanding as to where they would meet on South Forked Deer River. The wagon company had arrived some days earlier than the boat and the boys had gone down the river firing Blue Mary occasionally that, perchance, they might be heard by the boys on the boat. The boys on the boat had no way of knowing where they were as there were no settlements along the river.”

(The place was at a point north of where Brownsville, Tenn. is now; where "Lane's Ferry" was until about 90 years ago. The high land at this point ran down to the river and there was a spring there.)

“Imagine, if you can, how these fellows felt out there in a dense cane brake where they were liable to be attacked at any moment by a band of Indians and their scalps leave the place dangling from the belts of savages. Or attacked by a bunch of wolves or a panther or bears. Though they were armed and had their dogs, there was danger. Still, they were there with their guns on the ground hugging each other and bubbling (babbling?) like children as they related their experiences and hardships on the trip.”

“The distance from where they met to where the wagons were was not very far on a straight line but to follow the meandering of the river it was yet several days hard and monotonous pushing to get the keel boat around the many bends of the river. (Boats of this kind were called keel boats.) The white men and the slaves who had come with the wagons made a very welcome relief for the crew who had toiled so many long days making only from one to three miles a day.”

“The boat was soon loaded and after a day or two of reunion their attention was turned to making more comfortable quarters than tents because winter would soon be coming on. So they moved to high ground by the spring, cleared a spot of ground, built some temporary houses, fenced a small lot for some of their stock and among other things they did was to burn a place on the top of a big log after it had been hewn flat about the size and shape of a wash bowl in which to beat meal.”

“While these things were going on at camp they were sending men out in different directions to try to find a settlement where a few things more than the wilderness furnished might be found. After many months a very small water mill fifteen miles away was found where very small quantities of meal could be gotten, but it took two men a week to make the trip there because a road had to be cut through cane brakes and swamps and creeks had to be crossed and, of course, there were no bridges.”

Having withstood the rigors of the journey from middle Tennessee Thomas Furguson was in Haywood County in West Tennessee no later than 15 June 1824 for on that date he was summoned by the County Court for jury duty. On 1 February 1826 Thomas Ferguson produced in open court the scalps of three wolves and proved by his own oath that he killed them within the bounds of Haywood County and was awarded a bounty. During that same session of the court it was ordered that Thomas Ferguson and others be appointed a jury of view to mark and lay out a road from Harris Bluff to a place called Frog Jump.

Joel Ferguson was among the Fergusons who migrated from Rutherford County, Tennessee to the western part of the state. It was to be his last migration, Haywood County Court minutes, on page 260, Book B, record the information that on 8 September 1828 Thomas Furguson was appointed administrator of the estate of Joel Furguson, deceased. This is certainly supportive of the notion that there was a familial relationship between Joel and Thomas.

Thomas Ferguson was active in the affairs of Haywood County during the 1820's. He was called for jury duty many times front 1824 to 1830. He engaged in several land transfers during the period, some of them with his brother-in-law, Paschal Tweedy, whose name was perpetuated later in the family of Wyatt Ferguson. On 13 September 1830 Thomas Furgerson and Paschal Tweedy sold 21 acres. On 25 January 1831 James Wyse (Wise,Wylie?) sold 22 acres of land to Daniel Cherry that he bought from Furgerson and Tweedy. On 5 June 1832 Thomas Furgerson sold Daniel Cherry his 100 acre occupant claim lying south of Paschal Tweedy's claim. The Furgerson name is shown on a map of the Frog Jump area with a note, "l00 acres." Thomas was a member of a group appointed to plan a road from Brownsville to the county line towards Dyersburg. This group submitted its report on 13 September 1830.

Now comes a mystery. On 14 September 1830 the court minutes indicate that it was "...ordered by the court that the Attorney General Ex-officio file bills of indictment against Thomas Furgerson, George Grisham, Henry Warren, (torn off) Whitworth, and John Jackson, Jr." The nature of the charges was not detailed but it seems that there was a big fight or riot involving the above individuals. No record was found concerning Jackson and Whitworth. Warren was found not guilty (by a jury including Lovick Lanier); Grisham was fined $1.00 and costs; but Thomas Furgerson was fined $6.01 and costs after "...pleading guilty in manner and form as charged in the bill of indictment..." Thereafter Thomas apparently fades from public view. On 10 December 1836 Albert G. Cherry sold Hardy L. Blackwell 156 acres... "it being the tract whereon Thomas Ferguson lived..." The past tense is interesting. Did Thomas become unhappy with his situation in Haywood County after his conviction, sell his land and move? He is mentioned one more time in the Haywood County minutes, on 1 March 1838 he is shown to have bought 10 bushels of corn at an estate sale.

Thomas Ferguson has yet to be found on a federal census in 1830 in Haywood or any of the surrounding counties. Available records through 1830 would seem to suggest that Thomas lived in the Frog Jump area which, at that time, was in the northwestern portion of Haywood County, the portion that went to Crockett County when that county was established. Concerted efforts to find him on the 1830 census have been in vain.

In 1840 the Thomas Furguson family is found a short distance north of the Frog Jump area but they are in another county. The census of 1840 lists the family in Dyer County, again in a portion that went to Crockett County when Crockett County was established. The Thomas Furguson family, at this time, is shown to have consisted of four persons. There were two persons between the ages of 40 and 50, one male and one female. These were, of course, Thomas and his wife Nancy (Tweedy) Furguson. There was a male between 15 and 20 years old who, undoubtedly, was son, Wyatt. Later records show that the girl between 10 and 15 years old was daughter, Mary. Though not yet proved it is thought that there were two sons older than Wyatt who had left home by this time.

(NOTE: Crockett County was formed in 1845 from portions of Madison, Haywood, Dyer and Gibson Counties. In 1846, some citizens challenged the constitutionality of the formation of Crockett County and this matter was not resolved until 1872. As a Result, in the 1850, 1860 and 1870 Federal censuses people who lived in portions of counties that were later incorporated into Crockett County were listed in those original counties. The first census to recognize Crockett County was in 1880. Thomas Ferguson lived in a part of Dyer County that later became part of Crockett County.)

In 1850 for the first time the federal census contained the names of all persons in the household, not just the name of the head of the household. From the 1850 census information can be extracted that was not previously known. This census provided the first knowledge of the ages and places of birth of the family members. The Thomas Furguson household was located in the Third Civil District of Dyer County. Household members listed were Thomas, age 55, farmer, born in Virginia, could not read or write; Nancy, Thomas' wife, age 55, born in Virginia; Wyatt, age 27, farmer, born in Tennessee; and Mary, age 19, born in Tennessee and attended school during the year.

Sometime in the early 1850's Wyatt Ferguson, son of Thomas and Nancy, married Nancy Alvana Singleton, daughter of J. William and Nancy (Peal) Singleton. The Singletons migrated to West Tennessee from North Carolina.

In 1855, before 3 September. Thomas Furguson, died for on that date the Dyer County Court appointed his son, Wyatt, to be administrator of his estate. Wyatt and Nancy (Singleton) Ferguson continued to live in the Third Civil District of Dyer County after Thomas' death. On the 1860 federal census their Post Office was listed as Dyersburg and the family was shown to consist of Wyatt, Nancy, three children, all boys, and Wyatt's mother, Nancy (Tweedy) Ferguson. Wyatt is shown to be 39 years old, born in Tennessee. His wife. Nancy, listed as N.A., was shown to be 25 years of age, born in North Carolina. The three boys were J. Thomas, age 5, James Paschal, age 3 and John Alfred, age 1, all born in Tennessee. Wyatt’s mother, Nancy (Tweedy) Ferguson, who had made the journey from Rutherford County to West Tennessee almost forty years before was a member of the household in 1860, being listed as 67 years of age, born in Virginia. It was she who told of the journey so vividly that her grandson, John Alfred Ferguson, could re-count it so interestingly more than fifty years later.

The value of Wyatt Ferguson's real estate, as listed on the 1860 census was $1,500 and his personal property was valued at $744. Did he inherit land from his late father, Thomas? Did he purchase the land from his own earnings? Additional research is required to answer these questions and to determine whether or not Thomas had additional heirs.

In 1870 the Wyatt Furguson household is again listed in the 3rd Civil District of Dyer County. There was a different post office, no doubt much closer to home than Dyersburg. It was Chestnut Bluff, a community in the far western part of present day Crockett County that is on some Tennessee maps today. The family had added two more children since 1860 and consisted of seven members. Wyatt was listed as being 50 years old engaged in farming and wife, Nancy, was 33, keeping house, born in North Carolina. Nancy was enumerated as "Nancy" and not "N.A." as she had been on previous censuses. The reason appears to be clear when it is remembered that both her mother and her mother-in-law were named Nancy. In 1850 she was "N.A." to distinguish her from her mother, Nancy, also in the household. In 1860 her mother-in-law, Nancy (Tweedy) Ferguson was in the household and she was again listed as "N.A." so as to distinguish between them. Wyatt Ferguson's wife, mother and mother-in-law were all named Nancy.

There were five children in the household of Wyatt and Nancy in 1870. They were Thomas, age 15, James, age 13, John, age 1 I, Mary, age 8 and Luther, age 1. Wyatt's mother, Nancy (Tweedy) Ferguson, was not in the household in 1870 and has not been found at all on the census in 1870 or 1880. If the family records are correct she lived until 1881 when she died at age 86. Efforts are continuing to discover her whereabouts after 1860, It seems likely that she would have been in the household of one of her two oldest sons, Wyatt's older brothers, whose identities have yet to be unearthed.

Wyatt Ferguson died on 3 February 1878. In the eight years since the 1870 census three more children were added to the family. In 1880 Crockett County was recognized by the Census Bureau as a full fledged county and, for the first time, had its own separate census enumeration. Nine children were in the Ferguson household in 1880 ranging in age from four to twenty-four. Head of the household was Wyatt's widow, Nancy, listed as N. Alvana Furguson. The children's names were somewhat abbreviated on the census. The full names of those listed were: J. Thomas, age 24 (what does the J. stand for ?), James Paschal, age 23, John Alfred, age 21, Mary Jane, age 18, Adeline, age 15, Luther Franklin, age 12, Elizabeth, age 9, Wyatt Columbus, age 6 and William Edgar, age 4. Also in the household was Nancy's mother, Nancy Singleton, widow, age 68. The three oldest sons were shown to be farm laborers almost certainly the primary source of income for the household.

Some time in the early 1880's son, John Alfred, became enamored of a young lady from Tipton County who was a classmate of his at an educational institution in Crockett County. The exact nature of the educational institution is not clear nor do we know why a young lady from Tipton County would attend school forty or fifty miles away in Crockett County. We do know that the young lady returned to Tipton County and there developed a regular correspondence by mail between John Alfred and this young lady, who was Virginia Sue Lanier. The regular exchange of mail, punctuated by periodic personal visits, continued for several years. By a stroke of good fortune, the letters comprising this correspondence, some one hundred and fifty letters, were saved and are in existence today. A reading of but a few of them makes it perfectly clear that these were two very articulate young people and that John Alfred Ferguson's ardor for Virginia Sue Lanier was equaled by Virginia Sue's ardor for John Alfred. These two love birds corresponded, between periodic visits, beginning in 1882. They soon became engaged and on the 23rd of December 1884 they were married in Tipton County, Tennessee.

Among the ancestors of Virginia Sue Lanier were the Laniers, the Cosbys and the Farrars, three families of note with long and interesting histories. Summaries of the histories of these three families are at Appendices B, C and D respectively.

From a reading of their letters in the early 1880's we learn that John Alfred and Virginia Sue (Lanier) Ferguson planned to live in Tabernacle for the first year of their marriage but there is no evidence that they did so. Their home was in Gates, Tennessee in Lauderdale County. Their first child, Anna Myrtle (Lulla) was born, in all probability, in Gates on 15 September 1886. The birth certificate of their second child, Willie Beatrice (Sister Bea) shows that she was born in Gates on 13 July 1888. Beginning in mid-1889 for a period of about a year, or perhaps a little longer, a series of letters shows that Virginia Sue was in Tipton County separated from John Alfred in Gates. The reason for this separation is not known but it can be speculated that illness in the family in Tabernacle was responsible.

John Alfred had an Undertakers Shop and was a general "Mr. Fix-it" for the town of Gates. While in Gates the family continued to grow in numbers with the addition of Clara Sue on 12 February 1891, Mary Virginia on 3 January 1893 and Wyatt Lanier on 10 June 1897. Nellie Ashton was born on 19 December 1894 but died eleven months later in November 1895.

In 1897 John Alfred accepted a job with the Illinois Central Railroad as a carpenter and general repair man on their line between Fulton, Kentucky and Grenada, Mississippi.

John Alfred Ferguson's mother, Nancy Alvana (Singleton) Ferguson, died on 6 September 1889. Tragically, her next to the youngest child, Wyatt Columbus Ferguson, died just seven days later at the age of 15. Her youngest child, William Edgar Ferguson, died on 6 March 1901 at the age of 25. All of her other children were of age and living independently at the time of her death.

John Alfred Ferguson's job with the railroad required that he be away from home most of the time which he didn't like at all. Covington appeared to him to be a booming town, one that could use his skills as a house builder. So, on 5 May 1898 he moved his family to Covington and for several years built houses including many substantial houses still standing today.

After the move to Covington the family increased again with the addition of John Alfred on 21 August 1900 and was completed with the birth of Kitty Elizabeth on 4 February 1903.

In 1903 John Alfred Ferguson became a Rural Mail Carrier on Route #5 in Tipton County, a position he held until he retired in 1928. This writer fondly remembers accompanying Granddaddy John Alfred on his mail route in a horse drawn buggy--a real thrill for a six year old.

In 1917 the children of John Alfred and Virginia Sue (Lanier) Ferguson began getting married and leaving the nest. It is beyond the scope of this effort to follow them all.

At Appendix E is a Pedigree Chart of the family of John Alfred and Virginia Sue (Lanier) Ferguson.

The authors, Lanier Ferguson and Jim Fry are deceased.