Some Descendants of Moses Ferguson of SC

Writer's Note: Here are notes on some of the descendants of Moses Ferguson, who lived for a time in South Carolina in the mid to late 1700s. We do not know for certain where Moses or his forebearers came from. Family legends differ - from Ireland, or from Scotland as Jacobites. One of my late aunts said they were highlanders who were "out" with both Dundee and Bonnie Prince Charlie in the Jacobite cause, but I haven't been able to go that far back and confirm it.   The line of descent traced here is largely that of Moses's son Daniel, with additional notes on others. My direct line of descent is Moses, Daniel, Turner Peak, William Alfonse, Robert Windes and William Frederick Ferguson. These notes go from Moses to William Alfonse, my great grandfather, with only brief comments on my grandfather and one of his brothers, both included under William Alfonse's listing.

The other family names mentioned herein include Austin, Bennet, Curry, Desmaret, Fenner, Fleming, Griffith, Heath, Insall, James, Kibbee, Lively, McCrory, Milburn, Montgomery, Morrison,Ogden, Peak, Richards, Roberts, Thomas, Thrift and Windes.   The late J. Dee Ferrguson of Canyon Lake, Texas did a great deal of research on Daniel's line, much of which has been verified and to some extent expanded upon by Homer Ferguson in Idaho and myself. I have also included in the notes mentions of some other related genealogies done by others that are or appear to be linked to this line. -- Bob Ferguson, Benton, Arkansas   Asterisks mark my direct line of descent.

*Moses Ferguson. Married: Elizabeth Lively Children: All thought to have been born in S.C. *Daniel, reportedly born 1774 James b. 1768 Moses Aaron Isham - Isham eventually settled in Mississippi, and is buried in the Ferguson Cemetery , which I believe is in Copiah County. Many of his descendants - of various surnames - are in Louisiana and some are in Ohio. His line has been thoroughly researched by a descendant in West Monroe, La. John - Reportedly a physician in East Baton Rouge Parish La, who d. 1831. Samuel - Might be Samuel Maley Ferguson, whose lineage was researched by Otto Ferguson in Louisiana. Otto thought Moses was one of the possible forebearers of his Samuel, and other descendants have cited names that seem to indicate Samuel Maley Ferguson had brothers whose names match most of our line's names in that generation. Ely - He appears to have married a young woman named Applewhite in Mississippi.     Land records believed to concern Moses, the elder * Royal Land Grant from George III, 100 acres in Craven County, north of Wateree River, Oct. 31, 1769. I am told this is likely to have been in what is now Kershaw County, SC * Lease and Release of 200 acres in Craven County, Fredericksburgh Township, to Moses from a Margaret Ferguson, on Oct. 17, 1772. *

Memorial (taxes) on Dec. 23, 1772. * June 30, 1784 state grant of 300 acres for price of seven pounds sterling, in Camden District, east of Wateree River.     MOSES Jr , Aaron,Isham, John, Samuel and Ely- All moved to East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. Listed in the 1820 census. There is a record in federal "Public Lands" of a Moses Ferguson and John claiming land in East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, having possibly occupied it by 1806. A later federal plat map indicates Moses and John still owned the land in 1826.     James and Daniel settled about 1808 or shortly thereafter in Bayou Chicot, farther west, in what is now Lafayette Parish, but back then was part of Avoyelles or St. Landry Parish.   JAMES Ferguson Married: Elizabeth Curry from Georgia, date unknown Children: Elijah Curry Ferguson, married Nancy Kibbee, Oct. 1838 Louise Alice Ferguson, married Tom McCrory Minerva Adelia Ferguson, married Henry Blain Milburn Uriah Ferguson. died young James Ferguson, died young Elizabeth Alice Ferguson, married Alisandre Morrison *DANIEL Ferguson Married Esther (Hester) Peak (or Peake) (b. 1776 d.1824), in 1791, supposedly in Chester County, S.C. She is buried in Ferguson Cemetery near Bayou Chicot in Lafayette Parish, La. Children: Mary Ann (Polly Ann), born in S.C. 1793, married Isaac Griffiths in 1815; died in 1883. Ransom Peak Ferguson, born in S.C., married Sally Montgomery, Jan. 8, 1823; second wife, Charlotte Insall. Charles and Lula Ferguson Wingate have a Family Tree Maker page online that includes Ransom's line. Jim Ferguson, born in S.C +Clarisse Desmaret (sp?) *Turner Peak Ferguson, born in S.C., married Adeline Lemarcus Fenner on Jan. 15, 1832, died May 28, 1842 Eugenia Peak Ferguson, born Feb. 1809, St. Landry Parish, La., married Dr. Robert D. Windes on Jan. 17, 1827; died Sept. 23 , 1859. Charlotte Ferguson, born in S.C., married John T. Heath on March 3, 1823   Atalanta M. Ferguson, born Feb. 28, 1812, St. Landry Parish, La., married Silas Thomas in 1833; died July 12, 1906. (Her name is variously spelled by different researchers as also as Adelante and Atlanta) Austin Peak Ferguson, born St. Landry Parish, married Adeline Lemarcus Fenner, his brother's widow.   NOTE: In 1808 Daniel and Esther and their first five children loaded up a wagon and moved west and south, to St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, near Bayou Chicot, north of Opelousas. Esther died in 1824. Daniel remarried July 13, 1830, but 17 days later his wife (formerly Elizabeth Clark) was killed in a buggy accident. Daniel went to Arkansas for a time, then returned to Louisiana, in Monroe, Ouachita Parish, where two of his sons, were living. Daniel died in 1840. He owned a large plantation and several slaves during his lifetime. A fewe months ago I visited the Bayou Chicot cemetery, and while there saw an old house , pretty much overgrown wityh honeysuckle and broers now, that was built by one of the Fergusons in 1811. One writer has said the house was built by Ransom, one of Daniel's sons, but the same writer says Ransom was born in 1800, and it seems unlikely he built the house at age 11. My guess is that Daniel built it.

*TURNER PEAK Ferguson Married Adeline Lemarcus Fenner, Jan. 25, 1832 in Avoyelles Parish, La.; he died in Ouachita Parish La., in 1842, where he owned a plantation. NOTE: Adeline Lemarcus Fenner was the daughter of William Fenner, a veteran of the American Revolution. He was born in North Carolina about 1764, served as a soldier in North Carolina and died in Louisiana sometime after Jan. 24, 1832. His wife was Mercy Ogden, also referred to in some old memoirs as Massey Ogden. Fenner's father was also named William and was married to Rachel Austin (or Austen) who was reportedly Dutch. Daniel Wayne Ferguson. born Oct. 19, 1832, Ouachita Parish, La; married Rebecca Fleming, Dec. 5, 1855; second marriage to Ella Mae Johnson, April 30, 1909; died April 10, 1910. Aaron Prescott Ferguson, born Aug. 28, 1834, Ouachita Parish, La. never married. Willis P. Ferguson, born Jan. 28, 1837, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, married Elizabeth James on Nov. 18, 1856. *William Alfonse Ferguson, born Feb. 12, 1838, in Monroe, Ouachita Parish, La., married Rosalie Bennett on May 28, 1874, died Jan. 17, 1918. Austin O. Ferguson, born May 17, 1839, never married, died Jan. 29, 1919. Turner P. Ferguson, born April 27, 1841.   NOTE: Turner Peak Ferguson owned a plantation on the Ouachita River in Ouachita Parish near Monroe, and had several slaves. About four years after he died, his widow, Adeline, married his brother, Austin Peak Ferguson in 1846. They had three children, Robert Windes Ferguson, born in 1847 and killed in the Battle of Mansfield, La. at age 17 while a cavalry trooper (see more below in notes on William Alfonse Ferguson), Ann Elizabeth Ferguson, born Jan. 20, 1849 (she is the Ann Roberts who wrote a letter to her granddaughter in 1937, telling some of the Civil War stories, items about the Revolution, the Fenners, etc.), and Atalanta Ferguson, born in 1851. After Austin died, Adeline had inherited two plantations and numerous slaves, estimated at 40 to 75, and was quite well off. She and a brother, Sherrod McCall Fenner, moved her family to central Texas and established another plantation. She married two more times. The first was Alfred Bailes in 1854, whom she divorced in Guadalupe County, Seguin, Texas in 1856. In 1857, she married James A. Yeary of Lampassas, Texas, who left after a short time, went to Mississippi and ended up dying of cholera on a riverboat. At the end of the Civil War, she was one of the last slave owners, and freed - varying estimates - between 30 and 66 slaves.

*WILLIAM ALFONSE Ferguson He and four brothers served in the Civil War. Married Rosalie Bennett. They had 13,children. At the time of marriage he was 36; she was 16. The children were: *Robert Windes Ferguson, b. 3-24-1875 - d. 1929 (My grandfather - was a driller and wildcatter in the Louisiana and Texas Oilfields. Married twice - to a Kitty Richards and to my grandmother, Bessie Thrift.) Mary Minerva Ferguson, b. 11-14-1876 Henry Bennett Ferguson, b. 5-24-1878 - died several years after WWI (My grandmother told me he served with Pershing on the Mexican border, then went to Europe as machine gunner in WWI, survived the war "without a scratch" and died some years later in a cave-in while operating a giant drill used in tunneling on a road project across the continental Divide. William Fenner Ferguson, b. 12-16-1879 Lillie Moss Ferguson, b. 4-7-1882 John Eibert "Jack" Ferguson, b. 2-22-1884 Edwin Bouyer "Ned" Ferguson, b. 6-15-1886 Elma Katherine Ferguson, b. 5-17-1888 Aaron Ross Ferguson, b, 9-1890, died as infant Sam and Olive Ferguson (twins) b. 11-22-1891; Olive died as infant Pat B. Ferguson, 10-2-1894 James Granville Ferguson, b. 5-5-1900   NOTE: William Alfonse and his brothers, Austin Oric, Daniel Wayne and Robert W. served in Co. A, 1st Regiment, Sibley's Brigade, 4th Texas Cavalry, and another brother, Aaron P., was in the same regiment, but a different company.   The 4th Texas Cavalry was more like mounted infantry, and a man who rode with them and later wrote a book about it kept a log of their marches and battles. It appears that those who survived the war rode more than 7,500 miles in four years and fought in dozens of skirmishes and battles.   The largest battle was probably the one at Mansfield, La., which involved several; thousand troops on each side.   At the very begining, the 4th Texas was part of an effort by a General Sibley to take the West for the Confederacy. The brigade left from San Antonio, rode west and took Santa Fe and Albuquerque, fought and won a sizable battle at Val Verde, New Mexico and then "won" a battle at Glorieta Pass; but during the Glorieta Pass battle, their supplies and wagons were destroyed, which forced them to go back to San Antonio.   William Alfonse was wounded in the shoulder at the Battle of Val Verde in New Mexico and the bullet was never removed from his shoulder. His younger brother, Robert Windes, then 17, was killed in the Battle of Mansfield, La., in 1864. The Ferguson boys saw action in New Mexico, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana. What started as Sibley's Brigade was later commanded by a General Green and by a General Hardeman.   Material written by J. Dee Ferguson of Canyon Lake, Texas in the 1970s tells some interesting adventures and misadventures of William Alfonse and his children, including a homesteading expedition to New Mexico in the early 1900s.   About 1881 William Alfonse and Rosalie moved to Tilden, Texas, where he hauled freight by wagon to San Antonio and then to Belmont in Gonzales County, where he would visit his mother before returning to Tilden., delivering freight on the return trip. He purchased a small piece of land in Tilden, then later traded it for a horse and buggy and family moved to Moore, Texas,and lived there until 1887. They then returned to Kingsbury and William Alfonse - except for the brief sojourn to New Mexico , spent most of the remainder of his life as a farmer in Guadalupe, Caldwell and Gonzales counties. William Alfonse died Jan. 17, 1918. Rosalie died in 1946 while living with her daughter in Red Rock, NM.- J. Dee reports that family members said William Alfonse played the fiddle, and every time he played he would include the old Scottish tune, "Annie Laurie," commenting that it was written by a relative. (The song is actually about a Ferguson, not written by one - "Annie Laurie" was the wife of one of the Fergusons of Craigdarroch, a landed family in Scotland.)

From: Bob Ferguson 
Subject: [Ferguson-L] Roll Call - Late again
Late for Roll call, just like the old days in the military. Hope I don't
get brig time. Here's some notes on the early part of my line, - I'm
descended from a Moses Ferguson through the line of his son Daniel - All
the 2's listed below are Moses' children.
1. Moses Ferguson.m. Elizabeth Lively. Don't know when or where either was
born. Currently investigating possibility Moses was a grandson of the Moses
Ferguson who died in 1750 in Virginia. My Moses appears to have gotten a
land grant of 100 acres in South Carolina in Craven County, north of the
Wateree River,  in 1768-9 and acquired another 200 acres in 1772 from a
Margaret Ferguson in Craven Coynty, Fredricksburgh District.
 Children: All thought to have been born in S.C.
2. Daniel,  reportedly born 1774, m. Esther Peak (b. 1776). Esther died in
1824 and is buried in Ferguson Cemetery near Bayou Chicot, Louisiana.
Ann Ferguson, Ranson Peak Ferguson, Charlotte Ferguson, Eugenia Peak
Ferguson, Austin Peak Ferguson. Ransom stayed in Bayou Chicot and has
several descendants in Louisiana. Turner and Austin went. to Monroe, where
both died. Adeline Lemarcus Fenner Ferguson, who was widowed first by
Turner, then by Austin, moved her sizable brood to Texas in 1853. There are
descendants in Houston and Seguin, Texas, probably some in New Mexico, and
elsewhere in Texas, also in Leesville, La and in Benton, Arkansas, and in
Idaho. Mary Ann married into the Griffith family in Bayou Chicot and she
had several descendants named Griffith and Thompson in that area.
2. James 1768 - 1863  m. Elizabeth Curry of Georgia. They settled in Bayou
Chicot, La. Children included Elijah Curry Ferguson, Louisa Alice Ferguson,
Minerva Adella Ferguson, Uriah Ferguson, James Ferguson, Elizabeth Alice
Ferguson. Among the children, Uriah and James died young.
2. Moses Jr. - dob unknown, marriage unknown, shows up in 1820 census in
East Baton Rouge with five of his brothers. Was married had several
children in 1820.
2. Aaron b. abt. 1790 in SC m. (1) Patsy Calihan b/abt  1794 Married: 25
Aug 1809 in Adams Co.  MS (2) Delilah Clarinda McGintly  b/1801 Married: 22
Feb 1836 in  Copiah Co. MS   Children: Wilburn Moses Sr. b/abt 1813 in LA
Spouse: Levica Ferguson; Aaron D. b/1829 Spouse: Elizabeth B. Adams  Child
of Aaron and Delilah Ferguson - Amantha R. b/1801 in LA. Aaron the father
was in East Baton Rouge Parish, La. in 1820 census.
2. Isham b. May 5, 1786 d. Dec. 14, 1843, m. Catherine Wright. Both buried
in Ferguson Cemetery, Copiah County, MS. Mrs. Blanche Kiesewetter of West
Monroe, La. has full genealogy on this line that includes many descendants
in Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio and California. Was in East Baton Rouge
Parish, La.  at time of 1820 census.
2. John - Physician or preacher? Some interpret letters after his name in
old records as MD (medical doctor) or MG (minister of gospel)  reportedly
John Ferguson keeps popping up elsewhere later in the same areas with his
brothers. Owned land in East Baton Rouge Parish.
2. Samuel - Some indications he may be Samuel Maley Ferguson. If he is
Samuel Maley Ferguson, there has been a genealogy of his line that list
more than 400 descendants. In East Baton Rouge Parish La. in 1820 census.
2. Ely  b. 1794 in S.C., d. Feb. 1850 Carroll County, MS.m. (1) Marry
Applewhite
(2) Ellen Slocum. In East Baton Rouge Parish La. in 1820 census.
From: Bob Ferguson 

Subject: Them Texas Confederates
Sandi Smith submitted V ol. 1 of Ferguson Texas Confederate Soldiers some
time back. I just got around to looking at it. She has most of my boys in
the list, but one seems to be is missing (unless he shows up in Vol. 2).
His name was Robert Windes Ferguson, 4th Texas Cav., in Co. A, I believe,
and in 1864 he was mortally wounded at age 17 at the Battle of Mansfield in
Louisiana and died a few days later.