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Hugh Ferguson |
Hugh Ferguson - perhaps alsoo spelled "Furguson" -- was born in about 1831, or possibly on Nov. 17, 1825, presumably in Perry County, OH, the son of John H. and Sarah (Miner) Ferguson.
When Hugh was a boy or teenager, sometime before 1850, he and his parents and siblings migrated to Michigan. They settled in Constantine, St. Joseph County, MI, where they spent many years. Hugh's father and brother John labored as a teamsters.
Hugh is believed to have married Nancy (1830/1832?-1908?).
Together, they bore one known son -- Fremont Lewis Ferguson.
Hugh learned the trade of cabinet-making. The Fergusons are known to have been in Indiana in 1856 at the birth of their son.
When the federal census was taken in 1860, Hugh and Nancy lived next door to his parents in Constantine, St. Joseph County. Residing under their roof that year were their three year old son Fremont and 18-year-old servant Harriet Linn. Hugh's occupation is shown as carpenter.
Some evidence in the form of undocumented research posted on Ancestry.com suggests that their son Fremont died in St. Joseph County at the age of about 12 on Sept. 5, 1868. This is not confirmed -- no record of death has been found nor a photograph of a grave.
The 1870 census shows Hugh and Nancy residing by themselves in the village of Constantine, with him employed as a cooper. No children are in the household that year.
Other evidence on FindAGrave.com suggests that Hugh died at the age of 52 on June 2, 1878, with interment in Constantine Township Cemetery. If true, no stone marks the grave.
Nancy may well have outlived her husband by decades and passed away at the age of 78 on Aug. 5, 1908. But this too is only a hint based on another's research without documentation.
More will be added here if and when discovered.
~ Confusion Over Hugh's Identity ~
At one time we thought that he was the same man as "Hugh J. Ferguson" (1843-1899) who served in the Civil War with the 11th Michigan Infantry, Company H. This Hugh J. married Sarah A. East in St. Joseph County, MI on Nov. 12, 1864 and bore four children -- Henry Harvey Ferguson, Rissa A. Ferguson, J. Ross Ferguson and Dean S. Ferguson. Hugh J. lived much of his life in Newberg, Cass County, MI and died in Muskegon, Muskegon County, MI on Feb. 16, 1899. However, an examination of Hugh J.'s original Civil War pension application papers in person in December 2008 at the National Archives in Washington, DC revealed that he could not be our man as he was born in 1842 -- 11 years after our "Hugh" -- and there are differing sources as to whether Hugh J. was born in New York or Ohio.
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