FERGUSON-DNA-L Archives

From: "S F Loshbaugh" <>
Subject: [FERGUSON-DNA] New member introduces her family
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 09:58:40 -0900 (AKST)

Greetings, fellow Fergies!

My immediate family has joined your DNA project, thanks to my father,
Thomas Gordon Ferguson Jr., being a good sport about his daughter’s
family-history obsession. We are awaiting results of his tests.

My father is only one generation removed from the “auld” country. We know
our line is lowland Scots but don’t have information beyond 150 years ago.
We are a small, close-knit family strewn around the USA, with no (as
yet) known connection to any other Fergusons in the Western Hemisphere.

My great-grandparents migrated from Midlothian to Canada in 1906, bringing
my grandfather when he was a laddie of 8 years. He was an only child,
moved to the US in the 1920s, lived to age 100, and currently has 13
living descendents. Migration limited our knowledge of the family’s
history, and what we do know suggests that all his ancestors had
excruciatingly common names, making them difficult to trace.

Thomas seems to be the male name of choice, with one in each documented
generation. Our oldest known ancestor on the paternal line was Thomas
Ferguson of Hamilton, Blantyr, Lanarkshire. The only date we have on him
is that he married Margaret Bell (possibly the daughter of James Bell) in
Hamilton in 1858. They had 5 known children, of whom only 2 left
descendents – my great-grandfather, Thomas Alexander Ferguson (1859-1938),
who moved to the Edinburgh area and married Elizabeth Hutchison; and his
sister Mary, who married a Robert Muir.

It will be interesting to see if we match William Blair Ferguson, who also
traces his line to Hamilton.

We’ve signed up for the MtDNA test as well. My father’s maternal line is
not Scottish, but appears to be generic British. The oldest name we have
there is “Smith.” Yet another exasperating dead-end.

Browsing through your discussion forum, I am impressed by the hard work
everyone has put into this fascinating project, especially Colin. Thank
you!

Sincerely,
Susan Ferguson Loshbaugh

This thread:

• [FERGUSON-DNA] New member introduces her family by "S F Loshbaugh" <>