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From: Ruth Ferguson <>
Subject: [FERGUSON-DNA] Regarding change of ancient ancester
Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 14:15:17 -0500


Attn: Colin and Wilkes Co. N.C. investigators

I now have access to a number of books and records that are of
interest to Ferguson genealogists. These books and records cover,
among others, Fergusons, Hendersons, Isbells, Tripletts, Howards,
Saters and Towsens. These families are of interest to me as they are
records of "my" Ferguson ancestors or their spouses. Also included
are books and records of Wayne Co, IN, Wilkes Co, N.c. and Watauga
Co, N.C. At the time of joining the Ferguson DNA project my most
ancient ancestor that I was sure of was Micajah Ferguson. My father
talked of him. I have photos of Micajah (b 1784) and his wife
Frances Isbell (b 1791) and I have visited their graves in Wayne Co. In.

In 1894 my great grandfathers' brother, Linville, a son of Micajah,
wrote and published a small book entitled "The Families of Micajah
Ferguson and John Loder". John Loder was Linville's father-in-law.
In this book Linville states: "Micajah Ferguson was son of Thomas
Ferguson, whose ancestors emigrated from Scotland in the early part
of the 17th century. They settled in VA but afterwards emigrated to
Wilkes Co., N.C. His mother was of German decent."

After studying the above material I am now quite sure that Micajah's
father was John Ferguson---not Thomas---for the reasons stated
below. In the book "The History of Wayne Co. IN" published in 1884
there are reports on four Ferguson families. I believe those four
reports were written by Linville (mentioned above) - they have his
style, the year of publication is close to his book and he was much
interested in family history. The first report is about - surprise -
Linvilles' family. The second report is about Micajah and here it
states "Micajah's father was John. The third report is about Nimrod
and here it states Nimrod was of Scotch and Irish decent. And the
fourth report is about Thomas L - a son of Nimrod.

In the section of the Wayne Co. book giving early history, it
states: Three Ferguson brothers came to Wayne Co. in the early 18
hundeds. They were Micajah, Nimrod and Joel - a Baptist preacher
(my early Fergusons were Baptists). Joel was the first to take up
land. They made trips back to Wilkes co. to avoid "Indian troubles
in the War of 1812," to visit, and to marry. Note: MIcajah and
Nimrold married Isbell sisters. In the book Marriages of Wilkes Co.
it states: Nimrod Ferguson and Elizabeth Isbell 9 Oct 1818, John
Ferguson bondsman. Nimrod had a father, a brother, and four first
cousins named John! I have not found further mention of Joel other
than mentioned below in John's wills.

On 1-10-07 Penny posted to the Ferguson DNA website the will of John
Ferguson--dated May 12, 1834--and asks who is this? I believe the
answer is my g g g grandfather. In studying Abbot's books on
Fergusons and Tripletts, books of Wilkes Co genealogy, and other
Wilkes Co. records there is agreement that in the late 1700s three
Ferguson brothers (John, THomas, and Richard) and two sisters (Nancy
and unnamed) came from Virginia to settle in Wilkes Co. Note: Some
Fergusons in Wilkes Co. claim decent from Fergusons other than one of
the five mentioned above. There are several mentions that the father
of the above five was Thomas Sr. However, no proof is offered, just
some people think Thomas "Sr." was the father.

To my claim that Micajah's father was John not Thomas, I note
agreement as to children's order of birth, dates of birth, general
ages, and several statements that Micajah's father was John. I
believe Linville misremembered his grandfather's first name. His g
grandfather may have ben Thomas Sr. Only in his book is Micajah's
father named Thomas. In all other places, including John's will,
Micajah's father is listed as John. Therefore I ask Colin to change
my (Paul's) most ancient ancestor as John and perhaps that John's
father as Thomas "Sr."

For general interest I list the children of three brothers and one
(two?) sisters mentioned above as gleaned from several sources.

1. John Ferguson married Frances Triplett. They had 8 children
born between 1772 and 1795. They were: Jane, Linda, John B. Jr.,
Joel, Margaret, Micajah, Nimrod and Sarah.

2. Thomas Ferguson married Edith Foster. They had 7 children born
between 1786 and 1804. They were William, Mary, Charity, John
Foster, Sally (called Sarah), Mary and Thomas Jr.

3. Richard Ferguson married Verlinda Triplett. They had 14
children between 1790 and 1816. They were Sarah, Elizabeth, John
T., Nancy, Rebecca, Jesse, Eleanor, Mary, Jeremiah, Pricilla, Delpha,
Elvira, and twins Jordan and Richard Jr.

4. Nancy Ferguson married William Triplett. They had 9 children
between 1787 and 1805. They were Nimrod, John, William, Micajah,
Lewis, Joel, Thomas and twins Elizabeth and Alfred.

5. Unnamed sister. Abbot says William Triplet (#4 above) had a
brother named Thomas who married a Jane Ferguson and this Jane
might be Nancy Ferguson's (#4 above) unnamed siter. Others suggest
this Jane might have been John's (#1 above) first born.

They had 11 children. They were born between 1789 and 1815. They
were William, Frances, Lewis, Nancy, Martin, Sarah, Joel, John J. ,
Amelia, Edith, and Thomas, Jr.

The five families above had 49 children and there was some
intermarrying. Also, there were more Tripletts in the area available
for spouses.

Hortense E. Abbot, whose maiden name was I believe Triplett, states
her family line goes back to the marriage of Nancy Ferguson and
Wlliam Triplett. She spent time in Wilkes Co. assembling data for
her two books. The Wilkes Co. genealogy books often quotes her--thus
these two sources quote one another. This makes it difficult to
determine source and accuracy of some statements.

Note: Four Fergusons married four Tripletts, every family had
children named after aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. John
Ferguson and sister Nancy Ferguson Triplett had boys named Nimrod,
Micajah, and Joel. Also William Triplett (#4 above) had two
brothers named Micajah and Nimrod (Both died along with their fathers
during the revolutionary wars). Double cousins by the dozen!!


SUMMARY: The most ancient ancestor of Paul M. Ferguson is John
Ferguson--one of five siblings who left Virginia in the late 1700s to
move in mass to Wilkes Co. NC. Their father may be a Thomas Ferguson
"Sr.".



Paul Ferguson






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