Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Family of John Ferguson and Mary Strain

[ Home Page | First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page ]

Family of John Ferguson and Mary Strain

Generation No. 1

1. JOHN¹ FERGUSON was born Abt. 1736 in Antrim Co., Ireland, and died Abt. 1785 in Abbeville Dist., South Carolina. He married MARY STRAIN Abt. 1756 in Antrim Co., Ireland, daughter of UNKNOWN and UNKNOWN. She was born Abt. 1738 in Antrim Co., Ireland.

Notes for JOHN FERGUSON:
The father of the senior Andrew (Ferguson) was likely John Ferguson, who brought his family to Charleston, South Carolina from County Antrim, Ireland, and died in Laurens County in 1787. If this lineage is correct, the family migrated from the port of entry at Charleston to Laurens County and thence to Pickens County in the western part of South Carolina. -- Dr. John L. Ferguson (1993)
******
"Migrations into Spartanburg Co." by Frank Scott

"In searching for the origins of your Spartanburg County ancestors, a general idea of the migration patterns into the county could give you the clue as to where to look. The very earliest of the settlers, of whom we know very little, came when the land was still controlled by the Cherokee Indians. Mostly they were either traders or rough frontiersmen. It is doubtful that they stayed very long in any one place given their own natures and their business. The second group to come to Spartanburg County came after the land was secured from the Indians between 1765 and 1770. A third group came after the American Revolution. There were others who came to the area either as individuals or in small groups in between these two major migrations or shortly afterwards. By 1810 the county was completely settled and the phrase "bordered by vacant land" is not found in the deeds.
The earliest groups of settlers in Spartanburg County were able-bodied pioneers who moved inland from Charleston. Indian traders, such as John Parris, followed the edge of the mountains from Virginia to Carolina. Of these earliest people there are few families that have survived in the county until the present. Mostly we are familiar with them since a number of streams and place names bear witness to their having lived here. FERGUSON CREEK, Lawson's Fork, Tyger River, Motlow, Ben's Creek (Paris Mountain in Greenville County) are among those streams and places that bear the names of the earliest settlers. Although the land in Spartanburg County was not settled by the Cherokee and used as a buffer between them and the Catawbas, it was still their land. There were times when they did not take kindly to the intrusions of the white settlers and retaliated. The Hammond, Hampton and, later, Bishop massacres acted to deter further encroachment."
*****
Search of Antrim, Ireland:
Spinning Wheel List, 1796
FERGUSON - James, John, Margaret: all of Derrykeighan

Index to the 1803 Antrim Agricultural Census
Last Name First Name Parish Townland
Ferguson John Derrykeighan Carnaff
Ferguson Paul Derrykeighan Carnaff
Ferguson Richard Culfeightrin Ballyvarridagh
Ferguson Robert Culfeightrin Ballyvarridagh
Ferguson William Ballymoney Ballymoney Town
*****
Database: South Carolina Census, 1790-1890

1790 FERGUSON HUGH Charleston Co. SC 00390 Will Probate Records SC
Colonial Probate Index SC1191728
1800 FERGUSON HUGH Pendleton Dist. SC 37 00010-20100-00 Federal Population Schedule SC 1800 Federal Census Index SCS1a1067564
1800 FERGUSON HUGH Pendleton Dist. SC 37 00010-20100-00 Federal Population Schedule SC 1800 Federal Census Index SCS1a1067585
*****
THE SCOTCH-IRISH OR THE SCOT IN NORTH BRITAIN, NORTH IRELAND, AND NORTH AMERICA
CHAPTER XXXIII THE SCOTTISH PLANTATION OF DOWN AND ANTRIM

[p.488] Hamilton founded the towns of Bangor and Killyleagh, in county Down, and there is no doubt that he did "plant" the land which he had acquired with Scottish tenants, the most of them evidently from the same counties in Scotland--Ayr, Renfrew, Wigtown, Dumfries, and Kirkcudbright--as the men who followed Montgomery. The names of some of those who held farms from the Hamilton estates in 1681 and 1688 appear on rent-rolls of those years as follows (Hamilton Manuscripts, pp. 108-111, 125-131), the majority of these residing in and near the towns of Bangor and Killyleagh:

"..., Alexander Ferguson, Hugh Ferguson, Thomas Ferguson,..."
*****
Looked into my Ferguson file and found two publications, one a book and one a family folder, which give information that John and possibly Andrew were sons of John and Mary Strain. There were two Strain marriages in this line in two generations. John's Mary is reportedly buried in Laurens Co., SC, with a stone; John is possibly buried here, too. John's will is given in "Wills and Deeds of Abbeville Dist." dated 1786 vox 107 PK 2804 5th Dist. Much of Laurens Co. records were burned in a fire. John bought land near Cross Anchor, SC known as the Babb place in 1774. In 1789 our James had control of this land and after his death his son and James's wife, Nancy, sold the 170 acres still called Babb place on 1 Dec 1848. The folder titled Burdine has some of this information. The Book is titled "Arthur Barrett and Related Families" or such; a copy may be in the Library of Congress.
There were possibly other children. There was a Nehimiah Ferguson whose will was proved in 1787 and a Richard Ferguson whose will was proved in 1808." --- Era Davis (2001)

Notes for MARY STRAIN:
Probably of Scottish ancestry.
*****
Family tradition is that the Strains and the Fergusons landed at Strawberry Ferry near Charleston, SC, probably in the 1760's. James Ferguson supposedly was about 4 years old. Both families then moved on into Laurens Co., SC, although we can't prove dates. An old John Ferguson was father of James. He supposedly married a MARY STRAIN, but no wife for him is shown in court records and this is from undocumented material. John Ferguson bought land from Joseph Babb; it is this land that proves James was his son. John died around 1787. Administration of his estate took place in Abbeville Co., SC, because this area was in the old Ninety Six District, of which Cambridge,just down the road a few miles, had the court house for the whole district. Ninety Six Dist. covered a six county area at that time. When court houses were established in each individual county in 1785, Cambridge no longer had a court house. However, it took a while for the counties to get their court houses ready and Laurens' was not ready. All the surviving records of Cambridge were moved to Abbeville. (That is why Pauline Young called her book on Abbeville "ABSTRACTS OF WILLS & BONDS OF OLD NINETY SIX DIST. & ABBEVILLE COUNTY".) His land records are, however, in Laurens Co., because they kept them in taverns, stores, etc. He bought 100 acres from Joseph Babb in 1774. When he died, James was going to buy the land, or part of it, from Mary Ferguson, whom we assume to be his sister. This was in 1789. It was the tract "whereon John Ferguson formerly lived on Mudlick Creek."

Sometime before 1797 (or 1799), Mary m. Darling Duke Fuller and they decided to go to TN They sold it back to James in 1802 and Darling Duke Fuller said "for a certain tract of land which father-in-law formerly lived on that my wife has a bond for the rights of 100 lbs....and that I quit all claims for sd. tract." Now when James d. in Pickens Co. in 1848, he still owned the Babb tract. His child Mary F. who m. James Stephens was a sister to Jane F. my ancestor, who m. Benton Freeman.

Getting back to the Strains --- James Strain seemed to show up in Laurens in the 1790s when he purchased land. He died 1813 and left a will in Laurens Co. After he landed at Strawberry in 1760s, we don't know where he was until he came to Laurens. Of course, Nancy, was his daughter, and m. James Ferguson. They supposedly were m. when they went to Old Pendleton Dist. in the 1790s. The Laurens records do not give a place of residence. There are several possibilites around the state where some early James Strains were, but no one has proven any of those to be the same as the one in Laurens. (There was an Archibald Strain that landed in Charleston in 1763, so maybe he is connected.)

Old Pendleton Dist. Chapter, SCGS, has a wonderful project going. They are collecting data on families and our James Ferguson is in it. They have him as James G., but I do not know where that came from. I know he had a son James Grimke Ferguson. Try this web site: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com. If this doesn't work, add, /~oldpend. When you click on Ferguson the following will appear: ferguson/ferx.htm.
Or contact Herman Geschwind <geschwind@aol.com> -- Wilma C. Kirkland

Children of JOHN FERGUSON and MARY STRAIN are:

2.	i.	ANDREW² FERGUSON, SR., b. Abt. 1775, SC; d. November 16, 1843, Pickens County, South Carolina.
3.	ii.	JAMES FERGUSON, b. 1756, County Antrim, Ireland; d. December 29, 1847, Pickens Co., SC.
	iii.	JOHN FERGUSON, b. Abt. 1757.
	iv.	PATRICIA FERGUSON, b. Abt. 1758.

Notes for PATRICIA FERGUSON:
"There is a record in the Barrett book, "Arthur Barret and Related Families", which comes from the army files in the South Carolina Museum at Columbia, SC. A British army officer, Colonel James Williams, ordered Patricia Ferguson to prepare them food. When she refused, he took out his sword and cut the linen from the loom she was working on.
We do know that John Ferguson was paid for linen cut out of the loom, as proof of payment is found in war records in the archives. John Ferguson was paid on 10-6-1778 for 14 yards of linen at 10 Pounds Sterling per yard. It is said that, after the trouble over the linen cut out of Patricia's loom, the Ferguson's fled ahead of the war from Laurens County, SC and wound up at Glassy Mountain near Pickens, SC. It is said that they lived in caves there until the end of the war. The Barrett Book, "Arthur Barrett and Related Families", says John and his sisters fled. --- Era Morgan Davis (1989)

MARY FERGUSON, b. Abt. 1760; m. DARLING DUKE FULLER.

[ Home Page | First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page ]