My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Miller County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

* * * *

William T. Ferguson, a prominent mill man and a leading citizen of Miller County, was born in Bowie County, Tex., May 13, 1847, being a son of Joseph and Margaret (Johnson) Ferguson, natives of Virginia and Tennessee, respectively. Joseph Ferguson was born on April 12, 1812, and passed his boyhood and youth in his native State. In 1835 he came to Arkansas, and for six months worked in Little River County, to pay his way here, after which he moved to what is now Miller County (then Lafayette). It was here he met and subsequently married his wife, who had come to Miller County when a girl with her parents, from Tennessee. Early in life she had united with the Methodist Episcopal Church; she lived a useful Christian life, and died a firm believer in that faith, in 1874, in her forty-fifth year. The father passed from life in Miller County, Ark., in August, 1889, at the age of seventy-seven years. His occupation in life was that of a farmer, at which he was very successful, and at the time of his death had amassed considerable property, his operations being confined to Miller County, Ark., where he spent the last twenty years of his life. He was active in political circles, and always voted the Democratic ticket, and socially belonged to the Masonic fraternity. The subject of this sketch is the second of twelve children born to their marriage, but six of whom are now living: Martha A., Joseph G., Hannah C., Peter R., Lewis E. and William T. Martha A. is now the wife of J. F. Kirby, a leading attorney of Texarkana; William T. is the subject of this sketch; Joseph G. is in partnership with his brother William in the mill business in Lafayette County, Ark.; Hannah C. is the wife of William Buchanon, a capitalist of Texarkana; Peter R. is also in the timber business in Lafayette County, and Lewis E. is a resident of Texarkana. The school days of William T. Ferguson were spent in Rondo, near Texarkana. A stripling of seventeen years, he enlisted in Col. Crawford’s Regiment of Cavalry, Fagan’s Division, and served during the remaining eighteen months of the war, at the close of which he returned to his home and commenced farming operations in Miller County, about eight miles south of Texarkana, until 1879, when he formed a partnership with E. W. Frost, and they started the milling business, which has since grown to such large proportions. They commenced with a small mill with a capacity of 10,000 feet per day, located three miles south of Texarkana, and worked on contract, getting out timbers for the Cotton Belt Railroad. They now do a business of $150,000 annually, employing over seventy-five men. Their mill has a capacity of 40,000 feet per day, with a planing-mill capacity of 75,000 feet. They contemplate shortly increasing their capacity to 50,000 feet per day, and to tap their magnificent forests south of the mill, on McKinney Bayou, they will build eight miles of tram-road. This they find is necessary in order to supply their ever-increasing trade at the markets northeast and west. In connection with this large establishment he is also interested in the Bodcaw Lumber Company, located at Stamps, on the Cotton Belt-Railroad, in Lafayette County, which is even a larger concern than that at Genoa, and Mr. Ferguson is financial manager of Genoa Mill and vice-president of Bodcaw Mill, in Lafayette County. When he first started in business with Mr. Frost, they conducted the business under the firm name of Frost & Ferguson, but the style has since been changed to E. W. Frost & Co., under which it is now known. On June 22, 1866, Mr. Ferguson was united in marriage with Miss Eliza Ingram, daughter of John Ingram, of Ouachita County, Ark., who died in this county after a happy wedded life of twelve years, leaving five children: Margaret Ida, Susan M., Mary Eliza, William J. and John D. She belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and was a much-esteemed member of that body. One year after her death Mr. Ferguson wedded her sister Mary, by whom he became the father of one child, who died in infancy. She died four years after her marriage, and she, too, passed away in the firm belief in the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mr. Ferguson remained a widower until December 10, 1884, when Miss Sarah E. Bartlett, daughter of Richard A. Bartlett, of Miller County (formerly of Whitesville, Ky., where she was born), became his wife, and this venture has since proved most fortunate. She is a member of the Christian Church. In politics Mr. Ferguson always supports the men and measures of the Democratic party.

* * * *