SAMUEL M. FERGUSON

(From the History of Callaway County Missouri, 1884, page 769 - 770.)
Transcribed by Kris Breid, 17 December 2004

SAMUEL M. FERGUSON, blacksmith at New Bloomfield. The parents of Thomas J. Ferguson, the father of Samuel M., were among the earliest settlers of Cole County, Missouri. They came there from Kentucky as early as 1817. Thomas J. was then a boy and was reared on his father’s farm in Cole county. After he grew up, he learned the wheelwright trade, at which he worked for many years, but finally settled down to a farmer’s life.On the 14th of February, 1833, he was married to Miss Nancy L. Moore, and they reared seven children: Charles W., Henry J., Samuel M., Mary E., Nancy H., John W. and Thomas W., three of whom are now dead, Charles C.[sic], John W. and Thomas W.

Samuel M. Ferguson, the subject of this sketch, was born in Jefferson City, April 16, 1837, but was reared on a farm. After he grew up, however, he learned the blacksmith’s trade, at which he has worked ever since. On the 29th of February, 1860, he was married to Miss Nancy J. Humphries, of New Bloomfield, this county. They have had nine children: Ida S., Ella R., Martha A., Anna W., Lillie L., Ernest E., William H., Beulah C. and George F. Mrs. Ferguson’s parents, John and Susanna (Crawford) Humphries, had five children: Anna E., Martha C., William H., Nancy J. and Sarah L. During the late war, Mr. Ferguson enlisted in the State militia on the Union side, but his company was never called out into active service, and although regularly sworn in by an authorized officer of the government, he was never discharged. He has never drawn a cent’s pay for his services, although he was held subject to call during the war; and if he was half as ready to rally around the flag over the treasury of the glorious Union as most of the loyal pensioners of the government, he would doubtless apply for pay as a soldier from the time of his enlistment up to the present time, now a matter of some $5,000. A claim agent, say at Washington, would doubtless make his claim a hard one for the government to get around, if he had charge of it. Mr. Ferguson is still carrying on the blacksmithing and wagon-making business at New Bloomfield, and has an excellent run of custom. He is an energetic, hard-working man, a good citizen and neighbor, and is highly respected in and around New Bloomfield, and wherever known.

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