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                       JAMES R. FERGUSON

        James R. Ferguson, retired farmer and veteran soldier, of
Henryville, Clark county, is one of the older generation that has
contributed so much to the progress and upbuilding of the community.   His
father, Colonel {Henry} Ferguson, who died in 1868, was the founder of
Henryville.  He was the foremost man in getting the railroad through that
part of the country and induced Ben Marsh, the engineer who surveyed the
railroad, to survey and help him lay off the town of Henryville, which was
afterwards named in his honor.  Our subject is well versed in the blacksmith
trade, having spent ten years of his life in that business; the remainder of
his career, outside of his military experiences, was spent in farming
pursuits in which he has been unquestionably successful.  He and his life
live in retirement in Henryville in a manner fitting to their time of life.

 James R. Ferguson was born on June 23, 1837, in Washington county,
Pennsylvania, and was the son of Henry and Nancy (Young) Ferguson.  Col.
Henry Ferguson, as he became known in later life, was born in 1804, in the
same county in Pennsylvania.  He was a farmer and came to Clark county,
Indiana, about 1842, and located on the present site of Henryville, owning
all the land on which the town now stands.  In order to induce the railroad
authorities to open up Clark county, about 1848 or 1849 he both donated and
sold them land.  He helped to do the grading work on the road and was
afterwards kept in the company's employ as paymaster, holding the position
until his retirement from same.  He retired from the service of the railroad
in his fiftieth year.  Colonel Ferguson was educated in the common schools
of Pennsylvania, was a Democrat in politics, and belonged to the
Presbyterian faith.  He was a great friend of President Armstrong, of the
Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis Railroad, and was known all over the
country.  He was quite active in the political circles of his day, but never
sought a public office.  He was at one time colonel of a regiment of
Pennsylvania militia, and was also employed by the state to collect all the
old government arms in Clark, Scott, Floyd and Washington counties.  He and
James Allen hauled them to Indianapolis.  He died in 1860, just before the
war broke out.  His wife died in 1844, when our subject was quite young.
James R. besides himself had five brothers and two sisters.  He and his
sister, Maria Calender, of Louisville, Kentucky, are the only survivors.

 James R. Ferguson started for himself when about sixteen years old.  He
learned the blacksmith trade, at which he worked for ten years with good
results.  In the year 1861, at the outbreak of the war, he enlisted in
Company D, Forty-ninth Indiana Infantry, as a private, on September 19th.
He fought in the battles of Cumberland Gap, Memphis, Tennessee; Vicksburg,
and in the campaign around the last named district.  He then participated in
the Red River Expedition, came home on furlough, and was mustered out in
1865, at which time he held a commission as captain.  From that time until a
year ago he was a prosperous farmer.

 In the year 1879 he married Mamie Connor, who was born on the 22d of
November, 1850, and was the daughter of Mary and Bryan Connor.  Her parents
were natives of Ireland, though she herself was born in Maryland.  Her
mother died in Henryville and her father was killed in an accident on the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, in Virginia, about 1856.  Her mother, whose death
occurred in 1885, was in her sixty-first year.  Mrs. Ferguson and her
husband have been blessed with the following children:  Ray, born Mary 5,
1880; Earl R. was born December 4, 1881, and lives in California; Chester
C., born May 13, 1885; Henry H. was born in February, 1887; Charles Blaine
was born in 1890, January 11th, in Louisville, and James A. on December 31,
1893.

 James R. Ferguson obtained his education in the common schools.  He and his
family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.  In politics he is a
Republican and served as Assessor of the township for one term.  He is a
member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Post No. 461.


Lois M. Mauk
LawOfficeInformationSystem@postoffice.worldnet.att.net