Umatilla County OR Archives Biographies.....Ferguson, James M. April 4, 1844 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Carlene Still crstill@oregontrail.net August 4, 2006, 2:52 am

Author: Colonel William Parsons 

Page 407, 408

JAMES M. FERGUSON
	One of the largest real-estate owners, a leading agriculturist, and 
prominent citizen of Umatilla county, Mr. Ferguson has a reputation for 
industry and uprightness, together with good financial ability, which he 
justly merits in every respect, while socially he is pleasantly distinguished.
	He was born in Johnson county, Missouri, on April 4, 1844, where he 
lived until after he had attained to his majority, receiving a good education 
in the public schools of that place.  His father was a prosperous farmer and 
he was occupied in general farming and stock-raising with him until he 
enlisted in the Twelfth Kansas Infantry, Company E, under Captain A. J. 
Jennings, on August 10, 1863.  From this time until the close of the war he 
was in continuous service, participating in the battle of Jenning’s Ferry and 
numerous skirmished with bushwhackers and Indians, being stationed much of the 
time on the border of the Cherokee Nation.  He was mustered out at Little 
Rock, Arkansas, on June 30, 1865, with the rank of corporal.  He immediately 
went to Lawrence, Kansas, and rented a farm for two years.  At this place on 
December 14, 1865, he was married to Miss Mary M. Marquis, a native of 
Missouri.  In 1867 he returned to the old home place and rented it for two 
years, after which he moved to Bates county in the same state and purchased 
one hundred and twenty acres of land, which he farmed until 1878, when he sold 
it and came west across the plains with teams, in a train of twenty-three 
wagons. It was during the time of the Indian outbreak so well remembered in 
this county, but the train was not once molested, although the citizens were 
all in arms when they arrived at Adams, where they located.  August 7 was the 
date of his arrival here and soon after he bought a quarter section on Wild 
Horse creek, later adding a section more, to the cultivation and improvement 
of which he devoted his attention with assiduity until 1893, when he sold it 
and purchased his present fine domain of over one thousand acres of fine wheat 
land, situated near Adams.  Since this he had moved into Pendleton, owning a 
tasty and comfortable home at the corner of Lewis and Long streets, where he 
lives, being occupied with superintending his estate.
	He has five children: William S., on the farm; Elmer E., a physician 
and surgeon at The Dalles; Ida E., married to George E. Peringer, of 
Pendleton; Laura A., wife of Thomas A. Lieuallen of Adams,; May, at home with 
her parents.  Mrs. Ferguson and the four elder children accompanied her 
husband in their trip across the plains. The oldest son is a graduate from the 
law department of the University of Michigan and has practiced for six years, 
but finds an agricultural life more congenial to his tastes, being occupied at 
the present with the oversight of his father’s large estate.  Elmer E. 
graduated from the Rush Medical College, of Chicago, later taking post-
graduate courses in Chicago, Philadelphia and New York, since which time he 
has been achieving a brilliant success in the practice of medicine.
	Mr. Ferguson is a member of Adams Lodge, No. 74, I.O.O.F., and of the 
Kit Carson Post, G.A.R.  In the quiet retreat of his cosy home, with the vista 
of an active and faithful life brought into relief by the bright memories of 
the past, with the oversight of his estates to give zest to his enjoyment, 
surrounded on every hand with friends, cherished by a loving family , this 
worthy veteran is passing the golden years of his life in ideal happiness and 
enjoyment, beneath the flag he bravely defended on the fields of blood, when 
rank treason’s hand would have torn its unsullied folds from Freedom’s staff.
	

Additional Comments:
An Illustrated History of Umatilla County by Colonel William Parsons and of 
Morrow County by W. S. Shiach with a brief outline of the early history of the 
State of Oregon.  W. H. Lever, Publisher  1902.


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