Tombstone Tuesday

Ferguson Geo C & Catherine Tombstone

Photo of the tombstone of George Clinton and Catherine (Willman) Ferguson, Odell Cemetery, Odell, Nebraska.
Photo taken by Mary Russell Hollowell.

Obituary

George Clinton Ferguson, 1830-1907

Geo Clinton Ferguson was born May 23rd 1830 at Ross' Corners near Gregsville, Livingston Co. N.Y. and died at Odell Nebr., Feb. 3nd 1907 Aged 76 years, 9 months and 29 days. His mother was a descendant of the McPherson clan of Scotland.

True to American instincts, he followed the star of Empire Westward and Oct. 22nd 1851, found him at Hartford City, Indiana, where he married Catherine Willman, who here to this union 10 children, eight of whom are living, the mother herself departing from this life but a little over a year ago. After helping complete the Pittsburg and Fort Wayne R. R. Mr. Ferguson while living at Johnstown Ohio, was engaged by Paul Rogers one of the original 13 settles (sic) of Omaha and a member of the Brownville Townsite Co., to come to Nebr. to set up and run a sawmill which had been purchased at Cincinnati*. For this work he was to receive the expenses of himself and family and $5.00 per day. The company arrived at Brownville by boat May 16th 1855.

He sawed the first lumber in Nebraska, an event which was celebrated by a dance and a barbecue to which 1200 Otoe Indians were invited.

He witnessed the first marriage in Nebraska, the contracting parties being one Sam Stairs and a woman named Nancy Swift of Nemaha Co.

In 1856 he put up a sawmill in Nehawka, Cass Co. for Pollard and Sheldon, the latter, the father of Governor Sheldon. He then sawed the lumber for the house in which the Gov. was born and has been living, it is said.

Father Gage an old pioneer Methodist preacher for whom this count is named, was well known by the deceased.

When an expedition was planned against the Indians who were on the warpath, only 50 c. was found in the crowd and aid for provisions came only when Mr. Ferguson turned in an order for which two wagon loads of bread stuffs and bacon were furnished the company.

Deceased moved to Old Charleston in 1878 and has lived in the vicinity of Odell ever since.

Following are the children of the deceased:
William Ferguson of Odell, Mrs. Mollie Dalrymple, Hanover, Kans., John Ferguson, Odell, Nebr., Clinton Ferguson, Hollenburg, Kans., Melvin Ferguson, Washington, Kans., Mrs. Anna McMullen, Greenleaf, Kans., Henry Ferguson, Barns (sic), Kans., and Mrs. Maggie Smith, Narka, Kans.

The grandchildren number 39 and great grandchildren 17.

The funeral was conducted from the M.E. church Monday at 1:30 under directions of Diller Lodge A.F. and A.M., Rev. O. W. Rammell (sp?) preaching the sermon. Interment was made in the home cemetery.

###

*Cincinnati, Nebraska, was located about 1 mile south of Dubois, Nebraska, in Pawnee County. Source: http://www.casde.unl.edu/history/counties/pawnee/dubois/

~Source of obituary: Odell Weekly Wave, February _, 1907, page 1.

George Clinton Ferguson (1830-1907) - James Clinton Ferguson (1863-1942) - George Melvin Ferguson (1895-1972) - George Clinton Ferguson (1921-1953).

Finding John Jones' Grave

Number 6 on my list of genealogy goals for the year was to find and photograph the grave of John Jones, my great-grandfather. (John, Frank, Grace)

Mission accomplished.

I drove down to Leavenworth, Kansas, last Thursday. I had done my homework on the Internet and called to confirm that he was buried in Leavenworth National Cemetery, Section 18, Row 2, Site 1. Thanks to Google maps and their Street View, the cemetery was very easy to find.

I have to say I was so focused on finding the section he was in and finding the cemetery, I hadn't really given much thought to the rest of the cemetery. Driving into the cemetery and turning the first curve took my breath away. Row on row of identical white markers, each marking the final resting place of a man who had, whether volunteered or drafted, gone into danger willingly, to protect our Constitution and our freedoms.

The cemetery is located on 128 acres of rolling hills and holds about 33,395 graves. Graves in each section are lined up perfectly with all the others in the section. Some sections curved around with the road, grave markers not all facing east as is traditional. Some are on steep hillsides. I saw gravestones for veterans from most of our wars since 1865 when it was first opened, including World War 1, World War 2, Vietnam and the Gulf War.

Workers have been busy for some years, I would imagine, caring for the markers. Some have been there almost 150 years and dirt has filled in around them. Judging by the soil stain on some markers, they had at one time been buried to within 12 to 14 inches from the top. A section was marked off, and workers had toppled each marker over to a 45 degree angle and were creating a new resting place for the marker. It appeared that John's section had been done some time ago. A marker-shaped depression in the ground was still visible but the grass had completely filled in around it and the other markers.

John's grave is about 50 yards from the south fence of the cemetery. To the south is a hay field that had just been harvested. Round bails waited to be picked up. Robins, cardinals and mourning doves along with squirrels live in the trees of the cemetery and the trees to the south. The smell of fresh hay in the heat of a very hot day, the birds singing, the trees providing shade, the squirrel running across the grass made it a very peaceful setting.

A video:



Here are a few photos I took:

Leavenworth National Cemetery

Leavenworth National Cemetery

Leavenworth National Cemetery

Leavenworth National Cemetery

Leavenworth National Cemetery

In another post I will write what I know about John Jones so far. I also did some Ferguson research and I'll post that soon, also.

As I was gazing in awe at all the graves a poem came to mind. It was written by a soldier in World War I. More information is here.

In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

The Basic Cemetery Tour

We took a belated Memorial Day cemetery tour today...well, actually, today IS the traditional Memorial Day until it was changed into the "FIRST WEEKEND OF SUMMER" holiday in the early 1970s. Mom has always taken flowers to the graves of her loved ones on Memorial Day, the traditional day or Monday, whichever. Since she moved to Grand Island 7 or so years ago, she and I have continued the tradition. Some years we spent the night at the Red Roof but that got to be too much for her about three years ago. This year my daughter Liz and her two kids joined us and we rode in her van. With the heat and mom's strength not being what it used to be, I wondered if she really wanted to go. But one thing about mom, she will never say no to a question that begins "Do you want to go...?"! Mom was able to get in and out of the van with the help of a handy old fruit crate that was just the right height. She was excited to see the country and mostly remembered who lived where along the way. We hit the road about 9 o'clock for the Basic Cemetery Tour.

The Basic Cemetery Tour includes stops at four cemeteries. First we drive by the house they lived in in Sargent for about 23 years to see that all is well with it. Then we head west to West Union cemetery. There are several great tombstones in the cemetery, including two that we saw today that are in the form of tree trunks. Liz and I learned last year on the Grand Island Cemetery tour that you can count the branches that come out from the trunk to see how many of the person's children lived to adulthood. Branches cut off flush with the trunk indicate children who died in infancy. If you have the chance to go on the cemetery tour around Memorial Day, do it. You will be amazed at all there is to learn about cemeteries and tombstones.

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Dad is buried next to his first wife, Florance Predmore Baker Russell. She died during an operation for a bleeding ulcer. They had been married for about nine months. I'm sure at the time dad never thought he would ever remarry - he was 38 when he married her, his first marriage. So he bought the plots and had his name put on the tombstone and went back to living the life of a bachelor farmer.

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Also buried in the West Union cemetery is dad's mother, Della West Patch Russell. She is buried beside her first husband, Louis Patch. (Dad's parents divorced after the children were grown.) Her grave is towards the north end of the cemetery and dad's is near the south end, close to the flag pole. Dad told me that his mother didn't really like the idea that he had gotten married and she didn't really like Florance. I wonder if that is why he picked a burial plot quite a ways away from hers. Maybe not. Maybe all the plots around grandma were for her other children. Eunice, Ralph, and Earl are buried near their mother (Della). (Lola is buried in Montana and Glen in Wyoming.)

Back on the road and we go to the cemetery in Taylor to pay our respects to Uncle Gerald Jones. This trip, mom didn't get out of the van at the cemeteries, but we stopped and talked and Liz and I took photos. (I must have taken a picture on moms camera instead of mine! Next trip!)

Usually, we stop at the Almeria cemetery next but this year the kids were getting hungry (and so were the adults!) so we headed for the Red Roof. Thanks, brothers, for your hospitality, even when you're not there! We ate our lunch in the shade of the ancient cottonwoods and when we were done we headed for the Brewster cemetery.

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Mom usually brings peonies for George's grave but mine were done blooming already this year. Also in this cemetery are Aunt Nellie and Uncle Dewey. Pictures of those tombstones another time.

Back on the road with a final stop of the day at the Almeria cemetery. I told Liz we should bring divining rods sometime like the cemetery tour guide talked about and demonstrated at the Grand Island cemetery tour. I understand there are quite a few unmarked graves in the southeast corner of the Almeria cemetery.

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Relatives buried at the Almeria cemetery include mom's parents, Frank and Elizabeth Jones, William Jones, George and Flora (Swift) Worth, John and Ann (Dugdale) Worth, Samuel E. Worth (known to us as Uncle Ed), Walter and Stella Worth, John, Freddie, Robert, Lester and Harriet Worth, infant children of George and Flora Swift Worth and our cousin Debra Buckbee Dunbar.

Some weekend this summer I hope to take the Extended Cemetery Tour, which includes Somerford, Moulton, Westerville and Ansley cemeteries. I'll post about that when (if) it happens.

The Three Sides of My Family Tree (part 1)

Step families and half-siblings are fairly common now. But when I was growing up, I knew of only one or two other families like ours. I was the youngest sibling in the family that was made up of Russells and Fergusons and I thought that was pretty special. (I didn’t think I was pretty special…just lucky to be in the family I was in. You’ll have to ask my siblings if they thought I was spoiled!) I was an only child with six brothers and sisters. I was the oldest and only Russell, and also the youngest child, with six older brothers and sisters to read to me and play with me and to look up to. What could be better than that?

I got interested in family history when dad received a box in the mail from Oklahoma. His dad’s sisters, Agnes and Lida Russell, had never married. Agnes was the second to the oldest but she was the last sibling to pass away. After Agnes died, her friend, Dorothy Peek, boxed up the letters, photos and scrapbooks and mailed them to dad. I was 13 and I was hooked on family history from that moment on.

Russell

I haven’t worked on the Russell ancestry for quite a few years. I have followed it back to the 1600s in some cases, but at the time I didn’t put sources to every fact I found. I need to go back and do that. And now that the Internet is such a part of life and there are so many databases available, it will be fun to go through what I have and add information as I add sources.

Some of the names on the Russell side of the family tree are Dayton, Hunter, Silsbee, Newcomb, Bradford, Kallam, West, Robison, Humes, Whittecar, Shepherd, Donaldson, Westervelt, Huestis, Totten, Humes, Pineo, Hamilton, and Miller. There is a drop of Dutch and another drop of French (very small drops), but the rest of the ancestors were from England. Most arrived in America in the 1700s and quite a few in the 1600s.

Jones

Last summer I was running out of branches to climb. Oh, I could go back and put sources to every fact I’ve found so far, but that seemed boring. (I will do it someday before it gets published in any form. I’m a firm believer in the saying “genealogy without sources is mythology”. I’ll do it someday!) I was visiting mom and she repeated something she’s said before, now and then, over the years. I finally listened. What the heck, I thought; I might as well see what I can find. I’ve got nothing better to do. This is the side of the tree that has been hard to leaf out. The Worth side hasn’t been too hard but when you have a Jones who marries a Davis…That’s about the same as a Smith marrying a Smith!

As a result of finally listening to mom, I discovered we are indeed related to the Pirnies of Weissert, as she has said all these years. I discovered another set of immigrant ancestors and have some good clues to follow to discover another set. That side of the tree is still very sparse, but there’s something special about the ancestors I did discover, probably because it took so long to find them.

Some of the names on the Jones side of the family tree are: Jones, Davis, Williams, Worth, Dugdale, Angel, Lewis, Swift, Robinson, Walker, Cochran, and Brice. The Worth’s arrived from England in 1846 and the Jones and Davis families also in the 1840s. Most of the remaining ancestors came to America in the 1700s.

Ferguson

George Clinton Ferguson (1830-1907) was an early Nebraska pioneer, coming well before statehood in 1855. He was a railroad man back east and came to Nebraska to set up and run a saw mill in Brownville and Cass counties. His mother was from the MacPherson clan in Scotland. Other branches of the family tree trace back to New England. (I’m babysitting at Liz and Tim’s and don’t have the Ferguson database with me so I can’t be more specific. I should be fined by the genealogy police for not having that database here on my laptop!) Some of the names are: Ferguson, Dalrymple, Odgers, Hughes, Silkett and Hazen.

on the 97th anniversary of dad's birth

Hugh Benjamin Russell age 1

Hugh Benjamin Russell, about 1 year old.

Hugh and Wayne Russell

Brothers Hugh and Wayne Russell, about 1918.

1920s Hugh Russell with friends

Probably taken in the 1920s at Antelope school playground. Dad in a tree with his friends.

1937 Hugh Russell with his 1931 Chevy Sports Roadster, light green

1937, Hugh Russell with his light green 1931 Chevy Sports Roadster.

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Hugh Benjamin Russell was born in the Antelope Community southwest of Sargent, Custer County, Nebraska, on 23 April 1912. His mother, Della (West) Patch was the widow of Louis Patch. They had five children: Earl, Lola, Glen, Ralph and Eunice. Louis died on November 20, 19071.

Ben had a small stock farm and also did work for neighbors. He worked as a hired hand for Della. Della and Ben were married on 4 Aug 19112 in Broken Bow. Dad was the oldest Russell, followed by Wayne, Irene and Violet.

As many farm kids did, dad helped with chores from a very early age. One of his chores when he was about five was to bring in the cows at night. He hated the job because it involved going into a canyon and getting the cows out of the plum thickets. On a moonless evening as the sun set, it was very dark and he would be scared. His older half-brothers were happy to tell him ghost stories which added to his fear.

Dad graduated from the eighth grade at the Antelope community school. He planned to attend high school at Round Valley, and in fact started two separate years. However, because his mother depended on his work on their farm and his income from working out for the neighbors, he had to quit both times and he never went back.

Dad's relationship with his father was not an easy one. Their father, as dad used to say, was a poor provider. At some point in dad’s childhood, Ben moved into his own house, or perhaps back into the house he lived in before he and Della were married. Dad remembered that he would come for Sunday dinner, when his mother would kill a chicken and bake a rhubarb or mulberry pie. That would be the only meat they had all week. They mostly ate potatoes...boiled potatoes, dad said. Dad and his sister Violet recalled the time Della ask Ben for money as he was leaving after eating Sunday dinner. “I need money to feed and clothe these kids,” she said. Ben got on his horse and laughed and rode off. His response to Violet and Irene’s desire to go to high school was, “they’ll do it without any help from me!” And they did. With help from their brother. I’m not sure if Round Valley High School closed about this time or not, but Irene and Violet went to high school in Sargent. They were two years apart in age, but Irene waited two years so they could go together. Dad drove them to their boarding rooms on Sunday evenings and picked them up on Friday evenings.

Whenever Della had work that need done, she expected dad to do it. When he asked why the older boys didn’t do the work, she said they didn’t have to, someday they would “inherit land”.

Dad stayed on the home place and helped his mother until he was in his late 20s or early 30s. Then he moved to the place we knew as the Lakeman place, about five miles west of Sargent, along the "River Road" south of the Middle Loup River. He planted corn and put up alfalfa and prairie hay to feed a growing herd of cattle.



1.Obituary of Della West Patch Russell, Sargent Leader, Sargent, Nebraska .
2. Marriage License, Custer County Courthouse, Broken Bow, Nebraska

If you have any questions or something to say about this post, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you!

Tombstone Tuesday - Ann Dugdale Worth





Ann Dugdale was born 14 June 1822 in Berry Pomeroy, Devon, England, to George and Grace (Angel) Dugdale. She married John Worth on 5 May 1845 in Harberton, Devon, England. John and Ann sailed for America on the ship St. James and arrived in New York on 27 March 1846. They had with them a son, William, age 1.

Ann died 20 May 1884. Ann and John Worth are buried in the Almeria Cemetery, Loup County, Nebraska. The stone commemorates the lives of Ann and John, as well as several of their grandchildren who died young. I will post those photos and write about John Worth in another post.

Pedigree Charts

Here are pedigree charts for the family trees I'm working on. They are a work in progress. I am experimenting with different layouts so they may be on the left the next time you look...who knows! To view them in a readable format, click in the rectangle in the upper right corner, on the same line as the word Scribd. Rolling your cursor over the down arrow on the same line brings up different options, including a zoom. It's kind of annoying so just click on the rectangle to open the document. Once it is open, roll over iPaper on the top left and you have several options, including print. Hope this helps.