Samuel* Ferguson Sr.
- Born: 3 Mar 1744, Ulster,
Ireland
- Marriage: Mary Jameson 1765,
Ulster, Ireland
- Died: 12 Feb 1825, Cabell, VA
(now Wayne Co., WV), at age 80
- Buried: Burrell Cyrus Farm,
Spunky Addition, Wayne County, WV
 General Notes:
When Tazewell formed, Richard Bailey,Richard Belcher, Isham Belcher, William Peery
and Samuel Ferguson signed for the formation of Tazewell. William Perry and Samuel
Ferguson, gave their own land to form the town of Tazwell, then known as Jeffersonville.
On pages of the family Bible record of his son William is written,
"Samuel Ferguson departed this life February 12 between the hours of
7and 8 o'clock in the afternoon in the year of our Lord 1825, aged 80 years
and eleven months and nine days."
August 21, 1765: Bought 1/4 acre in Staunton, Augusta County, VA. The deed was
delivered August 17, 1772 and recorded in Deed Book 12, page 191.
November 17, 1767: Added to the tithables of Augusta County.
Samuel served with Bowen's Company of Militia from Tazewell County at the
Battle of Alamance, NC, 1771. Part of the French and Indian War.
August 17, 1772: Samuel delivered a deed for record, written by William and
Margaret Jameson. William and Margaret Jameson conveyed 310 acres on
Christian creek to John Jameson. The deed, written November 6, 1769, was not
recorded until 1772. The following day, August 18, 1772, Samuel and Mary
Ferguson sold their land in Staunton to John Readpath, per Deed Book 18, page
433. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlements in Virginia. Volume III, pages 493, 523.
After August 17, 1772 Samuel moved to the Bluestone Country, which lay
successively in Fincastle, Montgomery, Wythe and Tazewell Counties. Lewis
Preston Summers stated in Annals of Southwest Virginia 1769-1800, page 1431,
that Samuel came from the Virginia Valley and settled on Bluestone Creek in
1772.
In 1774, Samuel paid for one hog (supplies) for Dunmore to fight at
Point Pleasant . His name was found on the Auditor's Accounts for Dunmore's War,
Virginia State Library, Richmond, Virginia, by Mary B. Kegley in
"Soldiers of Fincastle County,Virginia 1774".
September 30, 1777: Samuel swears allegience to the United States from
Montgomery County, Virginia. The original list is in the Revolutionary War
Book at the Montgomery County Court House in Christianburg, Virginia. It is
also on page 149, Volume I of Mary B. Kegley's "Early Adventureson the
Western Waters".
October 7, 1780: Samuel was at the Battle of King's Mountain, South Carolina
(at which his cousin, Major Patrick Ferguson, leader of the Toryforces, was
killed). He is listed as going with Thomas Peery (the distiller), Thomas
Peery (the blacksmith), William Peery and John Peery. The above account was
written by David E. Johnston in "History of the Middle New River
Settlements," page 145.
3 April 3, 1781: He was appointed Ensign in Capt. James Moore's
Company of Montgomery County, Virginia Militia according to Summers in
Annals of Southwest Virginia, page 751.
1782: Samuel appears on the Montgomery County, Virginia tax list with one
tithe over 21, 11 horses, 15 cattle, and is recorded as having land(Tax List
of Montgomery County, Virginia 1782). He received land byright of settlement
on head of Bluestone, entered in Survey Book D, page 706. He is on the tax
list again in Montgomery county in 1789 with two white males 16-21. These two
findings were written by Yantis in Montgomery County, Virginia Circa 1790,
pages 19, 71. In the same book, page 91, under "Locating Residences of
Taxpayers," Samuel appears at Clear Fork, Wolf Creek, heads of Bluestone
and Clinch Rivers, Abbs and Wrights Valley, Cove Spring.
1793: Appears in the tax list of Wythe County, which was created from
Montgomery County in 1789. Samuel was among the inhabitants of Wythe County
in the late 1790s who signed the petition to form the new Tazewell County,
per Yantis, Archives of the Tazewell County.
1796: Samuel purchased from Daniel and Nancy Harmon 40 acres on the waters of
Clinch, as recorded in Wythe County, Virginia.
March 5, 1799: Samuel purchased from John and Rachel Turman 100 acres on
Little River in Montgomery County, per Deed Book C, page 85. From the
writings of Pendleton in History of Tazewell County, page 515, Samuel
Ferguson was among the first settlers in that section and became one of the
conspicuous figures in the history of Tazewell County. Samuel and William
Peery deeded the land for the present site of the Court House and Jail in
Tazewell County. In the June term, the Tazewell County Court appointed one to
lay off the land offered by Samuel Ferguson and William Peery for the use of the
county, being 23 acres and 28 square poles £ 10acres and 28 square poles from
Ferguson and 13 acres of Peery's land. Two acres were to be circumscribed for
the purpose of building the public buildings, and the balance of the land was
to remain for the benefit of the county. Peery was to have reserved four
quarter-acre lots, and Ferguson was to have two quarter-acre lots from the
land they conveyed(Order Book 1, page 5).
June 4, 1800: Indenture made by Samuel Ferguson and Mary his wife, and William
Peery and Sally his wife, for the 23 acres plus, and was recorded in deed
Book 1, page 4 of Tazewell County.
August 1800: Samuel made his choice of two lots in the county town, Order Book No. 1, page 10.
November 1802: Samuel patented 15 acres, surveyed January 1801, located on
the waters of Clinch River, adjacent to his own land.
September 28, 1804: Samuel was a purchaser at the estate sale of Joseph
Belshee. In October of that year, two deeds from Samuel and Mary to Thomas
Harrison were mentioned in Order Book No. 1 (Yantis' "Archives
of Pioneers of Tazewell County"). Yantis also included an Annotated Enumeration
of all Taxpayers from 1801 through 1820 in that county. Her list included two
Samuel Fergusons from 1800 through 1803.
Sometime around 1804 Samuel Ferguson, his four sons, and one of his four
daughters, came to Kanawha County which lay successively with Cabell and
Wayne Counties. Their settlement, in the western section of the present Wayne
County, was about eighteen miles from the Ohio River.
"Hardesty's West Virginia Counties", Volume 7, page 185, states
that in 1802 Samuel Ferguson and Jesse Spurlock were the first settlers in
what is now known as the Union District of Wayne County, both of whom built
cabins near where the court house now stands. He was described by Hardesty as
a distinguished Indian fighter and hunter who took part in several Indian
engagements (pages 187-8).
1809: Samuel, his four sons, and his son-in-law Charles Boothe, appear on the 1806
tax list of Kanawha County. No entries are found in the listings of the early
Kanawha County land records for Samuel. Three of his sons, John, Thomas, and
William, are named in the Grantee Index in Kanawha County.
Samuel and his four sons are listed in the 1810 and 1815 tax list of Cabell
County. Cabell County was created from Kanawha in 1809. On the 1820
Census of Cabell County listed four Samuel Fergusons.
February 28, 1825: Burwell Spurlock, Stephen Spurlock and Abraham Trout
entered the court and presented the Will of Samuel Ferguson. William was
appointed as administrator of his father's estate.
Will of Samuel Ferguson
Recorded in Cabell County, West Virginia
Will Book 1, Page 52
In the name of Almighty God. Amen.
I Samuel Ferguson Senour of the County of Cabell State of Virginia possessing
soundness of mind and being of disposing memory, do hereby in the fear of God
make ordain & seal this my last Will & Testament in the following words
and figures on this 8th day of November one thousandeight-hundred and twenty
four.
In the first place it is my will that all my just and lawful debts be paid.
Secondly I do hereby will and bequeath to my son Samuel my plantation that I
do now live upon with all its improvements thereunto belonging orin anywise
appertaining.
Thirdly it is my will & I do hereby liberate manumit and forever
discharge MOLLY my old black woman from slavery at the death of my wife Mary
and at my death that is to say at our deaths the said MOLLY is to be free from
slavery from me, my heirs, executors, administrators & assigns forever.
And I do hereby will and bequeath unto the said MOLLY her bed and its
furniture and a cow to give her milk to live upon in her old age.
Fourthly it is my will & I do hereby liberate manumit and forever
discharge SEALLY my half coloured or mulatto girl servant from slavery atour
deaths that is to say at the death of my wife Mary and at my death the said
SEALLY my yellow girl is to be free from me my heirs executors administrators
and Assigns forever--And I do hereby will and bequeath unto the said SEALLY
her bed and its furniture and a little wheel for spinning on.
Fifthly it is my will & I do hereby liberate manumit and forever
discharge SAMPSON my half coloured boy from slavery in thirteen years from
the date of this will, and at the expiration of thirteen years from the date
of this will is free from me my heirs executors, administrators, and assigns
forever. And I do hereby will and bequeath unto the said SAMPSON a good ax at
the time of his freedom that he may be able to get his living by honest
industry.
It is my will and I do hereby bequeath unto my son William all my wheel right
tools.
Seventhly, it is my will that all the remainder or residue of my personal
Estate be equally divided among the children as is hereafter named in this
Will (to wit) John Ferguson, William Ferguson, Thomas Ferguson, Isabel Bailey,
Sally Bailey & Elizabeth Booth. But & if any of my own children as
mentioned in this will should be dead before the execution of this will or
division of my Estate among them, then and in that case I wish to be fully
understood that it is my will, that my Estate be equally divided among the
remaining part of my own children that may survive ¬ among my grandchildren
or among my son's wives that may survive their deceased husbands. And be it
understood that it is not my will that my son Samuel should possess and enjoy
my plantation until my death & the death of my wife Mary only as we
permit him to the privilege of living on the plantation--
and it is further my will that SAMPSON my yellow boy after the death of me
& my wife may be hired out to some good man that will use him well until
the said SAMPSON is free as stated in this will and the price of said hire
equally divided among all my own children which may be living at that time.
Signed sealed & delivered from under my hand this eighth day of November
1824.
Samuel Ferguson
Burwell Spurlock
Stephen Spurlock
Abraham Trout
Cabell County Court February 1825.
The last will and testament of Samuel Ferguson decd. was presented in Court
& proved by Burwell Spurlock, Stephen Spurlock & Abraham Trout three
of the witness thereto which is ordered to be recorded.
Test John Samuel Ck. C. C.
Noted events in
his life were:
• Military: A
Major in the military for England
• Military: Moved to America in 1765 and swears allegience to the United
States on September 30, 1777
• Military:
Revolutionary War: Montgomery County, Virginia
• Military: French
& Indian War : Battle of Alamance with Bowen's Co.
• Burial: Burwell
Cyrus Farm.
Samuel* married
Mary Jameson, daughter of John James Jameson and Jean Jane Erwin, in 1765 in
Ulster, Ireland. (Mary Jameson was born on 27 Mar 1746 in Augusta County, VA,
died on 27 Sep 1827 in Cabell, VA and was buried in Burrell Cyrus Cemetery,
Wayne County, WV.)
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