Strong Family Ties That Bind
Part 1
Table of Contents
I am very close to my Ferguson relatives. The recent death of my cousin, Don Boulware, was a huge shock. I wanted to write a post about him, but I decided to first go back in time to show why/how the various generations have stayed so close.
My maternal grandmother’s Ferguson family ancestry was well-researched by her brother, Ned Ferguson. At that time, the earliest ancestor he could verify was General Alexander Ferguson from Craigdarroh County, Dumfries, Scotland. His birthdate was not found. He married Elizabeth Gowen in 1694 and moved to York County, VA, in 1716.
I will spare my readers a listing of the many, many ancestors between them and my great-grandparents.
Family Ties That Bind – My Great Grandparents
My maternal great-grandparents are William Byrd Ferguson born in Franklin County, Virginia, (11/11/1854–1/26/1943) and Libbie Verna Wright born in Bedford County, Virginia (6/20/1864–4/1/1901). They are pictured above. The top right photo is Libbie’s mother, Eliza Wright. Also pictured is my great grandmother’s obituary.
My Great Uncle Ned wrote the following:
“W. B. Ferguson having what one might call a roving disposition, was born in Franklin County, VA, made a trip to Ohio in 1871 and 1872, and ended up in Bedford County at the age of seventeen years. Sometime in late 1870’s or early 1880’s, he made a trip to Missouri, and from there to Texas where he worked for a cousin, Ebb Ferguson. He returned to Virginia and Bedford County before he married on October 22, 1884.
Early in 1896, he and his family made a long trip with a short stay to Texas. (He said the main reason for returning to Virginia was on account of a typhoid fever epidemic there at the time).
W. B. Ferguson made several moves in Bedford County, where he bought three small farms at different times. As time went by and his children began marrying, he made another trip to Missouri in 1913, but in about a year was back in Virginia, where he remained until his girls were married. He then went to Indiana, Missouri, Kansas and finally back to Missouri. Here he spent the balance of his life, with the exception of a few short stays in Virginia.”
Family Ties That Bind – My Grandma and her Siblings
- Hillary “Clyde” Ferguson (b. 5/27/1886, d. 1976)
- 1st Married 1/29/1918 to Bessie Settles (b. 8/13/1885, d.1/22/1922)
- 2nd Married 4/23/1926 to Helen Morris (b. 1/16/1908, d. 1992) Divorced after having 3 children together
- 3rd Married 5/1/1955 to Virginia (Virgie) Wingo
- Katy Ferguson (b. 11/18/1887, d. 7/9/1888 at 8 months and 21 days)
- Tolbert (“Tollie”) Morgan Ferguson (b. 1/4/1889)
- Married to Hennie W. Dearing (b. 12/7/1891) They had 4 children together
- Hester Clair Ferguson, my grandma, (b. 4/12/1890, d. 1/22/1994)
- 1st Married 10/7/1916 to Elmer Lewis Baker (b.12/2/1888, d.1/7/1931) They had 5 daughters together
- 2nd Married 11/19/1938 to William H. Stephens (b. 7/28/1877, d. 05/17/1953)
- Edmund (“Ned”) Twilley Ferguson (b.12/17/1892)
- Married 6/4/1921 to Addie Ruth Dickinson (b. 6/3/1892) They had 3 children together
- Lura Safronia Ferguson (b. 8/6/1894)
- Married 1/30/1912 to Glen P. White (b. 8/5/1887, d. 6/17/1947) They had 2 children together
- Corynne Ferguson (b. 11/15/1897)
- Married 5/24/1916 to Finis W. Boulware (b. 5/25/1885, d. 11/10/1968). They had 2 children together
- Marie Ferguson (b. 9/8/1899 , d. 8/30/1901 at 23 months old)
Family Ties That Bind – My Great-Grandmother’s Death Strengthened the Ties of her Children
My grandma’s mother died when Grandma was 11. Grandma’s youngest sibling, Corynne, was only three years old. Grandma and Corynne quickly formed a very close bond. With no mother at home, Grandma looked after 3-year-old Corynne, even taking her to school with her each day until she finally was ready for 1st grade.
Grandma, being the oldest daughter, felt responsible for her siblings so she didn’t marry until all of them were married. She then married my grandfather, Elmer Lewis Baker. They had five daughters–Mildred (my mom), Margaret (died at age 2) Inez, Ailene, and Dorothy.
Uncle Clyde moved from Virginia and settled in a house on a hilltop at the east edge of Hatton, MO. On a trip home to Virginia, he took a friend from Hatton, Finis Boulware. Finis met Clyde’s sister, Corynne, and they later married. She moved to Missouri where they settled just west of Hatton, MO.
My mom was 14, when her father, Elmer Baker, died. Grandma was left with four daughters and no income. Her father, Wm. Byrd, loaded up her, her four daughters, and their meager possessions and headed to Hatton, MO. Her sister, Lura, and brothers, Tollie and Ned, continued to live in Virginia all of their lives.
Upon arrival to Missouri, Grandma, her children and her father moved into Uncle Clyde’s home with him, his wife and their first two children. Her father purchased land just down the road, and, with the help of Clyde, proceeded to build a home for himself, Grandma and her daughters.
Grandma was happy to be reunited with her sister, Corynne. They both lived out the rest of their lives near Hatton, MO. Their brother, Clyde, moved with his family to Centralia, MO, where he remained until his death.
I previously posted about Grandma. Check it out – My Amazing Grandma – Caring, Contented, Loved
Family Ties That Bind – Uncle Finis and Aunt Corynne Boulware
Aunt Corynne and Uncle Finis Boulware had two children, Woodrow and Verna Boulware. They became my mother’s life-long best friends. (My next post will cover their generation)
I was able to spend quite a bit of time with Aunt Corynne and Uncle Finis during my childhood. They were fascinating people and very kind.
Both were extremely artistic—
He was a wonderful builder, woodworker and landscape painter. He built their house, now the home of their grandson’s widow, Brenda. He also made most of their furniture. I have this painting, which is one of his first.
My mother said Uncle Finis never seemed to ever work very hard. She said it was more like he was either working at hobbies or fishing..
My father admired Uncle Finis’s paintings but didn’t think he painted realistic looking mountains. So, one summer, my dad invited Uncle Finis and Aunt Corynne to go on a vacation to Colorado with us. He was finally able to see the Rocky Mountains in person.
There are two things I remember most about Aunt Corynne–she was never in a hurry (she even talked slow) and her kitchen was always very cluttered.
She would drive Grandma nuts because she never cared about putting up anything that was on the kitchen table. It was always covered with jellies, butter, honey, sugar, pickles, vinegar and all her other condiments. They left little room to eat.
Aunt Corynne upholstered furniture, caned chairs, braided rugs and wove beautiful blankets on her loom.
Her loom was rather large and looked too complicated for me to ever want to tackle. She was able to sell some of the blankets, bedspreads and tablecloths she wove. She also braided huge rugs for the home. She made two beautiful large ones for my mom in hues of blue and purple and they were treasured.
She put up dozens of canned vegetables from their bountiful garden and they butchered some of the cattle from the pasture. They had chickens, eggs, and milk cows. They lived a simple, but seemingly very happy, slow-paced life.
Mother did relate a funny story. Uncle Finis had just won 1st place at the fair for his potatoes. His family and Mother were riding back from the fair while Uncle Finis was holding his prized potatoes. The car door suddeningly came open and instead of grabbing Verna, he held on to the potato basket while Verna fell out of the car. Luckily, no one was injured in the mishap.
My Week at Aunt Corynne’s and Uncle Finis’s
One summer, when I was around 11, I spent a week at the Boulware’s, along with my first cousin, David Rodgers. We had such a fun time gathering the eggs, learning about using a lathe in the wood shop by making miniature baseball bats, learning the basics of oil painting and eating lots of homemade desserts. A couple of years ago, I finally threw away the oil painting I painted. It was not good!
Aunt Corynne sent us to the cellar for canned goods. We were both very alarmed to find the cellar walls covered with large black snakes! They never bothered her, but we couldn’t stand going down there! I think the family killed over 30 down there when she moved away from the farm.
Family Ties That Bind – Uncle Clyde Ferguson
I saw Uncle Clyde fairly often even though he lived in Centralia. Mother would take Grandma to Centralia to visit (my grandma never got a driver’s license). Mother stayed close to his children throughout her life, especially the oldest, Ernest.
Vacationing With Uncle Clyde
Uncle Clyde accompanied my parents, me and Grandma to Virginia one year. I’ll never forget what happened after the first day on the road.
We had stayed in a motel halfway between Missouri and Virginia. Uncle Clyde had his own room. The next morning, everyone but Uncle Clyde got up and waited outside to prepare to get breakfast. Getting tired of waiting for her brother to come out, Grandma pounded on his door, but he did not come out. My dad started looking everywhere for him but couldn’t find him.
Finally, a truck drove up with two strangers and Uncle Clyde in the front seat. He got out and the men drove away. Grandma immediately yelled at him asking where he had gone. I never saw her as mad as she was that day.
He explained that the men had stayed in a room next to his and he could hear them, through the wall, talking before going to bed. He said they were talking about their mine. (I don’t remember the type of mine but assume it was a coal mine.)
The next morning, he went outside and, upon seeing the men, struck up a conversation asking about their mine. They said it was near and offered to show it to him.
Uncle Clyde climbed into the truck of the two strangers and left the motel without telling a soul. Fortunately, he safely returned. I remember Grandma laying into to him saying, “Our own dad was hit in the head and robbed at a train station. Didn’t that teach you anything about trusting strangers?!! Mildred and Bruce are nice enough to take you to Virginia with them, and you just take off and they don’t know where you are?!!”
He just replied, “Oh, Sister, I could hear them overnight and knew they were okay.” Grandma was not impressed with his explanation and the next day there was very little conversation on our continued journey to Virginia.
Family Ties That Bind – Reunions
The descendants of my Ferguson Great-Grandparents have had quite a few multi-day reunions starting in 1978. Last year, ninety-nine relatives were in attendance. While most of those present live in Missouri, others came from California, Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Alabama, Georgia and Virginia. The strong family ties have lasted through five generations. I’ll share about the next generation in my next post.
In preparing to share some information at the 2025 family reunion, I discovered that many of my grandma’s ancestors had settled around High Hill, Missouri, and another had been buried in Fulton, MO. I’m guessing that Uncle Clyde visited them before deciding to settle in Missouri.
Are you fortunate enough to have lots of genealogical information about your family? I also have extensive information regarding my paternal grandparents’ families. I seem to be the current record keeper. I find family relationships and dynamics to be fascinating. I’m so grateful for the family ties that bind!