West Indies
The "Black River on the Moskito Shore" was a British settlement on
the Mosquito Coast of present-day Honduras. [Wikipedia]. Poyer County is
believed to be in that locale and named after the Poyer tribe. Alexander
Fergusson of Craigdarroch, as evidenced by the two documents below, gets
involved in land speculation in what would later be called the estate of
Alberapoyer. A John Fergusson of unknown heritage arrives in 1776 to act as
superintendent of the Mosquito Shore. In 1787, more than 2,000 settlers, mostly
slaves, were evacuated from the Black River settlements. Most of them went to
Belize, but others were relocated to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, or Roatán.
[Convention
of London, 1786]. A list of persons compensated for their losses in 1792
was published by The London Gazette, page 661 and page
662. The are no Ferguson on that list.
- GD77/165 Assignment by George Dempster of Dunnichen and Robert
Alexander of Blackhouse on behalf of James Lawrie, Bartholomew Gilbert, Daniel
Hewlett [Hewitt], George Heron, John Bourke [Burke], John Campbell and Bryan
McDaniel, merchants at Black River on the Moskito Shore in America, and of
William Reed [Reid], merchant at Cape Gratias a Dios on the Moskito Shore, in
favour of Alexander Fergusson [Ferguson] of Craigdarroch, of a full twenty
second part or share of a tract of land in Poyer County in America. 29/5/1772
- GD77/169 Extract Resolution of the proprietors, residing in London,
of the estate of Alberapoyer on the c in America [U.S.A.], giving leave to
certain forfeited proprietors to repurchase their respective shares on the
conditions specified. 24/6/1780
- During James Lawrie's superintendency (1776-1787) the Shore was
used as a base for military operations in the Anglo-Spanish conflict of
1779-1783, and then as a refuge for American loyalists. Succumbing to constant
pressure by the Spanish, England abandoned the Mosquito Shore in 1786 at the
signing of the Mosquito Convention. The evacuation of British settlers was
terminated in June 1787, and Spanish settlements were formed on the Shore
immediately thereafter. [The
British Superintendency of Mosquito Shore: 1749-1787 by William Shuman Sorsby,
1969]
Georgia
- GD77/167 Copy Judicial Ratification by Anna Joan, wife of John
Simpson of Savannah in province of Georgia, of disposition to John Bowman of
Savannah of 500 acres in parish of Christ Church, Georgia [U.S.A.]. 1774
- GD77/168 Mortgage by John Bowman, younger of Skiddoway in province
of Georgia, presently residing in Glasgow, to Alexander Fergusson [Ferguson] of
Craigdarroch, of 500 acres of the island of Skiddoway in parish of Christ
Church, Georgia [U.S.A.]. June 1775
- 1745 John Bowman, Jr. was born 1745, in Glasgow, Scotland. He
emigrated November 13, 1768, from Scotland to South Carolina. He traveled to
Georgia and Florida, but returned and settled in South Carolina. He was trained
as a lawyer, and also was a planter on the Santee River, in South Carolina. [Bowman Family of South
Carolina]
South Carolina
- GD77/200/6 A letter to James Fergusson of Craigdarroch from Philip
Morison, minister of the Presbyterian church of Charlestown, in South Carolina,
on the writer's situation, Cherokee Indians, and the expedition against
Guadaloupe. 18 April 1759. Mentions Alexander Fergusson and Provost Fergusson
- Brigadier General Samuel Wragg Ferguson (1834-1917) states in his
memoirs that his ancestor James Ferguson (1690-1735) was believed to be from
Craigdarroch.
