Fergus(s)on DNA Project Ancestors of John W. Ferguson

Samuel Ferguson and Mary (Polly) Bernard (ggg grandparents)

Samuel Ferguson, father of Samuel Allen, was born between 1775 and 1781 somewhere in Virginia. Beginning in 1802 and up to about 1822 Samuel shows up in multiple Fluvanna County land transactions both as grantor and grantee, mostly serving as a trustee on behalf or a friend or business partner by the name of Abraham Shepherd. In 1810 and 1820, he lived in Bernardsburg (now part of a subdivision near Lake Monticello)—only a few miles from the home of Thomas Jefferson. In these years he conducted the US census in Fluvanna County serving as an Assistant to the Marshall in the Eastern District of Virginia. This hand written census is entirely in Samuel’s own handwriting. In 1822, he and his wife Mary (Polly) Bernard Ferguson were living in Richmond, having sold their property in Fluvanna county.

By the mid-1820s, Samuel and Molly must have moved back to the Piedmont area because their last child was born in Augusta County (near Waynesboro, VA) in Feb, 1827. We have no record of Samuel’s death, but I know that he died prior to 1830 because he does not show up in any latter census records and because an 1831 land record refers to the "widow" Mary B. Ferguson. Also, a Mary B. Ferguson does show up as a head-of-household in Nelson county in the 1830 census, almost certainly Samuel’s widow. We do not know who Samuel’s father was, only that he left a legacy in Kentucky to George Ferguson, Samuel’s brother. Samuel’s father’s first name probably also was Samuel since some of the land records in Fluvanna County refer to him as Samuel Jr.

According to RootsWeb.com records, Mary (Polly) Bernard, born on 31 Dec 1789 in what is now Fluvanna County, was the daughter of Allen Bernard. Samuel and Mary were married on 19 Dec 1807 according to Fluvanna County marriage records. After Samuel’s death in the late 1820s, Mary remarried Joel Smith (probably in 1837). According to the 1860 census, she and Joel lived in Nelson County on an 850 acre plantation. Nelson County property tax records indicate that Joel Smith died in 1864 or 1865. In the Will that he left, most of his land and personal property were left to his children by a previous marriage, however, Mary was provided with a $90 a year annuity. Mary probably died a few years later because she does not show up in the 1870 Virginia census.

Children

1. Louisa Ann Ferguson -- born about 1808, married James Paine in Oct. 1835
2. Evalina (or Carolina) Mitchell Ferguson -- born About 1810, married James Fulton in Oct 1830
3. Samuel Allen Ferguson -- born January 28, 1815 in Fluvanna County; married Eliza Jane Barksdale August 7, 1837
4. George Spottswood Ferguson -- born between 1816 - 1819
5. Unk Ferguson -- born about 1820
6. Unk Ferguson -- born about 1820
7. Unk Ferguson -- born between 1821 - 1825
8. Jesse Bernard Ferguson -- born February 27, 1827 in Augusta County, VA; died June 14, 1910 in Waynesboro, VA; married Nancy A. Burnett October 22, 1857 in Nelson County, VA.

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