Most of the reason I have gotten so involved in genealogy the last year or so, is a promise made to me by my dad on y 28th birthday. We were out in a restaurant in Chicago and talking about traveling, past trips and the idea of Scotland got brought up. Ever since we went to Norway in 2000 (was that REALLY ten years ago?) and discovered a genealogical gold mine (not to mention an amazing trip), it had been on our minds to visit Scotland. However, we never really knew much of anything about the Ferguson side of the family. My grandfather was Chester Raymond Ferguson or Bacca as the grandchildren called him. He was born June 1, 1910 in Morris, Illinois. He didn't speak much about his family. His mother, Martha Luckwich Ferguson died when he was just six years old. She had a stroke and died while working at the Carson House, a local hotel in downtown Morris, Illinois. His father Thomas Alfred Ferguson was a coal miner and a farmer. Thomas was born March 5, 1876. Together Thomas and Martha had five children Isabelle, Mary, Raymond, Hazel and Chester. He remarried in 1921 to Mary Frew Arthur, who had children of her own. Thomas' father was William Ferguson who married a Mary Steele January 1, 1857 in Morris, Illinois. William had 7 children. Thomas Alfred, Mary Jane, Isabelle, John, William Jr., Janette, and Elizabeth Agnes. Stories about his families past were often vague, except in one instance where it was rather spectacular. There was talk of a lost Ferguson fortune. Many doubted whether the story was ever true, but there is documentation of this tale.
An article appears in the Morris Daily Herald in Nov 15, 1909
Go to Scotland to Claim an Estate
Mrs. Harry McNabb (formerly Janette Ferguson) and Joe Steel, Cousins, Leave Morris in Quest of Fortune of 15 million pounds.
Mrs. Harry McNabb and Joe Steel, cousins, left Morris this morning having secured passage to Liverpool, England. They are going in quest of a fortune estimated by some as high as 15 million pounds, located in Scotland. The estate is said to have been in litigation for fifty years and has increased vastly since that time. Mrs. McNabb has a cousin in London who had looked up the fortune and claims that the Morris people are some of the rightful heirs. Mrs. McNabb was a Ferguson and the fortune is said to be coming to the Ferguson and Steel families from an uncle or great uncle.
A follow up article appeared sometime later (don't have a date for it)
Mrs. Harry McNabb and her cousin Joe steel have returned from their trip to England where they went to look after some property which is to be inheritied by them on the death of a very aged relative.
Additionally, my great Aunt Hazel wrote a letter regarding some details she remembers about it. Here some exceperts with details
"I talked with one of Harry McNabb's exwives a few days ago, I asked her what she knew about the lost fortune, she said the crown government would not allow the money to the leave the country, so whoever claimed it would have to keep it in England. I had always heard of a story that John Steele fled the country with another man's wife.
"I have heard two versions of the source of the money. One was shipping, the other coal mining which make more sense to me than gardening"
"Since my father and Irwin's father were both coal miners, the ancestors may have also been coal miners, coming from a coal mining district in Scotland. It was the Steele's in England who had all the wealth, somewhere along the line a Steel married a Scotch Ferguson"
***Again we were always told that it was the Steel side of the family but that might not be factual
"Although I was only 5 or 6 I remember vividly when Aunt Jeanette and Tom Steele went to England. The reason being that Aunt Jeanette brought back a few dime store trinkets for us kids. We were supposed to value them highly because they came from England. One time when my Aunt Lizzie was talking about the fortune she told me that this man Steele ran off with another man's wife. When it was time to settle the estate they advertised for him both in South and North America. They knew he had sailed to the Americas. Many years later he did go back to visit. He looked up some old friends who would not believe it was him. So he said he would prove it to them, he took them to a place where they used to play ball and marbles."
"did you ever heard of the story about the page that was cut out of the Bible? I don't know who was in posession of the Bible. I think he was entrusted to the lawyer that was sent over the establish as a claim on the fortune. Records such a births marriages were always kept in the family Bible. My father and I presumed Joe Steele was not very educated. They were naive and trusting and it would be very easy for a lawyer to hook wink them".
"You say the lawyer posed as a relative and he went through all the money. You mean of course the money he got from the relatives in Morris. He surely couldn't have collected the money from the estate or did he? I often heard he was bought off that he went into the business for himself and never came back to America. "
As you can see there is a bit of varying facts from the stories, but this is pretty much the extent of the information we have now!
Additionally we always heard something about missing pages in the family bible and then the lawyer in the case being murdered occurred. The person who went over there came back and it appeared that the aged relative hadn't died yet according to the paper. It was said that Jeanette Ferguson McNabb would never talk about it.
In our search for more information about William Ferguson, we've come across many dead ends. The census records have never given a definitive birth date, although his headstone says 1831. His death certificate never listed his birthdate, his parents, or where he was born. His naturalization papers never state where in Scotland he was from or when he may have emigrated from Scotland. His marriage certificate is missing which may have given valuable information about his parents and origins. The records at the funeral home are missing. The church he attended did not contain any records about him. There is no probate to be found. Additionally, there are so many William Fergusons born in 1831 in Scotland, it would be very difficult to trace which one was in fact related to us........hence the DNA testing we are waiting for in August.
Recently, I went to the Grundy County Courthouse to see if any new records were available. I came across some land records that did not give anything substantial, but were none the less interesting. The most interesting being the land William Ferguson purchased from John Steel Jr and Jannette Sharp (Mary Steel Ferguson's brother and sister-in-law) for $800 dollars. It was purchased August 19th, 1869. I think I can confirm it was 20 acres which was about half of his land he already owned. The same land was sold off at auction immediately following Mary Steel Ferguson's death in 1892.
I was about to give up because I was getting past the era of William Ferguson when I came across something that said Mary Ferguson deceased Estate of with George Winsor as Administrator. It also said Deed to Jacob Glasse who was the purchaser of the land when William sold it after Mary died. The document says that the Court of Grundy County had a trial where the defendants were Belle Ferguson, now Allan, Elizabeth Kaye (Elizabeth Agnes Ferguson), Jeanette Le Pla (Jeanette Ferguson), William Ferguson Jr., Thomas Ferguson and Thomas Espley (married Mary Jane Ferguson) and Lincoln Kaye (a son of Elizabeth Ferguson Kaye). I decided to go upstairs to probate just to investigate to see if there was some kind of documentation of the case. Looks like when William died he was no longer administrator to Mary's estate. Apparently the children were owed money from this and there are receipts for all the money paid to them (about 400 dollars each). There were also some names of people that were paid minimal amounts (5-10 dollars) that I didn't recognize. What was most interesting was a death certificate for Mary Ellen Epsley. She died at the age of 3 in Lankashire England. She was the daughter of Thomas and Mary Jane Ferguson Epsley, who I never knew existed! She died at age 3 of tuberculosis and whooping cough. She was one of the heirs because Mary Jane had already died, and since then her daughter had died too , so Thomas Espley became an heir. The court case was summarized as Lincoln Kaye had claimed William Ferguson had given him a deed to the land and was living currently living there, but that was proven false by the other documents of the land sale at the auction. Lincoln was ordered to vacate the premises within 15 days.
All the documentation in the probate office is original. It's amazing to touch the paper and see the signatures of these relatives we are trying to learn more about. My next blog entry will be about............Records and Lost Stories.
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