Little did my 8th grade social studies teacher know that when he assigned a family tree project he would start a nearly 20 year passion in genealogy. During those 20 years, I have become known as the "family historian" and part of the genealogy and history community in Grundy County Illinois where nearly all of my ancestors resided. I have uncovered many great discoveries over the years including a 9 brother baseball team (known as the Enger Nine), deep pioneer roots in Morris, Illinois and even had heard rumors about a mysterious family fortune in Scotland that our family was supposedly swindled out of. This fortune was talked about for years and mostly regarded as myth. There was reference to it in the Morris Daily Herald in 1909 and accounts from relatives, but nothing to actually confirm its existence.
Recently, I had been working on my Ferguson roots as they have been largely ignored while researching other branches that yielded what seemed like endless information. I had a hit a brick wall with my great great grandfather, William Ferguson, the first of the Fergusons to come to America from Scotland. Our family wanted to travel to Scotland and were relying on me and a third cousin who has also been researching this line to provide the information we needed.
Much of my research conducted is done so through ancestry.com, a genealogical website that provides access to millions of records and users tracing their roots. Every so often I will look at family tress who have relatives that have married into the Ferguson family on the off chance that they will have some small piece of information I can use. This typically has not provided much, but even the smallest details have been exciting because of the lack of information we currently have.
Last November, I emailed one of these members and did not immediately get a reply. I had put it out of my head and continued to research other avenues. However, in March I received a reply from a woman who lived in Morris named ____________ (waiting for her permission to use her name). She mentioned that she did have some information on my Ferguson family and revealed she had a box belonging to my great great aunt on the Ferguson side! She had descendended from this aunt’s husband’s side of the family. I was thrilled, thinking there were probably a few pictures and maybe even information about where our Scotland roots were located. As we continued to communicate over email, she told me that there were many photographs, cards and a letter or two as well. I arranged to meet her the next weekend, hardly able to wait to see what was in this mysterious box.
When I arrived we talked a bit and ___________ bought out a banker’s file box FULL of pictures, cards and other personal items. I asked her how she obtained this box seeing as our connection was quite remote. She told me that a neighbor of hers had recently helped someone move out on Benton Street. As they were finishing up he asked them if there was anything in the attic. The family moving said they never had gone up there, but the man was curious and asked if he could go up to look around. When he did, he saw a box sitting there. He started looking through it and called a friend of his he knew was researching the Kay family. This man took the box and forgot about it for a couple of years, but as he was cleaning things up came across it again and called his cousin Bette to ask her if she would like it since it was more of her side of the Kay family that was being researched.
As I looked through the box, I realized that this was more than just a box belonging to my great great aunt Elizabeth Ferguson Kay. This was a box that contained her belongings, her sister’s belongings that had died before her as well, as the belongings of my grandparents Alta and Chet Ferguson! There were personal cards to each other from before they were married as well as some pictures and letters from the other side of the family too. The house that the box must have come from was the house my father had lived in at 404 E Benton St. The family had moved when he was just 3 months old. During the move, the box must have forgotten in the attic and had sat there for over 60 years just waiting to make its way back to me. I was simply blown away, by how this box ever found its way back to me.
As I looked through the box, I realized that this was more than just a box belonging to my great great aunt Elizabeth Ferguson Kay. This was a box that contained her belongings, her sister’s belongings that had died before her as well, as the belongings of my grandparents Alta and Chet Ferguson! There were personal cards to each other from before they were married as well as some pictures and letters from the other side of the family too. The house that the box must have come from was the house my father had lived in at 404 E Benton St. The family had moved when he was just 3 months old. During the move, the box must have forgotten in the attic and had sat there for over 60 years just waiting to make its way back to me. I was simply blown away, by how this box ever found its way back to me.
Additionally, I noticed a letter in the box that appeared very old. It was dated 1909. As I read it, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a letter detailing the names, dates and details regarding the fortune that we had always heard about as kids. As soon as I got home, I googled some of the names and found that this family fortune was quite famous.
My journey with genealogy always surfaces new surprises. I’ve discovered that often the genealogy comes to you when you truly seek it out. While we did not discover the origins of William Ferguson and where our Scottish ancestors came from, I know that some day those details will surface.
I'll be posting more information about the contents of the box in the upcoming weeks.
