John FERGUSON was born in Castleterra, county Cavan sometime between 1781-1786. He was a weaver by trade when he enlisted in the Cavan Militia in August of 1805. Nine years later he promoted to Corporal. The military was downsizing in 1829 and consequently John was discharged on the 23^rd of June. His death is recorded in the Chelsea Pension Registers as occuring on 6 June 1847 in the Cavan district. The Ballymachugh Parish records list the burial of John Ferguson of Tullyboy, Parish of Kilbride, aged 66 years, 10 June 1847 and hence it is concluded, with little doubt, that John of Tullyboy and John the soldier are one and the same. Hence I have begun collecting data on Ferguson of Castleterra in an attempt to locate John's ancestors.

It is not unreasonable to believe the Cavan Militia could have been in Cork about 1809 which is when and where Isaiah Jeremiah Ferguson is said to have been born. Indeed we are trying to track down the whereabouts of the Militia through the general order books of the time. Until a record of Isaiah's baptism can be found, we cannot say definitely that he is the son of John of Tullyboy, though we will advance a strong argument. We must diverge for a moment and consider Isaiah's son Robert Wesley Ferguson.

Robert Wesley Ferguson's wife, Annie Eliza Ferguson, is the daughter of Robert and Mary Anne Ferguson of Tullyboy. Our oral history states that Annie is a cousin of Robert Wesley. Hence there has to be a common ancestor between wife and husband. Assuming that ancestor is John Ferguson of Tullyboy fits the several facts which can be assembled. Unfortunately the parish register for Kilbride was destroyed in 1922 and a direct lineage from John of Tullyboy to Annie cannot be proven either.

We are fortunate that some of the 1821 census of county Cavan survives including those records for the parish of Ballymachugh. The image above shows John, aged 37, and his wife Mary, aged 21, are living in Crover Townland. John is a Land Stewart for his commanding officer The Right Honourable Col. J. M. Barry.

They had a son aged 12 named John and a son aged 1 named John. Mary could not be the mother of John aged 12. Thus John had a previous wife and I believe that would be Margaret Elliott. This is one explanation of Isaiah's having half brothers as referred to by his second wife, Elizabeth, in a letter to her brother Thomas Breakey.

One problem is that the census does not list Isaiah, aged 13, as a member of the household; it was, however, not uncommon for boys of this age to live in other households as servants. Indeed, the Ferguson's had two of their own in 1821 - Mary McCormick, aged 19, and Biddy Matthews, aged 15. Maybe the census recorder made an error and he wrote John when he should have wrote Isaiah; after all why give two children the same name?

The marriage of John Ferguson and Mary Chambers is recorded in the Ballymachugh parish register 4 June 1819. Their son John was born April 6 and baptised April 9 of 1820. Mary Chambers died an untimely death in 1822 and John was once again widowered. He later married yet again as there are baptismal entries for John and Anne staring in 1836.

The drawing is of Arley Cottage, circa 1820, owned by Colonel James Maxwell Barry. It is mentioned by Lewis when discussing the lake Lough Sheelin:

"in this lake are several small islands, on one of which are the ruins of a church and castle. Contiguous to its shores, at Kilrogy, near Glan, is the seat of Mrs. Dallas; and on its northern side are several gentlemen's residences, among which are Arley, the beautiful cottage of Lord Farnham; and Fortland, the residence of T. Gorlin, Esq."
[From Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837]

Notice that the cottage is, in part, two stories as is the dwelling of John Ferguson's family in 1821. Furthermore, in two of the baptismal records of John's children (John 1820 and Eliza Jane 1839) he is said to be of cottage. It appears this cottage was home to the Fergusons for at least the period 1820-1839. Indeed in the Farnham Estate papers there is the following entry dated 17 June 1826: "J. Ferguson, Arley Cottage, to Maxwell, Farnham, urging him to write to James Slone of Scraby, who has 8 or 10 freeholders and is favourable to Maxwell". Finally, in the May 12 1848 issue of the Anglo-Celt the cottage is advertised as 'for let' by Henry SARGENT of Eighter, Virginia.

Consider the Ordnance Survey Map surveyed in 1836. Arley Cottage is shown in the Townland of Fortland near the Crover border (red). This presents a difficulty in that the residence of John Ferguson in according to the 1821 census was in the townland of Crover. This point was addressed by the noted genealogist, Francis Dowling of Otherdays.com, in correspondence with Colin Ferguson (Email dated 2/27/2003)

"However you need to remember that townland boundaries were not finalised until the Boundary Commission was set up in 1824 or thereabouts and only completed its work in the early 1830s. In 1821 therefore the boundaries were looser and less clearly defined. It is certainly possible that Arley could have been considered part of Crover or at least included in Crover for the sake of the census."

"The most telling point however is that a Land Stewart had a high status in society and would not have lived in the typical tenant's cottage. The fact that Arley was owned by Col. Barry and that the cottage was in the immediate vicinity seems to be to be conclusive evidence."

Diarmuid Loughrey now owns the land on which Arley Cottage used to stand and he too is interested in its history. He points out that in a model estate the land stewart would live in a separate dwelling from the lord of the estate. The land stewart's residence would be nearby such as the lodge shown in the townland of Crover on the Ordnance Survey Map. Loughrey believes that all persons residing within the sphere of influence of Arley Cottage would be said to be "of Arley Cottage" as a form of addressing. This a pretty strong argument especially when one realizes that the lodge being in the townland of Crover fits the 1821 census data without having admit to uncertainies in townland boundaries prior to the 1830s. If the Fergusons resided in the lodge, why then didn't the parish records refer to them as "of Lodge", a named landmark on the Ordnance Survey Map? The Lodge survives and is shown in its present state. Notice that it is a two story structure as was the Ferguson residence in 1821. The building has undergone siginificant renovation and bears little resemble to its condition in the 1830s.

The linkage of the two cousins back to John the soldier appears pretty solid until one considers the following Ballymachugh records:

• 1828 Wm Henry s/o John and Margaret Ferguson c Jul 20/b Jul 12
  • 1847 Sep 25 William Ferguson of Tullyboy, parish of Kilbride, aged 19 years
• 1832 Samuel John s/o John and Margaret Ferguson c Apr 11/b Apr 1
  • Appears to have emigrated to Australia
• 1834 Robert s/o John and Margaret Ferguson c May 4/ b Apr 11
  • Robert Ferguson, Tullyboy age 70, buried 1907.

If John above is still the soldier, then he would have had four wives! Margaret Elliott, Mary Chambers, the Margaret above and finally Anne. The baptism time line in the Ballymachugh Parish Register does not contradict this. However, none of the above were qualified by wording of cottage. Why was it necessary to make such a qualification on any of the entries? And why isn't John Ferguson of Tullyboy shown as deceased in the second two entries in the table below? Perhaps there were two John Ferguson, the second being the son of the first.

If one were to deduce a date of death for John Ferguson from the above table then he would have died between Jan 28 1869 and Oct 28 1869. One such individual is John Ferguson, buried Bunn, Belturbet, 27 Jun 1869, age 83. (The civil record states he was a widower, aged 84 and the informant is Jane Warner, a certifier). When you realize that Isaiah had a daughter Margaret in Bunn the idea doesn't seem so far fetched:

• 1855 Dec 10 Margaret Ferguson, 19, Spinster, Servant, Bun, d/o Isaiah Ferguson, Farmer marries John Warner, 23, labourer, Sugarloaf, s/o William Warner; Witness: George Cooper, John Ferguson.

Pertinent to the above are records of a Samuel John Ferguson in Australia. First there is the death of a Samuel John on board the cutter Vernon under the command of John Mackay 1 July 1877. Samuel died of fever and is buried at Double Island Beach. His occupation is listed as a publican. The informant did not know any of the particulars about his family but his age is listed as 46 which is close enough that this may be Samuel the son of John and Margaret born April 1 1832. Secondly, there is the Samuel John Ferguson who wed Ellen Rose Marceau. Their daughter Silesia Ann was born 15 Feb 1874 in Rocky Creek, Rockhampton District, QLD. She died 05 Oct 1956 in Picton, NSW. She married Charles Jessop and they had seven children. He is likely one of Isaiah's brothers or half-brothers refered to by Elizabeth Breakey in the letter already mentioned.

It is worth noting that a Margaret Ferguson appears in Griffiths Valuations 1857 as both an occupier and immediate lessor at map reference 10 in Tullyboy, Kilbride Parish, Co. Cavan. The valuation records of the Electoral Divison of Ballymachugh, parish of Kilbride 1857-1930 lists John Ferguson as occupier of map references 1 and 7 on a page that appears dated 1862. Margaret Ferguson still occupies map reference 10 but a second entry shows Robert Ferguson in a different handwriting as though he became a joint occupier about 1860. Later, about 1872 it appears that Robert becomes the sole occupier as on this page Marg. appears but is crossed out. In this time frame the name John Ferguson no longer appears. From 1880 on, the only Ferguson listed is Robert. I have yet to discover how Margaret, John and Robert are related. One might think that they are the children of John Ferguson as listed in the above table of civilly registered marriages. But according to the Jameson family bible Margaret, or "Maggie" Ferguson as she was known to the Jamesons, was born Jul 29 1844; she is to young to have been an occupier or lessor in Griffiths Valuation.

The Margaret Ferguson who occupies Tullyboy in 1857 most likely died in Billis on December 26, 1876 at age 78, a widow. The informant on the corresponding civil records was Thos McAuley whom as we have already noted married the late John Ferguson's daughter, Eliza Jane in 1859. The implication is that Margaret's husband died prior to Griffiths Valuations in 1857 and must have been John Ferguson of Tullyboy.

The last Ferguson to reside in Tullyboy was Robert Ferguson who married Emily Sarah FORSYTHE at the Methodist Church in the town of Cavan, Mar 22 1923. He died in a tractor accident in 1931. The lands of Tullyboy are still farmed by descendants of John Ferguson through Letitia (b 1872) the daughter of Robert and Mary Anne Ferguson.

In conclusion, key pieces are still missing in this story for I cannot decide if there are two John Fergusons in our past or if John the soldier simply had four wives. We also need to take account of notes written by Eva Foster in 1992, wherein she states the maiden name of Annie Eliza's grandmother was Chambers and the sister of Isabella Chambers who married William Lahy 1844 (Diocese of Kilmore - LDS Film 0100869).

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