Major William Wallace Fergusson Family, c. 1890
Ruskin, Charles, WW, Linton, Rena, Dora, Nina, Willard
(Sterling was in Boston and Frank was at West Point at this time.)
Photographs courtesy of Dennis Bowman and the TSLA.
Major William Wallace Fergusson, CSA, son of Adam and Hester Hazard Fergusson, was born
in Carthage in 1831 and served as an engineer in the Civil War. He was a teacher at Black
Gnat Academy after the war and later was a prominent attorney in the Tennessee area and
was an important member of the E.L.Bradley Bivouac.
In 1866 he married Medora Kirby, daughter of Francis Marion and Ellen Kirby, the couple
obtaining a piece of property on Bowman's Branch, there rearing 8 children, 6 boys and
2 girls. They lovingly named their old log homestead, pictured below, "Gullychoke."
Each of the children was well tutored and all did well in their chosen profession.
Sterling Price Fergusson, the eldest was at an early age interested in meteorology
and was on the staff at the Blue Hill Observatory in Massachusetts.
Willard Hampden Fergusson became an engineer and was an early photographer.
Frank Kirby Fergusson received an appointment to West Point and served as
an officer in the US Army.
James Ruskin Fergusson was a very successful business man and lived in San Francisco.
Marina Carita Fergusson married Anderson J. McGauhey, living her adult life in Madison.
She became a very successful real estate person, developing much of the residential
property known as Haysboro adjacent to Isaac Litton School on Gallatin Road.
Nina Minora Fergusson was an artist. She never married.
The 2 youngest children were
Linton Stephens Fergusson and Charles Marshall Fergusson, each an engineer.
In 1898, the Fergusson family left "Gullychoke" to move to Madison, enabling the Major to
take a position with the Tennessee Supreme Court. Even though the family moved away, ties
were kept with Riddleton by letter and it is said that Major Fergusson walked from Madison
to Riddleton once. (He was accustomed to traveling by foot.)
Each of the offspring was musical, playing a variety of instruments as well as singing.
All were avid readers of all manner of books and literature. Major Fergusson and Medora
and others of this remarkable family are buried in Spring Hill Cemetery with A. J.
McGaughey's maternal ancestors, the Loves.
Major William Wallace Fergusson wrote a letter to E.R. Miller of Riddleton Feb 15, 1898
a very lenghty letter of which a portion can be read by following this link:
The old house on Bowman's Branch is still there, albeit much altered by many generations
of later inhabitants. There is a cemetery in the corner of the yard, probably containing
the remains of other Fergusson family and friends. It is, sadly, very neglected.
"Gullychoke" March 2004
Photo provided by John Waggoner Jr
