Help with mysterious Fergusons.....

dodie · Post by **dodie** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 11:53 pm

I have my great-grandfather's marriage certificate from 1884, his name was John Ferguson and he was a ploughman, his usual address was Ballygowan by Oban and he married Ann Sinclair at The Manse in Oban. His parents were John Ferguson also ploughman (deceased) and Isabella Ferguson m.s. McCallum. My great-grandfather was born in 1854 so there is no birth certificate available. I can find him on the 1881 census in Glenorchy and he has birthplace down as Kilmorich which he also has in later census records but I can't find him anywhere before 1881 and I can't find any death certificates for either of his parents, I also looked to see if his mother remarried but can't find any records for this either. When he married in 1884 his father was down as deceased but as it didn't say I assume his mother was still alive and when I found John Jnrs. death certificate for 1918 it had his mothers name down as Isabella Ferguson m.s. Ferguson (deceased). Can anyone help. I have looked for so long on SP but can't find any answers, it really is a mystery. Any help would be much appreciated. I twice e-mailed the person that takes to do with poor relief records in the hope that the family may have applied there, but I never got a reply, does anyone know if its possible to get access to the poor relief records for Argyll.

Post by **Ina** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:37 am

Hi Dodie,

Good luck with finding your John Ferguson.

Must be something about the name John Ferguson. My gg grandfather was John Ferguson married to Isabella McDougall (although I've never found a marriage record). They produced two sons in Greenock and then disappeared off the face of the earth. Found info on both sons, but have come to a dead end on the parents.

John Ferguson is such a common name. Hope someone will be able to help you.

Ina
Current AG chair

dodie · Post by **dodie** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 12:41 am

Hi Ina

Thanks for the reply. Its funny how the parents seem to disappear but the records of the children show up. John Jnr doesn't seem to show up before 1881, maybe he came from somewhere other than Argyll although I am sure it is the highlands as he spoke Gaelic but I suppose it could be anywhere, that is why the poor relief records may be useful as they give details of the parents but I don't know how to go about getting access to them.

Dodie

Caroline · Post by **Caroline** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 1:14 pm

Hi Dodie,

If go try this link it should enable you to get info on the Argyll Poor Relief records.

Hope this isn't the person you have tried already!

http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/content/f ... 073509&a=0

Good luck!

Caroline

dodie · Post by **dodie** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 2:14 pm

Hi Caroline

Thanks for your reply. Yes this is the person I twice asked for help from, its actually three times. The first time I got in touch with her was to ask about admission records for the school my grandad went to in Oban and she helped on that so I asked her about the poor relief records for the family and she said she would look into it and get back to me but she didn't so I wrote twice more but she never answered my e-mails. Maybe she was too busy or off work. Dodie