Gilbert Ferguson, 1/9th-Plate Daguerreotype with Domed Glass Cover, Circa 1853
This charming image of a toddler in blue includes a lock of his blond hair and this note: "My brother Gilbert. I went with him when this picture was taken, and generally curled his lovely hair. I taught him to read and he was my ..?...darling when a small boy.
"Emma Ferguson
"This is a lock of his beautiful hair"
Gilbert Judson Ferguson, born in 1850 in Ohio. He was the son of Presbyterian clergyman James Ferguson (b. 1814, Ohio) and his wife Sarah Pierson (B. 1817, Ohio). His sister, Emma Catherine Ferguson, who wrote the note and lovingly preserved Gilbert's hair, was born in Ohio about 1846.
On the 1850 Census of Pike Township, Coshockton County, Ohio, taken on 24 August, Gilbert has not yet been born and so does not appear, but his elder siblings do: Willis Hervey (b. 1843), Emma, and Chalmers Vincent ("Vinet") (b. 1848 in Zanesville, d. 1924 in Phoenix, AZ). There is also a much older young man, Cyrus Ferguson, a student, born in 1829, living with the family. This may be a nephew of James Ferguson's. Also there is Sophie Pierson, aged 16, who was probably a niece of Sarah Pierson Ferguson.
By 1860, the family had moved to Brimfield, Ohio, where James was still acting as a clergyman. By the enumeration of the 1870 Census, the family had again moved to Chenoa, McClean County, Illinois, and James listed himself as a retired merchant and not a clergyman. All of the siblings are still with the parents, with brother Willis naming himself as a farmer, age 20.
Gilbert's mother, Sarah Pierson Ferguson, died in 1872.
Gilbert's doting sister Emma married Thomas Benton Adams sometime between 1870 and 1880. Like her parents, they seem to have roamed their entire lives. The 1880 census finds them in Chicago with a four-year-old daughter named Burness, born in 1876. They next turn up in Allen, Kansas, in 1910--both acting as evangelists. In 1920, they are found in Sumner County, Tennessee, acting as missionaries. Our last sighting of them is in 1930, when the Adamses were are living in Askley, Minnesota, where Thomas Benton is a pastor at the Free Methodist Church.
The 1880 Census shows Gilbert ferguson living in Chenoa, with his wife Mary Hannah (b. 1855, Ohio) and their two-month-old daughter, Grace. Gilbert is a clerk in a shop.
Gilbert's father James died in 1891. By 1900, Gilbert moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and had lost his wife. A widow with three daughters: Grace, Louise (b. May 1882, Illinois) and Dorothy Hodson (b. Sept. 1879, Kansas), he listed himself as an "impliment dealer." He may have married again in Kansas to a woman named Emma Hodson. He appears to have died there before 1910.
Emma wrote the letter that came in the case of this daguerreotype sometime later in her life. My suspicion is that she wrote it long after Gilbert's death in preparation for passing her family items to her own daughter. I purchased the daguerreotype, with it's concealed letter and hair lock, from a nonfamily antiques dealer, and conducted the historic research myself.
Gilbert Ferguson, 1/9th-Plate Daguerreotype with Domed Glass Cover, Circa 1853
This charming image of a toddler in blue includes a lock of his blond hair and this note: "My brother Gilbert. I went with him when this picture was taken, and generally curled his lovely hair. I taught him to read and he was my ..?...darling when a small boy.
"Emma Ferguson
"This is a lock of his beautiful hair"
Gilbert Judson Ferguson, born in 1850 in Ohio. He was the son of Presbyterian clergyman James Ferguson (b. 1814, Ohio) and his wife Sarah Pierson (B. 1817, Ohio). His sister, Emma Catherine Ferguson, who wrote the note and lovingly preserved Gilbert's hair, was born in Ohio about 1846.
On the 1850 Census of Pike Township, Coshockton County, Ohio, taken on 24 August, Gilbert has not yet been born and so does not appear, but his elder siblings do: Willis Hervey (b. 1843), Emma, and Chalmers Vincent ("Vinet") (b. 1848 in Zanesville, d. 1924 in Phoenix, AZ). There is also a much older young man, Cyrus Ferguson, a student, born in 1829, living with the family. This may be a nephew of James Ferguson's. Also there is Sophie Pierson, aged 16, who was probably a niece of Sarah Pierson Ferguson.
By 1860, the family had moved to Brimfield, Ohio, where James was still acting as a clergyman. By the enumeration of the 1870 Census, the family had again moved to Chenoa, McClean County, Illinois, and James listed himself as a retired merchant and not a clergyman. All of the siblings are still with the parents, with brother Willis naming himself as a farmer, age 20.
Gilbert's mother, Sarah Pierson Ferguson, died in 1872.
Gilbert's doting sister Emma married Thomas Benton Adams sometime between 1870 and 1880. Like her parents, they seem to have roamed their entire lives. The 1880 census finds them in Chicago with a four-year-old daughter named Burness, born in 1876. They next turn up in Allen, Kansas, in 1910--both acting as evangelists. In 1920, they are found in Sumner County, Tennessee, acting as missionaries. Our last sighting of them is in 1930, when the Adamses were are living in Askley, Minnesota, where Thomas Benton is a pastor at the Free Methodist Church.
The 1880 Census shows Gilbert ferguson living in Chenoa, with his wife Mary Hannah (b. 1855, Ohio) and their two-month-old daughter, Grace. Gilbert is a clerk in a shop.
Gilbert's father James died in 1891. By 1900, Gilbert moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and had lost his wife. A widow with three daughters: Grace, Louise (b. May 1882, Illinois) and Dorothy Hodson (b. Sept. 1879, Kansas), he listed himself as an "impliment dealer." He may have married again in Kansas to a woman named Emma Hodson. He appears to have died there before 1910.
Emma wrote the letter that came in the case of this daguerreotype sometime later in her life. My suspicion is that she wrote it long after Gilbert's death in preparation for passing her family items to her own daughter. I purchased the daguerreotype, with it's concealed letter and hair lock, from a nonfamily antiques dealer, and conducted the historic research myself.