Ferguson: pulpit, ledger, and a house full of children
John T. Ferguson came from Tennessee after the war with a young wife and a calling. Hickory County got a minister, a treasurer, a collector of revenue—and a family large enough that the cemetery directories read like a second census.
According to Wilson's History of Hickory County, John was born August 24, 1843; Susan Edds on January 24, 1848 (cemetery stone: Susan A.). They married in Tennessee on March 26, 1865, and reached Missouri on October 16, 1869. He preached at Nemo and Hermitage, kept the county's money as Treasurer (1897–1900), and later collected its taxes (1911–1914). He died July 30, 1931; Susan on May 12, 1925— both at Nemo Cemetery.
Thirteen children appear in Wilson's pages, with cemetery notes filled in later from the Society's directory and The Index. Some lived long; some did not—Tennessee Parolee gone at seventeen, John Calvin and Lillie Ann in infancy. Marriages tie the Fergusons to Samples, Low, Alexander, Brannon, Simmons, Bartshe, Gardner, Cunningham, Hitson—names that still turn up on county stones.
- Mary E. (1866–1906) m. Judge F. Samples
- William A. (1868–1914) m. Margaret Low
- George W. (1870–1943) m. Elie/Eller Alexander
- Martha A. (1873–1962) m. Andrew J. Alexander
- Francis C. (b. 1875) m. T. J. Brannon
- Tennessee P. (1877–1894)
- John Calvin (1879–1879)
- Caroline G. (1880–1964) m. Elmer Simmons
- Cornelius (1883–1956) m. Gussie Bartshe
- Lillie Ann (1885–1886)
- May (b. 1887) m. Arthur Gardner
- James M. (b. 1889) m. Lillie May Cunningham
- Florence E. (b. 1893) m. Luther Hitson
Sources: Wilson's History of Hickory County, pp. 127–128; Cemetery Directory of Hickory County, Missouri (The Index, 1990) and Index notes compiled by Ginny Sharp; photographs from Vicky Dennis via Johnna Quick (Ferguson–Low–Brannon research).