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IRA FERGUSON, Representative in the Ohio Legislature from Clermont county. Is son of Isaiah Ferguson, whose
ancestors emigrated from Ireland early in the, eighteenth century, and were of the house of Fergus, the Scottish
Chief. The great grandfather of Mr. Ferguson (Thomas Ferguson) settled on the Monongahela River, eighteen miles
above the French Fort Duquesne, one of the first lodgments of civilized life west of the Alleghenies. rrhese early
settlers were coin pellel to procure their "store goods,'' such as salt, iron, nails, kitchen utensils and
wares (ealicos and dry goods in those days were unknown here) from Philadelphia or Baltimore, which they convayed
on pack horses. This settlement sent two young men, Henry and Isaac Ferguson, with several horses, to Baltimore
for wares and goods. Each horse would have a pack-saddle and hell upon him, and every night the horses would be
counted to see if all were present. These men made seventeen trips to Baltimore. Soon after the Revolutionary War
Isaac Ferguson (grandfather of the subject of this notice) moved with his family westward, and, 1784, he located
for a time at Limestone (now Maysville, Kentucky), and, 1795, he settled on the Kentucky shore, fifteen miles above
Cincinnati, and, 1797, he, with his wife and three sons, crossed the Ohio River into the then Northwest Territory,
and there commenced a farm some three miles below New Richmond, Clermont county, Ohio. Here he died in 1818, his
wife and seven Sons and five daughters surviving him.
Isaac Ferguson, father of Ira, on the call for volunteers at divers times to defend the frontiers against the incursions
of the Indians, volunteered three times, and was commander of Fort Meigs as Major. In q805 he settled in what is
now Pierce township, Clerniont county, where he lived till the time of his death in 1852, being seventy-five years
and twenty seven days old.
Ira Ferguson was born in 1818 in Clermont county, and is now nearly fifty-four years of age. He was Colonel of
time Militia Cavalry for ten or twelve years. On the breaking out of the war of 1861 he went into the service as
Captain of the seventh Ohio Cavalry, in which he served for several months, until his declining health compelled
his resignation.
Mr. Ferguson sprang from a pioneer family, whose proverbal honesty and industry were co-extensive with Southern
Ohio. He inherits in an eminent degree that fidelity to conscientious duty, and firmness in attachment to correct
principles, which were so characteristic of his ancestors on either side. Mr. Ferguson has enjoyed the confidence
and esteem of all who know him; and whether as a military man, a member of society, a neighbor or a friend, he
has ever discharged his whole duty with fidelity and honesty excelled by none. He is sensitive of his honor and
integrity, and can never be swerved from the path of duty, nor engage in anything detrimental to what he esteems
to be the interests of the people and good of society. Mr. Ferguson is eminently one of the people, who knows their
wants, and is steadily devoted to their best interests in every capacity in which he is called to act.
From:
Biographical Sketches of the
State Officers and of the members
of the Sixtieth General Assembly
of the State of Ohio.
By: W. Sarwin Crabb.
Ohio State Journal Book and Job Rooms.
Columbus, Ohio 1872
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