maps.nls.uk (accessed 18th Jan. 2024). Creative Commons licence CC-BY (NLS) maps.nls.uk/copyright.html#noncommercial. See also rights & restrictions per CC-BY 4.0 DEED creativecommons.org. Edited by Alison Kilpatrick, 2024.Click here to view larger image in new window.
A brief window, indeed, has been opened for the ancestry and descendants of the Ferguson family of Farriter townland. Our interest in this family begins with the marriage in 1736 of David Ferguson (c.1711–bef.1775) and Margaret, daughter of John Huggins (I) of Glenarb townland. 1 David and Margaret had at least two sons, 2 and possibly more, children. From 1729, David’s father, Andrew Ferguson, held Farriter townland, containing about 260 acres English statute measure 
, from Thomas Whyte of Redhills, county Cavan, Esq. At that time, Farriter townland was part of the Manor of Ballymagrane. 3 , 4
A genealogical outline of the Ferguson family illustrates the limited extent of our knowledge about this branch of Ferguson–Huggins. This tree comprises: (1) Andrew Ferguson (c.1680–aft.1757), (2) his two sons, David and John the elder, and (3) David’s son, John the younger, and the suggestion of a second son. At the same time, while the usual genealogical details of hatched, matched, and despatched are scanty, primarily because the local church records do not survive from that early date, the records from which this outline was compiled are rich in detail.
The types of records tapped were twofold :
- memorials of deeds, which were registered with a government authority (the Registry of Deeds in Dublin), describe the lands held in considerable detail, the manner by which the tenant (Andrew Ferguson) obtained the leasehold, the conditions for continuance of the lease, and the term, i.e., how long the tenant was permitted to hold; and,
- abstracts of civil suits brought to the Courts of Exchequer and Equity in Ireland. These abstracts, or more properly, indexes recorded only the names of the plaintiff(s) and defendant(s), omitting the domiciles of all the appellants and the cause or reason giving rise to the lawsuit. For any of these to be considered reliable at all, an abstract needs to contain a sufficient number of names of appellants, near relatives, and/or known associates including neighbours, landlords, and similar.
In all, just forty-six years were traced—from Andrew Ferguson’s acquisition of the leasehold in 1729 until 1775, when both his son John the elder and his grandson John the younger assigned their respective halves of Farriter townland to the Rev. William Nixon, B.A., of Dublin. Both the son and the grandson retained some portions for themselves, but after 1775 their names disappear from the memorials of registered deeds, court records, and newspaper accounts.
Adding to the family history mystery is that William Nixon was a nephew to John Ferguson the elder, and how—by what relationship, and through which marriage—has yet to be ascertained. Interestingly, the Rev. Mr. Nixon shed a sufficient trail of documentary evidence in his life’s wake, of which stuff another biographical sketch and blog article will be made.
As always, should a reader recognize or trace their ancestry backwards to David Ferguson of Irish Farriter and Margaret Huggins of Glenarb, please do get in touch.
See also :
- Ferguson of Farriter in the parish of Killeeshil, county Tyrone (family history index page)
- Huggins of Glenarb in the parish of Aghaloo, county Tyrone (family history index page)
Footnotes :
- Registry of Deeds, Ireland. Memorial no. 75752 (v.109, p.245): John Huggins of Glenarb, parish of Aghaloo, county Tyrone, to Andrew and David Ferguson of Farriter, parish of Killeeshil, county Tyrone (dated 2nd Oct. 1736, registered 7th Feb. 1742). Microfilm copy held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (Belfast). Archival ref. MIC/311/72 (accessed by Alison Kilpatrick, Nov. 2003); and copy on microfilm held by the Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, archival ref. FHL microfilm no. 522823 (accessed at SLC on 4th May 2016); digital images online at FamilySearch, Int’l. familysearch.org (transcript by Alison Kilpatrick); submitted to Nick Reddan’s Registry of Deeds Index Project Ireland
irishdeedsindex.net, 12th July 2016. ↩︎ - Registry of Deeds, Ireland. Memorial no. 212796 (v.325, p.49): John Ferguson [the younger] of Farriter, parish of Killeeshil, county Tyrone, son of David Ferguson & Margaret Huggins, assignment to the Rev. William Nixon of Dublin (dated 2nd May 1775, registered 12th July 1777). Microfilm copy held by the Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, archival ref. FHL microfilm no. 531696; digital images online at FamilySearch, Int’l. familysearch.org (accessed 15th Jan. 2024). Annotated transcript by Alison Kilpatrick, 16th Jan. 2024. ↩︎
- Registry of Deeds, Ireland, Memorial no. 75752 (v.109, p.245), op. cit. ↩︎
- Registry of Deeds, Ireland. Memorial no. 86876 (v.129, p.230): Andrew Ferguson of Farriter assignment to his son, John Ferguson (dated 5th Oct. 1747, registered 10th Nov. 1747). Microfilm copy held by the Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, archival ref. FHL microfilm no. 522833 (accessed at SLC on 4th May 2016); digital images online at FamilySearch, Int’l. familysearch.org. Annotated transcript by Alison Kilpatrick; index and transcript submitted to Nick Reddan’s “Registry of Deeds Index Project Ireland” irishdeedsindex.net, 12th Aug. 2016. ↩︎
END NOTES :
Source citation for this page: Kilpatrick, Alison. “A brief window into the Ferguson family of Farriter townland, 1729–1775.” Published to Arborealis, online at arborealis.ca/2024/01/18/brief-wind0w-ferguson/, accessed [insert date].
All rights reserved. Alison Kilpatrick ©2024.
Published 18th Jan. 2024.
