Frederick Summerfield Ferguson
Secessionist, Lawyer, KKK
Notes:
• While much of F.S. Ferguson's life was invested in other places, he was born in Huntsville, AL and he has family ties back to the earliest times in Huntsville. "Messrs. Hale (his maternal grandfather) and Hunt settled Huntsville, and drew straws to see who should name the town. Mr. Hunt pulled the longest straw and named the place Huntsville, for himself." - DeLand & Smith
• "He entered the Southern Army in 1861 and was assigned to the staff of General Lomax, at Pensacola, with the troops that took Pensacola Navy-yard, Fort Barancas and Fort McRae. Upon the organization of the Confederacy, he was appointed second lieutenant in the First Artillery by President Davis, and served with that regiment, or on staff duty, during the entire war. He was wounded and captured at Fort Morgan in 1864, and imprisoned in Fort Lafayette, New York, and in Fort Warren. Boston, until the end of the war. In February, 1864, he was promoted to a captaincy upon the recommendation of his commander, for meritorious conduct at the siege of Fort Powell, where he commanded the artillery. He was with his command in every battle in which it was engaged." - DeLand & Smith
• "He was admitted to the bar in the circuit court at Tuskegee, September, 1865, and soon afterward entered Mr. Clopton's office as a member of the firm. Later he removed to Montgomery, and formed a partnership with D. F. Blakey. He was a member of the legislature from Macon county, 1866-67; solicitor second circuit, 1876-86; member of the legislature from Jefferson County, 1892-93; and was chairman of the judiciary committee. He organized a military company at Tallassee in 1859 and was in the expedition to Pensacola in 1861; was second lieutenant artillery, C. S. Army, 1861; and first lieutenant, 1862, and for gallantry in the field was promoted captain in 1864. He was captured at Ft. Morgan, 1864, and held at Ft. Lafayette, N. Y., until January 12, 1865. He served as a staff officer during the war with Gens. Page, Higgins, Maury and Gardner. He was major-general Alabama division, U. C. V., 1893-99, and appointed a member of the State board of pension examiners by Gov. Emmet O'Neal. In the last position he served until the summer of 1915, shortly before his death." - Owen
• "Captain Ferguson was admitted to the bar at Tuskegee, Ala., in September, 1865, and during the fall following was elected to the Legislature, where he served until ousted by the Reconstruction crowd in 1868. He was in the National Democratic Convention in New York that year, and voted for Salmon P. Chase for President. In 1870, he removed to Montgomery, and in 1875 was elected Solicitor for the Second Judicial Circuit. He was re-elected in 1880, and retired from the office in the fall of 1886." - DeLand & Smith
• "Captain Ferguson went to Birmingham in September, 1887, and formed a partnership with William R. Houghton, the two making one of the strong law firms of the city." - DeLand & Smith
• "Married: October 18, 1871, at Franklin, Tenn., to Laura, daughter of Rev. William and Mary Elizabeth (Hill) Burr of Williamson County, Tenn. She is descended from an uncle of Aaron Burr, who settled in Virginia before the Revolution and whose children migrated to Kentucky. Her father was born in Logan County, Ky., in 1820, and was a distinguished member of the Tennessee Methodist conference until his death in 1887. Her mother was descended from Hon. Green Hill of North Carolina, member of the Mecklenburg convention and treasurer of that state for many years, also a major in the Continental Army." - Owen
• "Children: 1. Burr, m. Anne Lewis, Nashville, Tenn., and now lives in Birmingham; 2. Hill, m. Louise Walker, daughter of Hon. William Walker, Birmingham; 3. Laura, m. Rev. Arthur R. Gray, New York; 4. Fredrika, m. Pelham Anderson, Birmingham." (Sometimes Hill is listed as William Hill) - Owen
• "He was a Methodist, a Mason, and a member of the Ku Klux Klan, without which organization he believed that the years following the war and the emancipation of millions of slaves, who were guided by partisan hatred from the outside, would have brought to Southern civilization a fate too awful to contemplate." - Owen
• "He left his unpublished memoirs; and among his writings was a legal criticism of the trial of Mrs. Surratt and others, also unpublished." - Owen
Related Links:
The Following Pages Link to this Page:
• DeLand & Smith
• Frederick Guthrie Ferguson
• Owen
• Willilam Hale
| Born: | May 2, 1841, Huntsville, Alabama |
| Died: | After 1915, Birmingham, Alabama |
| Son of: | Frederick Guthrie Ferguson |
| Grandson of: | Willilam Hale |
Notes:
• While much of F.S. Ferguson's life was invested in other places, he was born in Huntsville, AL and he has family ties back to the earliest times in Huntsville. "Messrs. Hale (his maternal grandfather) and Hunt settled Huntsville, and drew straws to see who should name the town. Mr. Hunt pulled the longest straw and named the place Huntsville, for himself." - DeLand & Smith
• "He entered the Southern Army in 1861 and was assigned to the staff of General Lomax, at Pensacola, with the troops that took Pensacola Navy-yard, Fort Barancas and Fort McRae. Upon the organization of the Confederacy, he was appointed second lieutenant in the First Artillery by President Davis, and served with that regiment, or on staff duty, during the entire war. He was wounded and captured at Fort Morgan in 1864, and imprisoned in Fort Lafayette, New York, and in Fort Warren. Boston, until the end of the war. In February, 1864, he was promoted to a captaincy upon the recommendation of his commander, for meritorious conduct at the siege of Fort Powell, where he commanded the artillery. He was with his command in every battle in which it was engaged." - DeLand & Smith
• "He was admitted to the bar in the circuit court at Tuskegee, September, 1865, and soon afterward entered Mr. Clopton's office as a member of the firm. Later he removed to Montgomery, and formed a partnership with D. F. Blakey. He was a member of the legislature from Macon county, 1866-67; solicitor second circuit, 1876-86; member of the legislature from Jefferson County, 1892-93; and was chairman of the judiciary committee. He organized a military company at Tallassee in 1859 and was in the expedition to Pensacola in 1861; was second lieutenant artillery, C. S. Army, 1861; and first lieutenant, 1862, and for gallantry in the field was promoted captain in 1864. He was captured at Ft. Morgan, 1864, and held at Ft. Lafayette, N. Y., until January 12, 1865. He served as a staff officer during the war with Gens. Page, Higgins, Maury and Gardner. He was major-general Alabama division, U. C. V., 1893-99, and appointed a member of the State board of pension examiners by Gov. Emmet O'Neal. In the last position he served until the summer of 1915, shortly before his death." - Owen
• "Captain Ferguson was admitted to the bar at Tuskegee, Ala., in September, 1865, and during the fall following was elected to the Legislature, where he served until ousted by the Reconstruction crowd in 1868. He was in the National Democratic Convention in New York that year, and voted for Salmon P. Chase for President. In 1870, he removed to Montgomery, and in 1875 was elected Solicitor for the Second Judicial Circuit. He was re-elected in 1880, and retired from the office in the fall of 1886." - DeLand & Smith
• "Captain Ferguson went to Birmingham in September, 1887, and formed a partnership with William R. Houghton, the two making one of the strong law firms of the city." - DeLand & Smith
• "Married: October 18, 1871, at Franklin, Tenn., to Laura, daughter of Rev. William and Mary Elizabeth (Hill) Burr of Williamson County, Tenn. She is descended from an uncle of Aaron Burr, who settled in Virginia before the Revolution and whose children migrated to Kentucky. Her father was born in Logan County, Ky., in 1820, and was a distinguished member of the Tennessee Methodist conference until his death in 1887. Her mother was descended from Hon. Green Hill of North Carolina, member of the Mecklenburg convention and treasurer of that state for many years, also a major in the Continental Army." - Owen
• "Children: 1. Burr, m. Anne Lewis, Nashville, Tenn., and now lives in Birmingham; 2. Hill, m. Louise Walker, daughter of Hon. William Walker, Birmingham; 3. Laura, m. Rev. Arthur R. Gray, New York; 4. Fredrika, m. Pelham Anderson, Birmingham." (Sometimes Hill is listed as William Hill) - Owen
• "He was a Methodist, a Mason, and a member of the Ku Klux Klan, without which organization he believed that the years following the war and the emancipation of millions of slaves, who were guided by partisan hatred from the outside, would have brought to Southern civilization a fate too awful to contemplate." - Owen
• "He left his unpublished memoirs; and among his writings was a legal criticism of the trial of Mrs. Surratt and others, also unpublished." - Owen
Related Links:
• Ancestry.com - Page owned by chuckd1062 and can be viewed only with an Ancestry.com paid subscription.
• DeLand & Smith - Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical by T. A. DeLand and A. Davis Smith, 1888, page 764.
• Owen - History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, Volume 3 By Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen, 1921, page 573.
The Following Pages Link to this Page:
• DeLand & Smith
• Frederick Guthrie Ferguson
• Owen
• Willilam Hale