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Jane Patterson Letter to Mr. Doak March 19, 1878
Background Poor Jane! She finds herself widowed for the second time and is writing to Mr. Doak for help locating his brother. S.C. Doak was teaching school in the area and was boarding with Jane and John Patterson. He left his trunk with all his books and papers and Jane has lost track of him. She is urgently looking for him as he did not pay her the money for his room and board and Jane is in need of the money. I have another letter that John Patterson wrote to Mr. Doak on the same subject. The Letter Brandon, Hill Co. March 19th 1878 Mr. Doak, Dear Sir,…
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Renick and Frazier Document October 15, 1872
Background This is the Renick and Frazier business. George Renick and James C. Frazier are the owners. James C. Frazier is Monroe Frazier’s brother. The original document has all of the blanks you see below. The information isn’t filled out so this may have been a preliminary document that needed to be filled out. The Document RENICK & FRAZIER Oct. 15, 1872 __________ of R.A. Ferguson and J.R. Davis a note for the balance of the purchase money for a tract of land sold for the heirs of James Wood ___________________ in Paluxy in Erath County said note ________ on the ______ day of 1872 due _____________my with per…
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Isabella Ferguson Letter to George Renick 9 September 1878
Background I believe that George Renick is the business partner of James C. Frazier. These men ran Renick and Frazier and seem to do land transactions. I don’t know if they were real estate agents or surveyors or lawyers who specialized in land transactions. I am sure if we lay all of their documents out, we could maybe tell. James C. Frazier is the brother to Monroe Frazier, husband of Jane Wood Frazier (by this time, Patterson), the sister of Isabella Ferguson. In this letter we see that R.A. is “out west” and won’t be home for three months. The boys, Robert and Jimmie, are most likely Isabella and R.A.’s…
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John M. Patterson Loyalty Statement to the United States of America 1869
Background John M. Patterson emigrated in the same group as the Wood and Park families from Scotland to Texas in 1851. John Patterson served in the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. After the War, John married Jane M. Wood Frazier, a daughter of James and Isabella Wood. Jane’s first husband was Monroe Frazier, but he enlisted in the Confederate Army, became ill, and died all in a matter of months. John M. Patterson is buried in the Milford Cemetery near James and Isabella Wood, his mother and father-in-law. The Document United States of America The State of Texas, County of Hill I, John Patterson, do solemnly…
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Lillias Park Ferguson Letter to Jeanette Wood Ward July 28, 1869
Background Lillias Park was orphaned when her parents, William and Frances Park died in Leon County on the journey to Ft. Graham. Lillias and her brother, Archibald, raised by the Woods and their other siblings, William and David were raised by the Ridgeway family. Lillias married R. A. Ferguson‘s nephew, John Ferguson. When Lillie speaks of Aunt Isabella, she is referring to her adoptive sister Isabella who married John Ferguson’s uncle R.A. Sorry if this is confusing, I didn’t do the matchmaking. The Letter July 28, 1869 Dear Jeannette or Jennette, I will commence an answer to your letter which I received on the 18th of this month. We…
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Connecting the Old House to the New Addition
Connecting the Old House to the New Addition When we purchased the old house, we knew that we were going to need to put an addition on it. It was a tiny house (1100 sq ft) even with the porches enclosed. And enclosing the porches didn’t really help us much as they basically added hallways and not rooms to the house. Once we started the renovation project, we realized that the house was in need of a rest. We planned to use the old house as gently as possible and made plans to add rooms that would be used daily (kitchen, laundry, bathrooms, etc.) in the addition. How many times…
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Archibald Park (adopted son of James and Isabella Wood) to Isabella Wood 22 Jan 1864
Background Archibald Park emigrated to Texas with his parents, William and Frances Park and his two brothers: David and William, and sister, Lillias. Unfortunately, his parents became ill in Leon County at the same time that the Wood family became ill. William and Frances Park died along with three of the Wood’s children. Mrs. Isabella Wood wrote a letter back to Mrs. Frances Park’s parents in Scotland letting them know what had happened and asking for direction on what should be done with the children. Ultimately, David and William Park were adopted by the Ridgeway family. The Woods raised Archie and Lillias. Archie died in the Civil War. Lillias married…
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Finishing the New Floors in the Old House
Background Work The floors in the original house. I wanted to keep them, but they were damaged. We knew that wasn’t an option. The original floors were nothing more than boards nailed to the floor joists. There were gaps between them so you could see the dirt under the house. As much as I wanted to restore the house, even I knew that we were going to have to do something different than what there originally. The first flooring job was to work on the structural parts. We installed plywood under the joists so we could insulate the floors. We then installed the floor decking material. That was a lot…
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James “Squire Jim” Ferguson’s Account of Their Trip to California
Background We’ve all heard about Robert Andrew Ferguson’s exploits as a cowboy. He helped tame the wild West, had more horses under brand than any man in the world, and was one of the wealthiest men in Hill County. Before all of that, he was a young man in Gaston County, North Carolina when opportunity in the way of a gold rush in California came knocking. Gold was discovered on January 24, 1848 at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California. The news of the discovery of gold was first announced in San Francisco by a newspaper publisher in March of 1848. Evidently, he walked through the streets with a vial of gold…
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Ferguson Men and the California Gold Rush – George P. Ferguson Account
Background Four Ferguson men left Gaston County, NC for the California gold fields in 1849. They were James “Squire Jim” Ferguson, his son William; Squire Jim’s nephew, Robert Andrew Ferguson, and Alfred Hall Ferguson, son of George W. Ferguson. The following was written by Alfred H. Ferguson’s brother George Porter Ferguson. He lived in Hillsboro, Hill County, Texas for a number of years and certainly knew R.A. Ferguson as they did not live far apart. It is interesting that George P. Ferguson states that his brother, Alfred, died in California. This is not true. Alfred remained in California until his death in January of 1909. A quick search for our…