Andrew Ferguson b. 6 September 1818, Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, Scotland

Andrew Ferguson is my husband John’s 2nd Great-grandpa.

John Conley Lewis < John Dean Lewis < Frederick Lewis < Agnes Reed Ferguson < Andrew Ferguson

Biography of ANDREW FERGUSON
With his wives CATHERINE DOUGLAS and ELIZABETH WATSON
by BETTY (FERGUSON) TIPPETS, his granddaughter.
WILLIAM WELLS HOUGHTON JR incorporated minor corrections/editing.

ANDREW FERGUSON, the son of WILLIAM FERGUSON and BARBARA ORTHUR LINDSAY natives of Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, Scotland, was born the 6th of September 1818, in Rutherglen. The family consisted of 5 sons and 7 daughters. ANDREW went to school until 9 years of age when he left school to enter the coal pits and work with his father.

 Rutherglen Town Hall

He was a member of the Church of Scotland, but was very skeptical in his mind about this church in early manhood.

He married CATHERINE DOUGLAS when he was 24 years of age after having courted her for 7 years. CATHERINE DOUGLAS was born in Glasgow, Scotland on the 6th of October 1819. Her father was ROBERT DOUGLAS, a sea captain, of Tarbet in the Highlands. Her mother was named MARY BRUCE. CATHERINE was very religious.

Catherine Douglas b. 6 Oct 1819, Barany, Lanark, Scotland

After their marriage, the couple moved to Airdice about 10 miles from Glasgow, where they met the Mormon Elders. CATHERINE was baptized on the 16th and ANDREW on the 22nd of September 1844, both by MATTHEW CAROUTHERS. They moved back to Rutherglen in 1845, so enthused with their new belief that they hoped to convert all of their relatives and friends to their new faith. In this they were sadly disappointed, as only 2 of the FERGUSON family and none of the DOUGLAS family embraced the Gospel. ANDREW preached to them, and in later years his grandsons carried the Gospel to them, but it was no use. His sisters MARY and ELIZABETH both immigrated to Utah.

ANDREW was ordained a Teacher on August 31st 1845 by Elder JOHN BANKS, a Priest in November 1845 by PETER MCCUE and an Elder on the 17th of January 1847 by JOHN SHIELDS. He was appointed President of the Rutherglen Branch of the Church and served 4 years and nine months, tracting and preaching all the time.

His wife CATHERINE died of cholera when 30 years of age after giving birth to a son 8 days before her death on the 28th of December 1849. That night when Andrew came home from his work in the mines, she told him she was afraid she would die before morning and she told him to take the children to Zion. A few hours later she passed away.

MARY BAXTER kept house for him for one month after which his sister JANET, 12 years old, cared for the family. The baby boy ELI was put out to nurse for whom Andrew paid 3 shillings each week for 14 months. There were three children in the family besides the baby, all girls – AGNES, BARBARA, and ELIZABETH, MARY BRUCE having died in infancy.
On the 15th of July 1850, ANDREW FERGUSON married ELIZABETH (WATSON) MCISAAC, a widow with two children, a boy DUNCAN and a girl ANNIE. ELIZABETH was born at Kilmarnock, Scotland on the 4th of July 1814. A son named WILLIAM was born 22 May 1851.

  Andrew’s Journal is kept in the BYU Special Collections

ANDREW was sent out as a traveling Elder in September 1851 without purse or script and 100 miles to travel to his field of labor. He was gone from his family for 7 months. He returned home and after a few days visit with them was again sent out to preside over the Aberdeen Branch in the north of Scotland. He remained in Aberdeen until the 19th of February 1853, when he visited his family again in Rutherglen. On the 26th of February, he left to go to Dundee taking his daughter BARBARA with him. He was in Dundee until June 29th of the same year. On January 6, 1854 he went to England to preside over the Preston Conference where he remained until 20th of April 1854. He returned to Rutherglen and moved his family to England. While he was on these missions h is family was very poor and his wife ELIZABETH made straw hats and many other things to help them purchase the necessities of life. On 1 February 1855, he was released from the Preston Conference.

This ship, the James Smith, is very similar to the Siddons that brought the Ferguson family to America.  Below is the ship manifest.

On the 27th of February the family sailed from Liverpool on the steamboat ‘Siddons’ to go to America to help build up Zion. The voyage was rough and they suffered a lot from seasickness. They were at sea for 62 days. They landed in Philadelphia on the 30th of April 1855. They boarded the train for Pittsburgh on the 6th of March and then took a boat to St. Louis arriving the 24th of May 1855. The next day they left on a boat up the river arriving at Atchison, Kansas Territory, on June 1st. ANDREW was in charge of the 30th a company was organized consisting of thirty wagons with MOSES THURSTON as Captain. These 30 wagons were divided into 10s and ANDREW was appointed Captain of one of the 10s. They started on July 3rd for Utah Valley. On August 23rd at Deer Creek, Nebraska, a son was born to ANDREW and ELIZABETH whom they named ANDREW THURSTON. The mother was so ill that they dropped out of the wagon train at 7 AM. The Captain ordered them back into line because of hostile Indians. They arrived in Salt Lake City on the 20th of September 1855. Many of their former acquaintances came to visit them and invited them to their homes.

ANDREW was put in charge of the poor fund for immigrants by Bother BALLANTYNE , doling out their provisions day by day. The family lived in Cottonwood until the Fall of 1856 when they moved to Spanish Fork and lived on the old Marsh lot in a dugout built by DUNCAN MCISAAC. They owned 10 acres of land in the north of town and 20 acres where the Oregon Shortline Depot now stands. They started farming in 1857. By trading and selling they acquired land in the river bottoms and continued farming as long as the father lived. They purchased the block on Center Street and First and Second West and First South which they always owned. ELI and WILLIAM acquired portions of it and built homes for themselves.

On February 2, 1858, he consecrated all of his property to the Lord ( the United Order) amounting to 613 dollars. ANDREW FERGUSON later returned to Scotland and filled a two-year mission.

Another son was born in Spanish Fork named JOHN. His wife, ELIZABETH, passed away December 24th 1875 in Spanish Fork. He married MARY BAXTER before he went on his mission. They were later divorced.

 Mary Reid Baxter

The Andrew Ferguson Family.  Reid is sitting and John Robert standing on the right.

He was Justice of the Peace from 1865 to 1878, Alderman in 1883, City Attorney, and first President of the Spanish Fork Coop. One year before his death, he married MARGARET ANDERSON of Scofield, an old Scotch lady who had kept house for him for some time. He died on the 12th of February 1888 and was buried in the Spanish Fork City Cemetery.

  Andrew Ferguson Death Record