My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Yell County, Arkansas published by Southern Publishing Company in 1891.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

* * * *

O. S. Fergeson, one of the most successful and prosperous dealers in general merchandise, was born in Virginia in 1849, and was the youngest in his parents’ family. Joseph and Jane (Ayres) Fergeson [see sketch of W. H. Fergeson] soon after their son’s (O. S.) birth moved to Kentucky, where he was given a very fair start in education, and when twelve years old they came to Arkansas, and here he resumed his studies, taking a term at Russellville and Danville, and at the age of twenty began teaching, following this and farming for nearly ten years. Buying a tract of land of 160 acres five miles west of Bellville, he cleared sixty acres and otherwise improved it and made a very comfortable home, where he lived till called upon to mourn his wife’s death, on December 30, 1888, he having married, in 1879, Miss Mollie Smith, a daughter of James Smith, formerly of Tennessee, but now of Yell County. To Mr. and Mrs. Fergeson were born a family of three children: Edgar Lee, Johnnie May and Olive James. On the first of the present year (1890) he opened his present flourishing business in Bellville, carrying a full line of goods pertaining to general merchandise, such as groceries, crockery, dry goods and general plantation supplies, etc. In connection with his farm on the outskirts of Bellville he owns 240 acres in one tract, 160 in another, having 240 cultivated, and a residence and forty acres in Bellville. As a citizen he fully realizes the benefits to be derived from the free-school system, and is an active supporter of this and all other interests of his town.

* * * *

This family biography is one of 124 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Yell County, Arkansas published in 1891.  For the complete description, click here: Yell County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Yell County, Arkansas family biographies, click here

Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.