Check out the "Ferguson Genealogy" e-Book in the link below!!
Ferguson Genealogy e-book
---> UPDATE August 2018 <---
Information from other contributors to sites such as ancestry.com includes new
parental information for Richard Scott (Sr.)... Inclusion on this web site is
shown, but is still under further review and (hopefully) additional verification
beyond someone's possible hypothesis.
---> UPDATE 2008 <---
New data was discovered 4 Apr 2008 for James Matthew Scott's parents and for
Mary Ann Howes' parents, along with an additional generation of her ancestors!
(A complete upload of new entries was made Mar. 4, 2008. There were several
thousand new entries added, mostly due to the inclusion of family data from a
"new" cousin, Diana (Smith) Chesser. She added a lot of new information from
the Nelson/Ferguson family connections. The uploading process has a slight "bug,"
where NOTES attached to an entry will occasionally have two words run together
in the text. This will be slowly corrected as I make time to update various
entries, but I will probably NOT have the time to do them all... so bear with
us and know that those mistakes were not in the original GEDCOM file that was
uploaded.)
Nolte Family Picnic 1922
This photo was probably taken in Harriman Park in Hampton, Iowa. There is a possibility that a
famous actor's father is in this photo. He would have been eighteen at the time. Anyone know
for sure..?? Currently, only six or so people in this photo are identified. If you have
any info on any person in this photo, please email the site administrator..!!
A newspaper article appeared on 7 Sep 1922, probably in the Hampton Chronicle newspaper,
describing the festivities at the reunion where this photo was taken. It reads:
NINETY ATTEND REUNION
_____________________
Nolte Family Enjoys Big Reunion
at Harriman Park
On Thursday of last week, the Nolte families enjoyed a big reunion at Harriman park at Hampton
in which nearly one hundred relatives participated. The first on the program was the big dinner
at noon, and it was a big dinner as all who were there will confess. After dinner a program was
given which included speeches by Rev. Earnest Nolte of Cedar Falls, and by his son Rev. Jesse
Nolte; also Carl Nolte, who is superintendent of the Hansell schools. J. C. Eggmann of Sheffield,
sang his Swiss yodle, and Miss Effie Ahrens of Dumont, Clinton Nolte of Hampton, and Miss
Theodora Messerschmidt of Marble Rock, gave splendid readings. Bathing and swimming in the pool
in the park was also enjoyed by many of the crowd. A partial list of the families who were
present follows: Rev. Earnest Nolte and family of Cedar Falls; Theo. Messerschmidt and family
of Marble Rock; Geo. Ahrens and family of Dumont; James Ahrens and family, Herman Nolte and
family, Walter Nolte and family, Wm. Nolte and family of Hampton; Frank Underkoffler and family
of Clear Lake; J. C. Eggmann and family, Wm. Loeffelhardt and family, W. E. Kugler and family,
H. C. Nolte and family, W. C. Nolte and family, R. B. Harris and family, A. C. Messerschmidt and
family, and Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Esslinger of Sheffield.
To understand who we are, it sometimes helps to know from whence we came...
Winston Churchill is quoted as saying, "The farther back you can look, the
farther forward you are likely to see." Perhaps this gives a good
justification to those of us who pursue our family's genealogy.
We each carry a legacy of our forefathers and pass along a heritage to our
offspring. We remember growing up, going to school and visiting relatives.
At Christmas, sometimes there were people there we didn't always know too
well. "She's a distant cousin," we might be told. Or, "That's your great-
uncle." And then they would proceed to tell some funny story about them and
everyone would have a good laugh... And a small piece of our history was
passed on. It can be a sobering realization that tracing back just eight
generations means you could have as many as 256 ancestors!
Who were all those people? Where did they come from? How did they meet
their spouse(s)? How did they get to where they called "home"? And what
about those fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh cousins out there... Somewhere...
Who are we related to?
Fortunately, we have a tool, the computer, to help us find out... and keep
track!
But beware of the surprises you find, since you just never know how fate is
going to pop up and add some new family to your world. Like finding a
previously-unknown seventh cousin at an Alumni Marching Band practice... Or,
after being out of high school for 34 years, you discover some of your
classmates are fourth cousins, once removed! Or the director of a family
history library (whom you had never met before), during a short presentation
on joining the SAR, rattles off names of her ancestors that are the same
as yours! She turns out to be a fourth cousin, once removed. Then you
might even discover one of those 256 ancestors is a descendant of the King
of Scotland, which makes the Queen of England your 21st cousin and Robert "The
Bruce" (remember the movie "Braveheart"?) your 22nd great grandfather! Also,
your spouse turns out to be your 26th cousin, 7 times removed... and a first
cousin, seven times removed to Daniel Boone! And, oh yes, a third cousin is a
Golden Globe Award winning actor, another third cousin is a nationally recognized
American historian and a sixth cousin once removed is a Pulitzer Prize winning
playwright.
So we collect some photos, take some video, tell some stories and pass along our traditions. And perhaps, maybe 150 years from now, our gr-gr-gr-great grandchildren will have some small appreciation for their own heritage. And they will re-tell the old stories and add to them with stories of their own.
And the family will go on...
NOTE: This database is a subset of my complete file. The "big" version has
over 115,500 entries, so I trimmed down some distant lines of relatives to
stay within the limits of this site. Email me for more information if you
find errors or have updated information. If you are family, then this site
is just as much YOUR site as mine! Help keep track of your/our distant
cousins and let me know if you have material to contribute. Thanks!
To begin with our oldest-known Nolte ancestor,
Click Here.
To begin with our oldest-known Ferguson ancestor,
Click Here.
To begin with our oldest-known McCord ancestor,
Click Here.
To begin with our oldest-known Howes ancestor,
Click Here.
To begin with our oldest-known Scott ancestor,
Click Here.
To begin with the web site administrator's entry,
Click Here.