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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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FERGUSON, JOHN (1851-1942)

FERGUSON, JOHN, hardware merchant; b. Richibucto, N.B., 1 Nov 1851, s/o Jacob Ferguson and Elizabeth McNairn; m. 1878, Mary A. Niven, sister of Henry C. Niven; d. Newcastle, 30 Sep 1942.

John Ferguson was educated at the Kent County Grammar School at Richibucto and came to Newcastle at age twenty-one. In 1875 he established a hardware store which he conducted for the next sixty years. The business was incorporated in 1906 as John Ferguson & Sons Ltd. He invested in several other businesses as well. In 1882 he was among the incorporators of the World Publishing Co. of Chatham. In 1910 he was one of the incorporators of the Newcastle Steamboat Co., of which Patrick Hennessy was president.

Ferguson was a school trustee in Newcastle in 1881 and was embroiled in controversy in February of that year, as revealed in letters published in the Miramichi Advance. He was argumentative, and abusive too, according to Frank A. McCully, who had been dismissed as teacher of the advanced department at Harkins Academy. "Personal abuse," stated McCully, "is the mighty citadel of his strength, to which he invariably betakes himself when his small stock of reason is exhausted."

In 1899 Ferguson was among the eight members of the first Newcastle Town Council, but like all of the others he was unsuccessful in the election of 1900. In 1925 he was one of the most headstrong opponents of the union of St James Presbyterian Church with the Newcastle Methodist church to form St James and St John United Church in Newcastle. His name headed the list of those who went to court to challenge the takeover of the assets of the former St James Church by the newly-created corporation. The case was carried all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled in favor of the United Church.

Ferguson was among the trout and salmon fishermen whose names were in the guest book kept by Michael Adams at his camp on the Northwest, and he followed the sport for a number of years. He and his wife, Mary A. Niven, both of whom died in 1942, were survived by two sons and three daughters. Their daughter Bessie M. Ferguson was a graduate of the Halifax Ladies' College and a member of the teaching staff of the Halifax Conservatory. She married Harry Dean, who was the founder of the Maritime Academy of Music and a leader for many years in the musical life of the region.

Sources

[b/m] PPMP [d] Commercial World 8 Oct 1942 / Advance 3 Feb 1881, 24 Feb 1881, 30 Aug 1888, 16 Jun 1892, 24 Aug 1899; Advocate 27 Jun 1906, 28 Jun 1910, 1 Dec 1925; Encycl. Can.(re. Harry Dean); Hoddinott; Leader 28 Dec 1906; World 22 Mar 1882


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