It has been a while since I last posted anything here. I hope 2025 was delightful and filled with adventures. Speaking of adventures, I wanted to share with you my sister’s 2025 Irish adventure.
My sister Madeleine has been sharing my quest for information on our ancestors since the second half of the 1980s. I had initiated my quest with wanting to tell a few stories at our parents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary in 1987. Well, that was a while ago. I started the year before and was immediately pulled into trying to solve the puzzle of whether there was any truth in the family stories. It must have been contagious, my sister Madeleine came to me and said she wanted to help.
I graciously said, “Great, you can take Dad’s side, and I will do Mom’s.” It may help you to know that I was not being particularly generous. Growing up, we heard a few stories from the paternal side of the family, whereas our Maternal grandmother loved to tell “stories.”
A known fact to us was that our paternal side had primarily arrived in this country in the early days of our country’s history. While our maternal ancestors were latecomers and had a touch of Irish ancestry. Well, more than a touch.
That Irish touch was my stumbling block. Most of the rest of the maternal ancestors were from England.
Madeleine and I did lots of traveling around California for the Paternal side in those early years, with a trip to genealogy mecca (Salt Lake Family History Library) every few years. Then trips to Pennsylvania, Boston, Salem, and Washington, D.C. Then, in 2000, we took our first trip for genealogy outside of the United States. Madeleine organized this trip to England, where I had discovered some of those British latecomers to America (our mothers’ mothers’ lines) in Lancashire and Cheshire. Madeleine had also tracked down our father’s surname line (the Putnams) back to Buck County, England.
We were hooked on crossing the pond, and in 2007, Madeleine spearheaded our trip to Ireland. Well, Madeleine, being the elder of the two of us, thinks she’s in charge. And it has worked out well.
Our mother’s surname was Dougherty. Her father (John E. Dougherty) was a second-generation American. John’s parents (John Lyle Dougherty and Margaret Helen Ferguson) were both children of Irish fathers (William L. Dougherty and Joseph Ferguson). We attempted to conduct research in Dublin at the National Archives and the National Library, as well as in Northern Ireland. It was a great trip, but we came home without answering our two significant questions.
Who were the Grandparents of John Lyle Dougherty and Margaret Helen Ferguson?
In 2019, prior to our ancestral home trip for my husband’s surname (the Kornmeyers of Baden, Germany). I had finally found something I had been looking for with the Fergusons. We understood that Margaret Helen’s grandfather was reportedly David Furguson, a noted doctor of Dublin.[i]
What I had been looking for was a physician’s registry[ii] at the archives in Dublin or in the National Library. Of course, when I finally found the information online, I immediately called Madeleine.
Finding that there was only one David Ferguson, MD, in the “Royal College of Physicians of Ireland Registers,” I began researching him. I found a marriage for David Ferguson in 1853.[iii] This was around the time when Joseph Ferguson, a possible sister, Ellen Ferguson, and Joseph’s brother, David Ferguson (Jr.), were found to have immigrated to the United States.[iv], [v]
I have been working with the online records in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Trying to find earlier records for David Ferguson (Sr).
Yes, Ferguson is a name native to Scotland, but from what we know and have found in the records here in the United States, Joseph Ferguson was born in Ireland, as were Ellen and David Ferguson (Jr.).
David Ferguson (Sr.), like many Irishmen, attended the University of Glasgow, earning a CM in 1835 and an MD in 1837. [vi]
David Ferguson (Sr.) Married Maria Porteton of Innfield (Enfield) Meath County, Ireland in 1853.
David Ferguson Sr. was found in Griffith Valuation for Enfield (Innfield), Meath County, Ireland, 1855-1865[vii]
Now that you have some of the backstory, I will get to the adventure.
Madeleine, my sister, whom I love and share my passion for genealogy with, had a cruise planned with her lifelong friend to tour Ireland at the end of August.
Madeleine needs to plan everything out well in advance of her traveling. That is important for her, and it comes in handy when navigating unfamiliar places. Using the cruise itinerary, she hired a driver and a guide for Dublin. She was in contact with me trying to gather all the known information I had collected on David Ferguson (Sr.), MD, the possible father of our 2x great-grandfather. We live in two different states, almost a nine-hour drive apart, so it was emails and phone calls.
She had a plat map of Enfield (Innfield), and the address in Dublin where David Ferguson (Sr.) had died. All the Tax rolls for the property in Enfield (Infield) listing David Ferguson (Sr.), MD. The Registries of Physicians of Ireland, which listed David Ferguson (Sr’s) Medical Bibliography. His Marriage in 1853 to Maria Porteton.[viii] What we did not have was anything that tied him to our 2xgreat-grandfather. Or to anyone else before 1853, when he was about 49 years old.[ix]
Madeleine gets to Dublin, and she and her friend meet up with their guide, driver, and the car. First, she wants to see the place in Dublin, #19 George’s Place, where David Ferguson (Sr.) died.
Interestingly, the guide was familiar with the area, and they went to 19 George’s Place, off Temple Street. While today the street is filled with tenement housing, in the 1800, there apparently were single-family two and three-story homes. In the immediate area is a Women’s hospital that was apparently there in the mid 1800s.
We so often meet people causes us shake our heads and say, “It’s a small world.” That was the experience Madeleine had. Her guide’s daughter, a Certified Nurse Midwife, works at this very hospital. This was very serendipitous because my sister Madeleine was a Certified Nurse Midwife. That was why her guide was familiar with the neighborhood. They drove around the neighborhood where he pointed out homes that were similar to ones that may have been found there in the late 1800s.
From the center of Dublin, their driver then took them out of the city to Meath County and a small community called Enfield or Innfield (see map above).
I had found the Tax records for Doctor David Ferguson in Enfield (Innfield), Meath County.
Meath County Ireland Valuation Office Books, House Book, Rathmolyon, Posseckstown, Innfield [Enfield], p. 49-54, David Ferguson, Find My Past (https://search.findmypast.com/record?id=IRE%2FCENSUS%2F1821-51%2F007246899%2F00435&parentid=IRE%2FCENSUS%2FVALUEBOOKS%2F1358458 : viewed 21 March 2024), citing the National Archives of Ireland as a partner in providing images.
When they arrived in Enfield, the guide asked the driver to stop at the Garda (Police Station) and proceeded to tell the local officer why they were in Enfield and if he might know who could help them locate the property that our Ancestor owned back in the 1850s. The officer pointed to a Horse farm and said that the woman there would probably be of help. So off they went to the horse farm. Unfortunately, they were told the woman was at the horse races and would not be back for some time, but they knew the lady next door was very familiar with the local history and directed them to the neighbor’s house. The guide was not giving up, so off to the neighbors, where he knocked on the door and once again explained who he was and what they were looking for.
Now, get this, the woman invited them all in and offered them tea and scones. She talked about her and her husband’s families having lived in the area for generations, and that she was also into family history research. She looked at her computer for all the information that I had given Madeleine. In finding David Ferguson, she realized that her husband’s 2x grand aunt was the woman I had found who had married David Ferguson in 1853. The woman was wonderful.
It was quite the day for my sister. We have made a connection in Ireland. We still have no record connecting David Ferguson (Sr.) of Dublin and Enfield (Innfield) to our 2x great-grandfather Joseph Ferguson. We are not giving up. We are confident we will be able to prove a connection.
[i] Pelletreau, William S., New York Historic Homes and Family History, Volumes I-IV, (New York, USA: Lewis Publishing, 1907), pg 220-221; out of print digital images available, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6628/images/4-GenRef-NY-Hist-Home-Family-Hist-000220 :pub. 2002, viewed 12 May, 2025), John L. Dougherty, 1-2.
[ii] Ireland, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland Registers, 1667-1920, David Ferguson, 21 Dec. 1860; images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62261/records/3303?tid=76509214&pid=38340819642&ssrc=pt :pub. 2022, viewed 26 May 2025), 68
[iii] General Register Office, Ireland, civil registration of marriage, 1st quarter, 1853, Dublin North, subdistrict, Dublin, vol. 5, p. 93, David Ferguson & Maria Porteton; online database, Irish Genealogy.ie (https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1853/09449/5423403.pdf : viewed 11 March 2024).
[iv] 1850 US Census, New York, Sullivan, Forrestbourgh, National Archives, Washington D.C., roll M432- 603, p. 179b, Dwelling 78, Household 91, line 22, Joseph Furgerson; images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8054/images/4215526_00366 : pub.2009, viewed 12 May 2025), 14.
[v] New York state 1855 Census, Sullivan, Forestbourgh,( New York State Archives, Albany, N.Y., image 137, Dwelling 28, Household 28, line 21, Joseph Furgerson; images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7181/images/005207129_00137: pub. 2013, viewed 12 May 2025),3.FHL microfilm # 0838341 originally found 3/27/1996 at Salt Lake City.
[vi] “University of Glasgow”, Dublin Evening Post, Dublin, Ireland, Tues. 10 May 1836, p. 4, col. 5; image, Findmypast.com (https://www.findmypast.com/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000435%2F18360510&page=4&article=042&stringtohighlight=UNIVERSITY+OF+GLASGOW : pub. 2014, viewed 25 May 2025).
UK and Ireland Medical Registers 1859-1943, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Dublin, The Medical Register, p. 138 Ferguson, David; images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/62268/images/62268_302022005602_0022-00091 : pub. 2023, viewed 26 May 2025), 91.
[vii] Meath County Ireland Valuation Office Books, House Book, Rathmolyon, Posseckstown, Innfield [Enfield], p. 49-54, David Ferguson, Find My Past (https://search.findmypast.com/record?id=IRE%2FCENSUS%2F1821-51%2F007246899%2F00435&parentid=IRE%2FCENSUS%2FVALUEBOOKS%2F1358458 : pub. , viewed 21 March 2024), citing the National Archives of Ireland as a partner in providing images.
[viii] General Register Office, Ireland, civil registration of marriage, Irish Genealogy.ie.
[ix] General Register Office, Ireland, a digital copy of an entry of death, Dublin North, North City, Dublin, 1873, David Ferguson, age 69; images, Irish Genealogy.ie (https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1873/020681/7256354.pdf: viewed 11 March 2024).