The Stephens, Ferguson, & Strain Families of SC, western NC, & north Ga

The Stephens family goes back to the 1700's in north Georgia. James Stephens married Mary Ferguson. James was born in 1787 while Mary was born in 1795. Both are buried in Young Harris, Towns county, Ga.

FERGUSON & STRAIN Families

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Renwick Bradley sent me a copy of your email to him. You & I have these two families in common. I, too, come through them. On the Strains, we don't know much more than what you have. Family tradition is that they and the Fergusons landed at Strawberry Ferry near Charleston, probably in the 1760's. James Ferguson supposedly was about 4 years old. They then moved on into Laurens Co., SC. We can't prove when yet, but we do know both families were in Laurens Co. An old John Ferguson was father of James. He supposedly married a MARY STRAIN, but no wife for him shows in court records. This is from undocumented material. John F. bought land from Joseph Babb and it is with this land that proves that James was his son. John d. around 1787 and administration of his estate takes place in Abbeville Co., SC. Now if you wonder why Abbeville, this is why. This area was in the old Ninety Six District, of which Cambridge (just down the road a few miles), had the court house for the whole district. Ninety Six Dist. covered a 6 county area at the time, but when we went to court houses in each county in 1785, Cambridge was no longer the court house. However, it took a while for the counties to get the court houses ready and I guess Laurens was not ready. All the surviving records of Cambridge were moved to Abbeville, which is also just a few miles from here. That is why Pauline Young called her book on Abbeville ABSTRACTS OF WILLS & BONDS OF OLD NINETY SIX DIST. & ABBEVILLE COUNTY. His land records are, however, in Laurens Co., because I have heard they kept them in taverns, stores, etc. He bought 100 ac from Joseph Babb in 1774. When he died, James was going to buy the land, or part of it, from Mary Ferguson, whom we assume to be his sister. This was in 1789. It was the tract "whereon John Ferguson formerly lived on Mudlick Ck."

Sometime before 1797 (or 99), Mary m. Darling Duke Fuller and I guess they decided to go to TN, because they sell it back to James in 1802 and Darling Duke Fuller said "for a certain tract of land which father-in-law formerly lived on that my wife has a bond for the rights of 100 lbs....and that I quit all claims for sd. tract. Now when James d. in Pickens Co. in 1848, he still owned the Babb Tract.

His child Mary F. who m. James Stephens is a sister to Jane F. my ancestor, who m. Benton Freeman.

Now, getting back to the Strains - James seemed to show up in Laurens in the 1790s when he purchased land. He died 1813 and left a will in Laurens Co. Now if he landed at Strawberry in 1760s, we don't where he was until he came to Laurens. Of course, Nancy, was his dau., and m. James Ferguson. They supposedly were m. when they went to Old Pendleton Dist. in the 1790s. The Laurens records do not give a place of residence. There are several possibilities around the state where some early James Strains are, but so far, no one has proven any of those to be the same as the one in Laurens. Actually, I have never worked on this family, as a study, but plan to get busy and study my mother's records that she has shared with me. I have helped her on occasions to gather them. There was an Archibald Strain that landed in Charleston in 1763, so maybe he is connected.

Old Pendleton Dist. Chapter, SCGS, has a wonderful project going. They are collecting data on families and our James Ferguson is in it. They have him as James G., but I have never heard of that. I know he had a son James G. However, I just checked out some pages I copied and your Mary was in black instead of blue, so I don't think she "is clickable". I'm sure they would love to have any info you have on her and her family to add to their data base. Try this web site: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com. If this doesn't work, add, /~oldpend. Then when you click on ferguson the following will appear: ferguson/ferx.htm I can't remember where I got this from, or where I wrote it down and don't think I added it to my favorites. You can check out other names for yourself, as they have quite a few so far. I haven't used it in a long time, as I stayed with it for days. All my mother's folks are in it and some of my father's from Anderson Co., the other half of Old Pendleton after 1828. I can't guarantee anything they say, as no sources are given, but as I told Herman, "I have ancestors I have never heard of!!"

I didn't mean to write a book, but just got started and couldn't quit.

Your cousin,
Wilma C. Kirkland