Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/810

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

America when a girl of thirteen, was ship- wrecked and very nearly lost her life on the passage over. Their son, William Fergu- son, was born 1810 in Burke county and later settled in Haywood county, North Carolina, where he purchased a large farm which still remains in the hands of one of his sons. He married Ruth, daughter of Nathan Gibson, also of Scotch-Irish extrac- tion, and they were the parents of William Burder Ferguson, next mentioned.

William Burder Ferguson was born 1837 in Haywood county. North Carolina, was educated in western North Carolina and in Georgia, and at the outbreak of the Civil war had just begun the practice of law. He enlisted as a private, together with four of his brothers, and served during the en- tire War. He held the rank of captain at the time of his discharge. Shortly after the close of the war, he was married to Laura Ade- laide Reeves, and after two years spent in Texas returned to North Carolina, where they lived at Waynesville continuously from that time until their death. He was an ac- tive member of the Methodist church, was a prominent ]Mason, and a lifelong Demo- crat. He died in 1910 and his widow sur- vived him only two years. Both were prominent in the county and were well be- loved by all whom knew them. They had children: I. Ida, born 1869, became the wife of John C. Orr, of Scotch ancestry, and had children: John B., Robert, Helen and Ruth. 2. Herbert, born 1871, died 1908. 3. Homer Lenoir, of further mention below.

4. Harley B., born 1875, married Molly Mc- Cormick, of another Scotch family lineage, and had children: Adelaide and Virginia.

5. William Burder, born 1878, married Maud McLean, also of Scotch descent. 6. Mar- garet Ruth, born 1881, married William Blaylock. 7. Laura Maud, born 1884, mar- ried Alexander Shuford, and became the mother of: Alexander, William Burder and Harley Shuford.

Homer Lenoir Ferguson, second son of William Burder and Laura A. (Reeves) Ferguson, was born March 6, 1873, in Way- nesville, North Carolina. His primary edu- cation was supplied by the public schools of his native town, and from 1888 to 1892 he was a midshipman at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. The following three years were spent in the study of shipbuilding and engineering at

Glasgow, Scotland, where he received the degree of B. Sc. in 1894. After a three years' course at Glasgow University, he en- tered the service of the United States as assistant naval constructor, then later as naval constructor, and thus continued until 1905. In that year he entered the service of the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company as superintendent of hulls, and soon became general superintendent. Since 1912 he has been general manager of the entire plant, and on the death of the president, Mr. A. L. Hopkins, on the Lusi- taij'W. was appointed president and general manager. He holds interests in many enter- prises of the neighborhood, is president of the First National Bank of Newport News, a director of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States and of the Newport News, Hampton & Old Point Street Railway. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Ro3'al Arcanum. He is a mem- ber of the Engineers' Club of New York, the Society of Naval Engineers, the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, the Army and Navy Clubs of Washington, D. C. and New York City, and the Ragged Island Gunning Association of Back Bay, Virginia. In 1913 Mr. Ferguson was ap- pointed by President Wilson a delegate to the International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea held in London. Mr. Ferguson married, September 2^, i8g6, Eliza Ander- son Skinner, daughter of Thomas Catlett and Belle Anderson Skinner, of Kentucky. Their children are : Homer Lenoir, born July 16, 1899; Charles Anderson, February 25, 1901 ; William McLeod, March 4, 1906; Walter Post, August 28, 1908; Laura Isabel, September 20, 1910; Elise, March 21, 1914.

John Mosby Russell. Charles W. Rus- sell, grandfather of John Mosby Russell, married Margaret W'ilson Moore, and had several famous children : Henry Moore Russell, a lawyer, who has been in practice in Wheeling, West Virginia, since 1871, has been a delegate to the Universal Congress of Lawyers and Jurists, St. Louis, in 1904. Another son, Hon. Charles Wells Russell, father of John Mosby Russell, was born in \Vheeling, Virginia, March 16, 1856. He matriculated at Georgetown University in 1870, and was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1873. The degree of