Beyond Fiction

James E. Ferguson was the son of Oliver D. Ferguson and Ella Spangler. He is the grandson of Martin Isaic Spangler. This obituary is transcribed from The Brownsville Herald, Sunday, December 16, 1934 edition. This article was obtained from the Historical Newspaper Collection at Ancestry.

Funeral services were held from the Stotler-Burdette chapel Friday afternoon for James Ferguson, 11, son of Mr. and Mrs. O. D. Ferguson, formerly of Primera. Interment following the services conducted by Rev. Grace Kirkland of the Assembly of God, took place at Combes.

Pallbearers were Masters Louis Holmes, Gerald Nale, Bernardo Garcia and Alton Collingsworth. The child is survived by his parents, three sisters, Marie, Ruth, and Beatrice, and two brothers, Ray and Billy.

It’s short and sweet and gives no details as to what was the cause of death or any other circumstances. It is, however, helpful in finding information to confirm the children of Oliver and Ella. I had obtained the information from the 1930 U. S. Census to collect the names of their children but this helps to narrow the names down a little more. In the 1930 census the names were given as Stella M. (missing?), Radon W., Ruth B., Lois M., James E., Fannie B., and Billie H. By reading this obituary I can probably conclude that Radon W. is Ray, Ruth B. is Ruth, Lois M. is Marie, Fannie B. is Beatrice and Billie H. is Billy. This will become very helpful in future research.

There is one interesting bit of information missing from this obituary. His oldest sister, Stella, is not mentioned in the obituary. This is unusual but perhaps not that amazing. Stella, at this time, is married and has 3 children of her own. It’s just one of those things that makes you wonder why!

It’s sad to see such a young death. 11 years old. I am still searching to see if I can find what actually happened to James but unfortunately there is a gap of about a week in the newspaper listings and that is probably where the information I need would be! Perhaps I can find more in the Harlingen newspaper.

Can you see how I am trying to take this research? Here a little, there a little and eventually you can have a pretty good little lineage going!

I’ll add the obituary of George and Stella next!