Mother: Marilla "McIntosh" Ferguson
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Birth Year Discrepancy
As shown in the photo, the stone for Moses shows he was born in 1844. One family record shows Mose's birth year as 1848. However, the 21 Sep 1857 Minnesota census stated Moses was 5 years old making his birth year about 1852. The birth year of 1852 is also consistent with the 1860 Federal Census and the 1 Jun 1885 North Dakota census
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Ferguson Family Tree compiled in December 1959 by Lorraine Ferguson, pp. 28-32 {rearranged some to follow their life chronologically ]

Moses Ferguson was born in the year 1848, during President James Knox Polk's administration. At the time he was born, there were thirty-two states in the United States. He lived to see fifteen more stars added to our flag. He was ten years old when Minnesota became a state.

In his early years, he carried mail by mule from Fort Abercrombie to Fargo, North Dakota. One time at Fort Abercrombie while going for water, he was attacked by Indians and shot through the neck. He survived the gunshot but had a small knot on the back of his neck which caused some stiffness throughout his life.

Moses had a flat boat that was said to be about forty feet long and eighteen feet wide with three-foot sides. He hauled wheat to Winnipeg, Canada up the Red River from North Dakota.

In 1872 he worked for the Northern Pacific Railroad.

At one time he worked in a lumber camp. At the camp during a raging Scarlet Fever epidemic, he contracted the disease and went into a coma. The other lumberjacks thought that he was dead and went into town for a coffin. While the men were gone a severe storm set in and detained them for nearly three days. When at last they returned to camp with the coffin, Moses had luckily awoken from his coma.

Moses often told the story of how Jessie James and the younger brothers stopped at a neighbor's farm one night and asked for a place to sleep. They left their horses saddled but fed and watered them well. In the morning they paid generously for their feed and lodging and left without incident. Moses was awestruck by having seen the famous Jesse James.

Moses lived through a period of four historical wars; the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the Indian War, and World War One. He was too young for the Civil War but took an active part as a scout in the Indian War. Food was scarce and at least once he ate skunk for survival. Moses and a small division of men were detailed to get supplies delivered to Custer's outfit. As they approached the camp, about three miles from where Custer's outfit was, they saw a lone Indian on a hill circling around and around. They thought this meant that there must have been a small band of Indians with him and gave it no more thought. They set up camp three miles from Custer. Custer's troops had arrived at the junction of Big Horn and the Little Big Horn Rivers in what is now Montana on the night of June 24, 1876. The majority of men were to join Custer on the 26th of June. On the 25th of June, dividing his regiment into three parts, he moved forward to surround the Indians, thinking as the scouts did, that it was only a small band of Indians. Instead, the 7th Calvary was attacked by full Indian forces. The flanking columns maintained themselves with difficulty until General Terry, (from Custer's outfit) arrived on the 26th. Two hundred and sixty-four men and Custer rode in the center column into the midst of the enemy and were all killed. Moses and the small division of men were only about three miles from the scene when the massacre took place.

In 1882 Moses and Wilhelmine married when she was eighteen years old. Moses then began farming and had approximately 50 head of horses, 70 head of cattle, and 200 head of hogs. Moses had homesteaded a farm near Abercrombie, North Dakota, where he and Wilhelmine lived until about 1896. They then moved to a large farm in Connelly Township, Wilkin County, Minnesota (near Breckenridge).

North Dakota became a state seven years after their marriage.

About 1905, a tragic fire burned his barn and he lost 27 horses, about 800 bushels of oats, and about 150 tons of hay.

About 1910, Moses was plowing with a six-horse plow. One of the traces came unhooked and as he was fixing it, one of the horses jumped ahead and Moses caught his leg between the eveners and broke his ankle. After this incident, he always walked using crutches.

Moses and Wilhelmine had eleven children. The seven oldest were born in Abercrombie, North Dakota and the other four were born in Breckenridge, Minnesota on the farm. All of the children were born at home with the assistance of a midwife. As their family was growing up Wilhelmine washed clothes with a hand-operated washing machine and ironed them with a flat iron on the old kitchen range. She churned butter and made homemade bread and pastries. Once a week, she would drive into town in a one-horse buggy to deliver butter and eggs. She did all the sewing for the smaller children using a treadle sewing machine. She made all the quilts for the family's use and in later years made them as a hobby. One quilt, in particular, had over one thousand pieces in it, and each piece was hand sewn. Wilhelmine was a small woman with the soul of an angel and a heart of gold. Moses was a large man, weighing over two hundred pounds, but he was only about five feet nine inches tall. He was a farmer most of his life, but one of his sidelines was dealing in horses. He was noted for some shrewd deals to which his sons all testified.