GEORGE W. FERGUSON and EMILY LUCRETIA BOYKIN and children: 

L/R: last row, standing:  Frank Ferguson, Newt Ferguson, William Gregg (Martha Ferguson Gregg's husband), Jake Gregg (Mary Ferguson Gregg's husband).

Middle Row:  Emily Lucretia Boykin Ferguson, George Gregg (child) child of Mary (Ferguson) Gregg and Jake Gregg, George W. Ferguson, Nora Ferguson.

Lower Row:  Mary Ferguson Gregg, Martha Ferguson Gregg, Parilee Ferguson.

After the Civil War, Larkin Ferguson and his son, George W., son of Larkin Ferguson and Hanna Gaskill Ferguson (deceased) along with two other sons of Larkin; Newton and Frank, left a prosperous farm on the Arkansas River near Pine Bluff, Arkansas.  The "Yankees" had taken over their farm and 40-45 slaves had been freed, so Larkin and his sons rode horseback to Texas, bringing a box full of Confederate money, thinking "The South Would Rise Again."  They arrived in Houston County in 1868 when George W. was 18 years old.  Larkin and George bought land and settled near the McLean and Jacob Gregg farms just southeast of Weches.  Newton and Frank moved on to Mexia.

About that same time John Boykin and wife, Clarenda Warren Boykin and children arrived in Houston County from Mississippi and settled near Weches also.  They had traveled from Mississippi by oxcart and it was said the children walked most of the way alongside the oxcart.  John had been imprisoned in Mississippi by the Union Army when Sherman made his march southward and but for the help of  one devoted slave, Clarenda and her children would surely have died of starvation.  John must have joined the Texas Cavalry soon after he reached Houston County as his tombstone in the Bobbitt Cemetery near Weches bears the inscription:  Co. C 13th Texas Cavalry, Confederate Southern Army.

They all lived in cabins, constructed hurredly; probably built of logs.  There were stories of an Indian massacre there near Weches in which Mr. McLean was killed but the Fergusons and Boykins survived.

John and Clarenda Boykin had a young daughter, Emily Lucretia, and soon George Ferguson was courting her and eventually they were married and reared a family on the farm near Weches.  Seven Children were born of that union:

1.  Mary L., born 1873.

2.  William Newton, born 1876.

3.  Martha Eliza, born 1878.

4.  Clarinda Parilee, born 1880.

5.  Frank, born 1882.

6.  Keet (dec. in infancy), born 1887.

7.  Lenora, born 1891.

The children attended a little one room school and the teacher was called "Professor So-and-So" and his word was "law" enforced with a hickory stick.  Life must have been difficult, but not entirely without fun as the children of George and Emily Ferguson told of parties they attended, dancing to the tune of a fiddle and a French Harp.

The Ferguson and Boykin farms have long since changed hands but Larkin Fergus and Hanna Gaskill and John Boykin and Clarenda Warren left a warm and enduring heritage of love for the land and for their family of which their descendants are justifiably proud.

Sources:

By: Mrs. Sam W. Hardy

"The History of Houston County Texas 1687-1979"