Benton Co., AR - Biographies - James W. Fergus

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        Date: 20 Jun 1998
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SOURCE:  Goodspeed Publishers, 1890.
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Dr. James W. Fergus may be mentioned as one of the prosperous and successful physicians of Benton
County, Ark. He was born in Miami County, Ohio, October 29, 1852, and is a son of Samuel and
Malissa J. (Woodward) Fergus, who were natives, respectively, of Ohio and Illinois. The father is
of Scotch descent, a farmer by occupation, and was a soldier in the Union army during the late
war. He now resides in Ashland, Ore. From 1860 until 1866, they resided in Iowa, and at the
latter date moved to Jasper County, Mo. Their son, James W., was reared and received his
education, first attending the common schools, and then the high-school at Peirce City, Mo. He
received his [p.835] medical education in the Joplin Medical College, at Joplin, Mo., graduating
from that institution as an M. D. in March, 1883. He first began practicing at Bloomington,
Benton Co., Ark., and in 1879 removed to Elm Springs, and the same year located in Robinson,
Ark., where he has since resided. He has a large and increasing practice, and consequently is
doing well financially. In the latter part of 1878 he was married to Elmira Smith, born in Newton
County, Mo., in 1854, a daughter of Howell Smith, a prominent Methodist minister, born in
Tennessee, and their union was blessed in the birth of five children: Elbert, James, Franklin,
Carrie and William. Dr. Fergus is a Master Mason, and he and wife attend the Methodist Church.