Fargus: spelled in a variety and creative ways, from Ferguy to Forgus to Fargus, Fargis and Fergus.

Who are these people? Where did they come from?

William Fargus Sr.
William Fargus Jr.
James Fargus
Francis Fargus (my ancestor)

1790 Pa Census no Fargus listed in PA.

1800 PA Census Lycoming Co. Pine Creek Twp. Francis Ferguy 10011/1001
1810 PA Census Lycoming Co. Pine Creek Twp. Francis Forgus 21010/3101

Clearly there is an older male living in the Fargus Household of 1800 although the census records the name as Ferguy, the name is Fargus.

In a historical account of Lycoming County, 1800 Taxables lists William Fargus Sr., Francis Fargus as a merchant, William Fargus Jr. farmer, these are in Pine Creek Township. In Lycoming Twp. is James Fargus, farmer.

What happened to William Fargus Jr. and James Fargus of 1800 taxables, but not found on the 1800 census. Could they have been living in households of another? or did they leave Lycoming Co. altogether.

I believe the older male in Francis Fargus household is William Fargus. I have had the census info for sometime, but now is the first time I have found any other Fargus names in Lycoming Co.

Going by the 1790 Census that is available, only one other instance of the name Fargus appears, that is William Fargus in York Co. South Carolina enumeration of the household is 2 males over age 16, 2 males under age of 16 and 4 females. I think it is highly improbable that he is the same found in Lycoming Co. in 1800, but not impossible.

I will post my lines again in the hope that someone, somewhere might have some insight to this person.

Francis Fargus, b. date unknown. according to census data his birth is placed between 1756 to 1774, place possibly Ireland as his daughter Catharine Fargus Smith said in the 1880 census that her father was born in Ireland.
Francis Fargus m. Catharine Shade, daughter of Sebastian Shade.

Known Children
Sons:
Alexander Fargus
James Fargus m Elizabeth (Betsy) Patterson, wife died early on and he and partner James Andrews and his wife, James sister removed from Lycoming/later Clinton County to Canada to work for Absalom Shade at Shades Mills/aka/Galt/Cambridge Ontario. James died and left his property in Pa. to his mother. Absalom Shade was administrator of his nephew's will.
John Fargus

Daughters
Frances Fargus m. James Andrews
Nancy Fargus m David Mc Closkey
Mary Fargus m. George Smith of the Great Island 1814, posted in the Lycoming Gazette March 1814 as the daughter of the late Francis Fargus. George Smith was the son of George Smith and Eva unknown.
Catherine Fargus b. 1811 m Philip Smith b. 1803 they married in 1833 Clinton Co. Pa. Philip Smith and George Smith are brothers.

I descend from James Fargus Smith son of Catherine Fargus and Philip Smith.

The Fargus/Forgus/Fergus families are enumerated until 1820 in Lycoming Co. afterwards they are found in Clinton Co. They had not moved but the county lines had changed when Clinton Co. was formed placing them in the new Clinton Co.


Sincerely

Nancy M. Boyd

My great great grandfather was William W. Forgus b.1822 Tn.,d1883 Bell County Tx. We have been unable to trace his roots before Monroe Co TN. After reading your message I am wondering if perhaps I should be looking for Fargus rather than Forgus. This may be why I cannot get beyond this point.
He had a son James Marion. I understand it was quite common for the Irish to name the first born after the grandfather and the 2nd son, after the father.

I am the great,great, granddaughter of a William W Forgus
My great grandmother Callie Forgus Milhollin. Her brother
John Forgus lived with her until his death and spent a lot
of time on the porch visiting at the local store in Moscow,
Texas. There was one person that visited with him often who
is still alive is Sidney Adams, his phone number is 936-398-4584 he lives in Corrigan, Texas.
In the John Fergus and Associated families: Fergus, Melton,
Battle, Welch and Stiles mentioned a William Forgus marrying in Tenn. about the time he should have gotten
married. The web site is:
http://www.mindspring.com/~baynbacg/fergus/fergus2.htm

I am interested in knowing more but I am very busy teaching at High school and college. So if you find out anything you
can email me and if there is anything I can find out for you I will try.

Thanks,
Sarah

I am interested in the Callie Forgus family. I have found William in the 1860 census of Monroe Co. TN as Forga. I also found him and family in the 1870 census of Monroe County, Tn. In the 1880 census they were in Texas.

please e-mail me at jgunnoe@aol.com

I have very little information about Callie Forgus' parents or
siblings. She was born in Tennesee in 1859 and married Tom Milholin. They had four daughters which were all born in Arkansas. They moved to the East Texas area and Tom died in about 1913. Her brother John came to live with her and helped to finish raising the girls. He died in the late 1940's.Callie died just before turning 100 years old.I have a little info that another distant member of the family sent me that I will try to send to you during the Christmas break. Sorry it will be so long but I am a teacher and I have very little free time.

Callie's parents were William Forgus and Permilia Brannan. I found them in the 1850 census of Monroe County, TN with no children. I also then found them in the 1860 and 1870 census of Monroe County, TN. In the 1880 census they were in Bell County, Texas. I did find Callie living with her Husband in Texas in the 1900 census and then with her brother John H. Forgus in the 1910 census. Callie and John were living with her daughter Maud in the 1930 census.

Callie's first name was Mahala as stated in the 1850 census. Her middle name was Caroline. thus the nickname Callie.

There are variances of where William was born. Sometimes he says TN and then other times he says North Carolina. Callie and John in the 1900 census say William was born in North Carolina.

Thank you so much for writing back.

Do you have any clues as to who might be Willams' father?

I am not certain who was William's father. I have found an article John Fergus and Associated Families by George Baumbach of NC. This article discusses the family of John and Martha Fergus who moved from Pa to SC before the Ammerican Revolution. They had sons named William, John and James.Both John and James died in Tn. John also lived for a period of time in NC. He had a son who died before 1930leving a wife and children. A court order asked her to report to court with William, John, Loocus and Omi Caroline.
The William that we are interested named at least three of his offsprings with these names. John also married a woman who had a child with the name Alexander and W.W. had a son with this name. I would like to have more time to search to see if their is a connecttion between these two families but I just haven't had the time or the knowledge.All through the article the name Fergus is spelled various ways such as Fargus and Forges.I also know that it was reported by other descendents of William that he spoke very mostly Gaelic.
I will try to report more info at a laater time but maybe this will give you a little info to research. Please keep me updated on any further info that you might find.

Nancy, I am a descendent of James Fargus Smith too. I am descended from James and Mary Catherine Evans daughter Marion Mayfield Smith. I too am trying to trace Francis Fargus and his parents. I'm stuck because of Catherine's answer on the 1800 census that her father was born in Ireland. It seems that everyone else thinks that he was born in Pennsylvania. I've been trying to verify this through his other children's census records but am having no luck. Have you had any further luck with this since you posted this query?

I am a descendant of William W. Forgus.
In my research I found an article, "Families of JOhn Fergus: Fergus/BAttle?Welch/ Stiles' by John Bauchman. IN this article he uses documentation from census and wills. Repeatedly the spelling of names were changed. Forgus, Fergus,& Fargus were just a few of the names that appeared in the article reference to this family. Supposedly this family immigrated from Pa to SC before the Revolutionary War.
I suggest that you try to find this article at www.mindspring.com/baumbach/fergus or google the name of the article that I stated in the begining of my message.

Thanks
Sarah Brooks

I too am a descendant of William W. Forgus whose wife was Permela Brandon. I can't find the name of his father and at a standstill.The link to the site you posted did not work. Do you have an update?