The Cousins Next Door- Ferguson & Mills

Robert Ferguson, Mary Mills holding young Thomas Fountain McGinnis and Charlie Mills at the right,

circa early 1925

(The above photo, and the one of Charlie Mills that follows were provided by Molly McGinnis Wright, saved from her grandparents collection. This group photo serves to verify the identification of the elder gentleman on page 36 of the Album Mary Ellen McGinnis left behind that was never validated as being Robert Ferguson)

Mary Mills and her younger brother Charlie lived on the farm to the east of where Mother grew up in Florence. Neither of them ever married and I never, ever heard a word of anger come from either one of them. Politically or when discussing the ethics of other local citizens, Charlie could become very animated in his discussions, but Mary was always just the opposite. Soft spoken and with very gentle mannerisms. Some of my fondest memories are of these two. The one year we lived on the farm beginning in the summer of 1950 I believe through early fall of 1951 really is the time that my most warm and lasting memories of the two really are traced to.

They were friends, neighbors and relatives all in one. Mary was known to us as “Mamie”. Looking back I look on her almost as if she were my own Grandmother. Since she was 18 years older than Mother, looking back I can see how that came about. By the time I was born, all my grandparents had been long departed. Mamie seemed to fit the bill to me but I never ever expressed that openly. It was just an internal thing with me.

Actually Mother and Mamie were cousins and when tracing the family line, Mother, Mary and Charlie, can be traced back to a common great-grandfather. This patriarch of the McGinnis family has never been formally identified by name or place but it is assumed he was born and died in Ireland, probably in County Monaghan.

We grew up always knowing that Mother and Mary were cousins but just how they were related as second cousins was never explained and only in recent years due to interest in family history have I been able to define the relationship. Granted, perhaps there are other ways through marriage that created the relationship but all available evidence really traces the connection back to one unknown McGinnis great-grandfather of the two, a man whose given name we do not know, a man that most certainly lived his entire life in Ireland.

The following abbreviated family tree and table identifies the relationship of various family members to that one unknown man in Ireland. This connection is what establishes Mary Agnes McGinnis and Mary Mills as Second Cousins to one another. To my generation, the children of Mary Agnes and Charles Jones Sr., we are “Second Cousins Once Removed” to Mary and Charlie and to the unknown McGinnis ancestor from long ago Ireland, we are labeled as “Second Great-Grandchildren” to him.

The McInnis surname in the table is a branch of the McGinnis clan in New Brunswick. This branch comes from another child of the unknown ancestor, a daughter Catherine that married an Andrew McInnis, of Scotch descent, in Nelson, New Brunswick, in the vicinity of Chatham. A McGinnis marrying a McInnis makes looking through old church records a virtual nightmare when first coming across the marriage. No data tracing the McInnis descendants to current times has been found as yet. Another daughter, Mary, married into the Ferguson clan in Chatham which provides the relationship link to Mary and Charlie. In summary, the unknown ancestor had three children that we know of, son John, our great-great grandfather, as well as the two daughters described above. All the known descendants of these three siblings are included in the table.

Mary and Charlie lived on the ten acres of land inherited from their Uncle Robert Ferguson after he died in 1927. They continued tending their small herd of milking cows also left to them and through hard work on both their parts they managed to support themselves up until their deaths in the 1960’s. An album left behind by our grandmother Mary Ellen contains two photos on a page, side by side, of an older gentleman and another photo of Mary. This is what might be considered strong evidence that the gentleman is Robert. Our grandfather James McGinnis and his next door neighbor Robert Ferguson were first cousins. The two purchased the land for their farms, side by side, the very same day and began their life of farming in Florence together in 1891-1892.

Robert Ferguson (1845-1927) and Niece Mary C. Mills (1878- 1968)
Page 36 of the Photo Album Assembled by Mary Ellen McGinnis

Mary and Charlie were born in Chatham, New Brunswick, Canada where all the McGinnis family originated. Mary was born in 1878, Charlie in 1890. Their father Luke Mills married Catherine Ferguson, sister of Robert Ferguson. Catherine and Robert’s mother was Mary McGinnis and all evidence points to the fact that Mary McGinnis was a sister of our great-grandfather, John McGinnis. Difficult to put into words and thus a family tree is inserted here. Begin with the unknown McGinnis and the connection can easily be seen.

Mary and Charlie were but two of seven children with the birth years ranging from 1877 when William Mills was born to Charlie’s birth in 1890. Using census data it can be established that Mary left home in the early 1900’s and traveled to Boston to work as a domestic in homes in and around Boston. Her Boston destination was established through later anecdotal facts passed on to friends in Florence, namely from Ivy Hansen as related to her by her mother-in-law, Stella (sometimes spelled Estella) Hansen. Mary is not in the 1901 Canadian census nor has she been found in the 1900 U.S. census and the 1910 census states she immigrated in 1902. This establishes that she left New Brunswick at about age 24 or 25 when Brother Charlie was around 12 years old. As a rough estimate Mary was probably working in the Boston area as a servant of some sort beginning around 1900 or 1902 through about 1907 or 1908 when she came west to Florence to the farm of Robert Ferguson, her uncle.

Uncle Robert Ferguson had been farming about ten years when Mary left home and was probably well established. A single man, he rather than his sister Catherine Ferguson, now Catherine Mills, far away in Chatham, took on the responsibility for caring for their aging father, John Ferguson. John Ferguson is found in the 1900 Florence census living with his son Robert and his data states he immigrated in 1891 but had been in the States for 8 years meaning he immigrated in 1892. The latter is the most likely year he arrived in Florence for his son was still establishing his farm in 1891 and he probably would not have traveled all that far until some sort of a living accommodation was available.

John Ferguson died in March of 1908 in Florence, at the age of 88. His death certificate indicates a sudden but non-suffering end. From the document: “Cause of Death-Senility” followed with a statement: “He was not sick. Walked outside and came back and sat in a chair and died in a moment. Duration: 0 days.” No pictures of the senior Ferguson exist. His son Robert is buried beside him in the Florence Cemetery.

The facts tend to establish that Mary may have been asked to come west to Florence, assumedly from Boston, to help care for her grandfather whose health may have been failing. If not that reason, certainly the aging Uncle Robert was also soon to be in need of help around the farm and Mary in her late twenties in 1908, still single, may have been encouraged to come west and eventually fall heir to the farm since Robert had no other direct heirs. The exact year Mary arrived in Florence is not known but since she is in the 1910 Florence census the timing of her arrival to care for her grandfather is highly probable making the year she may have arrived in Florence as 1908, perhaps 1907.

Based on the 1930 Florence census data, brother Charlie Mills arrived from Chatham in 1925 to also help out on the farm. Their Uncle Robert died but two years after Charlie came on the scene and presumably the uncle’s health had begun to fail in the early 1920’s meaning more and more work was falling on Mary and she definitely needed help.

Charlie Mills, about 35 years old

Holding Young Thomas Fountain McGinnis (1923-1995)
Tommie probably about a year old (born November 20, 1923) making this photo date to be at least November 1924. Charlie’s 1930 census states he immigrated in 1925. If so then this might be very early 1925 making Tommie just about 14-16 months old. Regardless, this photo of Charlie had to have been taken just about the time he arrived from New Brunswick.

As stated both Charlie and Mary remained on the small farm of ten acres the rest of their lives managing a small dairy herd that I recall was always around ten cows. This was about three or four more than cousin John McGinnis next door always maintained alone.

Mary remained a devout Catholic all of her life and was active in maintenance of various church needs of St. Cecelia’s parish in East Stanwood that fell on the members of the Altar Society, a traditionally woman’s role in any Catholic parish. During our stays on the farm Mother did not always attend Mass on Sundays and many times Mary would take Don and me in tow and be off to Mass with us on foot to ensure that we completed our weekly obligation.

Mary and Charlie both would often relate stories to Don and me as we sat in the dining room of the Mills home as they told of the cold winters of their upbringing in New Brunswick. Of course these sessions were usually accompanied with milk from the mornings milking and fresh baked bread rolls or cake. Their stories always fascinated me as they acquainted us with a land so near yet so far away with a climate that seemed unimaginable. Obviously they were both pleased to have found sustenance for themselves in a much milder climate in North America. These early stories remained with me always and served to help arouse my curiosity in later years to pursue early family history in the Chatham area of New Brunswick where all these first generation Irish were raised.

Charlie preceded Mary in death by two years when he died on February 24, 1966 at the age of 76. Mary lived to the age of 90 when she passed away January 2, 1968. Just who the heirs were is unknown but perhaps their property passed to some distant Seattle cousins of the Gagner or Bagnall families. It is felt that these families maintained contact with Mary and Charlie over the years. The graves of Mary and Charlie are yet to be found and photographed but all indications are that they were both laid to rest in Anderson Cemetery in Stanwood, the same resting place for cousins John and Jim McGinnis.

The memory of Mary and Charlie Mills by Ivy Hansen, a long time friend and neighbor, as recently related to Molly McGinnis in a letter reveals Ivy’s memory and opinion.

"They did not inherit the McGinnis good looks, but were so jolly and smiling. Mary was a long time friend of my mother-in-law. She told me that before she came west she worked in wealthy homes in Boston, which was a train ride south of her home town. I can't remember whether she lived in the U.S. or Canada. She made strong tea. They had no car and on Memorial Day I would take her to the Florence cemetery where she tended the graves of her uncle Bob Ferguson and his father (her grandpa)."

Grave, Luke (1848-1919) and Catherine Ferguson Mills (1850-1915)
Parents of Mary and Charlie Mills

St. Michaels Cemetery, Chatham, New Brunswick




Mary Agnes McGinnis and Mary Mills
On the McGinnis Back PorchCirca 1911-1912, Mom about 15 years old, making Mary about 33 or 34. The earliest picture found of Mary.



Mary Mills and a Seattle Fitzpatrick Cousin
Feeding Chickens on the Mills Farm




Mary Mills and Marie McAteer
At The McGinnis Front Gate
Marie Was a Long Time Family Friend of all the Florence Families, From Seattle




Mary Ellen McGinnis, Mary Mills and one of the Seattle Fitzpartick Cousins
Oat Harvest in Progress





Mary Ellen McGinnis Standing on the Right, Next to Mary Mills, Sitting Second From Right
Even Mary liked her hats





Mary Agnes and Mary Mills
Circa late 1920’s to early 1930’s, Mary about 50 years old perhaps. No pictures of Mary later in life than this photo have been found.




At the Roadside in Front of the House

Mary Mills on the left next to James McGinnis Jr. Molly McGinnis has identified the two people on the left as Cecil and Clarence James brother of Aunt Marie and his wife. Joe Lyons is in the car and the little boy to the left is Clarence and Cecil's eldest son, Alva