National Register of Historic Places Eligibility Testing of Sites 41LT172 and 41LT354 in Luminant's Kosse Mine, Limestone, Texas Page: 32
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5. Site 41LT172
[sic], a planter with $320 in real estate and $300 in his personal estate. Ferguson (84) is listed as a
retired planter with $1,320 in real estate and $350 in his personal estate. The household also
included Ferguson's daughters Virginia F. (age 16), Malysa [sic] D. (age 13), and Joseph Taylor (age
13). That year, he paid taxes on 1,000 acres in Limestone County valued at $1,500. These
1,000 acres included his homestead, as it was the only land he owned in the county, and the land on
which site 41LT172 is located. The 1870 Limestone County agricultural census lists the farms of
Henry Sadler and Joseph Ferguson one after the other, implying that they were adjacent properties.
Sadler's farm comprised 160 unimproved acres and was worth a mere $220. Sadler is listed as
owning 3 horses, 2 working oxen, 30 other cattle (nonmilch cows), and 10 swine, and his farm
produced 100 bushels of Indian corn. Ferguson claimed his farm consisted of 500 unimproved
acres and had a cash value of $1,500. The Ferguson farm had 1 horse, 50 nonmilch cattle, 75 swine,
and produced 200 bushels of Indian corn in 1869. There was no report on his other land holdings in
this record.
Joseph Ferguson died on March 18, 1875 (Find A Grave Inc. n.d.c). His probate records did not
include an inventory of his estate, but historians were able to examine his last will and testament,
filed for record on August 30, 1874. In this document, Ferguson bequeathed 160 acres to his
daughter Rebecca Ann Roberts and noted that this parcel was the land on which she was living in
1874 (Limestone County Probate Records B:87). More importantly, he left to his daughter Rachael
Ferguson Sadler 100 acres of timberland and 50 acres upon which he (Ferguson) currently resided
with all improvements and buildings thereon. The record also mentions that such provisions were
made in appreciation of Rachael's caring for Ferguson "in his old age" (Limestone County Probate
Records B:87). This stipulation, coupled with Ferguson's enumeration in the Sadler household in
1870, suggests that the Sadler family moved into Ferguson's home to care for him in his old age. In
return, Ferguson left his dwelling and home farm to his daughter Rachael. Ferguson's will divided
the remainder of his estate between his, "youngest daughters (Virginia Francis,,.Melissa Desdamona
[sic]), and Joseph Ferguson Taylor" (Limestone County Probate Records B:87).
Although Ferguson left an unspecified amount of property to Melissa Ferguson Donaldson in his
will in 1874 and died in 1876, an official record of conveyance for said property was not filed until
February 1876, when a deed was recorded conveying the 160-acre subject tract to Melissa D.
Donaldson from Joseph Ferguson. This deed specified that it was Ferguson's "express wish under
forfeiture of this deed that the present husband of his daughter has nothing to do with the above
described land and never to live on it" (Limestone County Deed Records E:79). Based upon the
provisions of Ferguson's will, the Joseph Ferguson homestead was not located on the subject tract,
which was willed to Melissa Ferguson Donaldson.
In 1876, Melissa Ferguson Donyson [sic] rendered taxes on 160 acres in the Joseph Ferguson
Survey valued at $240. Historians did not find any records of Donaldson paying taxes on the
property in 1877, but in 1878 Mrs. D. Donaldson paid taxes on 160 acres valued at $320. Given thehigh value of the property, it is likely that it included improvements. However, no livestock or
Private and Confidential
Atkins 100021558/110187 32
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Atkins North America, Inc. National Register of Historic Places Eligibility Testing of Sites 41LT172 and 41LT354 in Luminant's Kosse Mine, Limestone, Texas, report, February 2012; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth839205/m1/41/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.