Bringing Back Sligo

Category: Ferneyhough

• Robert Walker Ferneyhough

  Posted at 2:47 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on May 22, 2020

  I’m not going to lie.  I can be a bit impulsive at times.  Usually this happens when out shopping and I purchase something and return it the next day because in reality, I never needed it to begin with.  But sometimes, just sometimes, my impulsivity transfers into my research and assumptions of Sligo and I’m left feeling a little silly.

  I follow a page on Facebook called “Spotsylvania Memory” which is constantly being updated with pictures and stories of the people who once lived in Spotsylvania and the surrounding areas.  It is also a blog which you can follow here:  http://spotsylvaniamemory.blogspot.com/.  Anyway, one of the more recent Facebook posts included a picture I have come across many times before because it is labeled as “the Ferneyhough place.”

  From the first time I saw it (after an initial impulse to assume it was a picture of the original Sligo) I felt confident it was not “our” Ferneyhough place, past or present.  For one, the outbuilding placement didn’t match and, two (and I’m no period clothing expert) but it occurred to me that the clothing was more consistent with what people would have worn in the late 19th and early 20th centuries which would coincide with when present day Sligo was built (plus, and more importantly, this house looks nothing like Sligo).

  

  Retrieved on 21 May 2020  from http://spotsylvaniamemory.blogspot.com/2014/11/thomas-pearson-payne.html 

  Naturally, then, I wondered which Ferneyhough did this particular house belong to?  When I saw the Facebook post I took a chance and asked whether it was known which Ferneyhough owned the place.  Spotsylvania Memory answered my question indicating that as far as he knew the house had belonged to Robert Walker Ferneyhough.  I was elated to have confirmation that this wasn’t Sligo (in case there was any lingering doubt) but also to know how there was a connection.  Elation = impulsivity.

  Excitedly, I proclaimed to the world what a great find it was, reassuring my belief that it was not Sligo pictured.  I started looking more into Robert Walker because, ironically enough, I had recently been gifted something that had belonged to him (more on that in a bit).  However, the more I researched, the more I decided that it couldn’t possibly have been Robert Walker’s property because he lived most of his life in Essex.  So, I proclaimed to the world for a second time that this was not Robert Walker’s house and I took back everything I said.

  Guess what?  It is Robert Walker’s house.  I take back what I said, again…for realsy this time.

  Quick refresher course on Sligo and the Ferneyhough family.  First we had John Robert Ferneyhough Sr. and Margaret Walker who had three children:  John Robert Jr., Frances, and Margaret.  John Ferneyhough Jr. married Frances Gilbert and together they had five children:  John, Mary Ann, Thomas Gilbert, Edward, and Robert Walker.  When Frances died John Ferneyhough Jr. married Eliza Thrift and together they had George Thrift and Sallie Magruder.  If all of these same-named but different people don’t make you want to tear your hair out then maybe you’re more cut-out for this than I am.  Also, for the purpose of this post, we’re only really interested in Robert Walker but I thought I might give a little more context by including all of the family tree.

  Robert Walker was born in 1816 in Fredericksburg, presumably at Sligo.  He married Frances Polexna Cauthorn in 1842 in Essex, Virginia where they lived until 1854 when they purchased the property in Spotsylvania County from William Hall (retrieved 22 May 2020, http://fbgresearchindxes.umw.edu/SpotsyEmbIdxSch.asp?andor=AND&Grantor=&Grantee=&property=&book=OO&page=373&process=newsearch&B1=Search).  In 1860, there is a slave census for Robert Walker in Chancellor, Virginia which includes three females and one male infant.  We know from Spotsylvania Memory that the house pictured above was once situated on Catharpin Road in Spotsylvania County and it stands to reason this is the same house purchased by Robert Walker and for which the slave census was taken.

  Robert Walker and Frances had five children:  John Robert (that makes a third John Robert Ferneyhough in case anyone lost track), Mary (who married Henry Garnett Chesley), Milton, Henry, and Charles.  In 1885 Frances passes away and in 1896, the Spotsylvania property on Catharpin Road is sold to Mary Chesley and her brother, John Robert (retrieved 22 May 2020, http://fbgresearchindxes.umw.edu/SpotsyEmbIdxSch.asp?andor=AND&Grantor=&Grantee=&property=&book=AH&page=142&process=newsearch&B1=Search).  By 1906 the property is sold out of the Ferneyhough family.  Robert Walker eventually passes away in Stafford in 1907 at the home of his son, Milton.

  This is all to say that I should delve deeper in my research before making any statements.  I mean, in the end, nobody is hurt by it except for me and my pride.  Sadly, I don’t think this is the first time I’ve made proclamations only to be proven wrong (by myself) so you would think I would have learned a lesson by now.  I haven’t.

  Anyway, I also wanted to share with you a pair of 213 year old books that once belonged to Robert Walker and Eliza Ferneyhough which we received from one of the Ferneyhough descendants.  If my calculations are correct Robert Walker would have been this person’s great uncle (could totally be wrong, correct me if so!) and Eliza their great-great grandmother.

  Robert Walker’s book is particularly special because in it he doodled and it’s all quite cunning.  Eventually, the books ended up in the care of John Bowie Ferneyhough (as indicated by the sticker on the inside) who would have been the gifter’s grand uncle (is that a thing…he was the same generation as the gifter’s grandfather…or does that make him the great uncle and therefore Robert Walker a great-great uncle…oh, lort…).  From there they managed to stay in the family and now they are back where they started, at Sligo.  I have an old curio that I have been storing all of my Sligo related artifacts and it’s my hope that the books will always stay at Sligo.

  Without further ado!  The books!

  

  Both books are titled:  The Spectator, Select British Classics, volume XI and XVI respectively.

  

  

  Robert Ferneyhough’s book.

  

  Could this be Robert’s drawing of the original Sligo?

  

  What looks to me like an American Revolutionary soldier.  Or maybe a magician?

  

  I love the horses!

  

  Eliza Ferneyhough’s book had no doodles with the exception of some numbers written in the back.

   

   

   

  Posted in Artifacts, Ferneyhough, History, Life, Slaves and Servants | 1 Comment

• The Battle of Fredericksburg at Sligo Part II

  Posted at 5:02 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on January 3, 2020

  Here it is folks, how Sligo and the Ferneyhough family were affected by the Battle of Fredericksburg.  I know, I know.  You all have been waiting with baited breath for this installment.  I, too, have been waiting for it.

  So, for a refresher the Fredericksburg Campaign took place during December 1862, the Chancellorsville Campaign which took place during May 1863, and a third battle in June 1863 which was the beginning of the Battle of Fairfax.  All of these battles affected Sligo.  You can also check out Part I of this post which gives a little bit more detail (just a little).  At this point in time Sligo was occupied by Eliza Ferneyhough, widow of John R Ferneyhough Jr who had died in 1860, and their children:  Thomas Gilbert (John Ferneyhough Jr’s adult son from his first marriage to Mary Frances Gilbert), George (as in George Thrift who would later build our Sligo), Sallie, and Fannie Chesley (a granddaughter).

  Noel Harrison states that Sligo was situated “behind the Union front line during…December 1862 and May 1863 Battles of Fredericksburg and between the opposing front lines during the June 1863 engagement near Fredericksburg” (1995, Fredericksburg Civil War Sites, Vol 2, p. 102).  I like how succinctly he wrote that because I have spent literally hours looking cross-eyed at all of the documentation I have and not comprehending a word.  In the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of Virginia Historical Inventory of Sligo (Site) it is reported that the Federals used the house in 1862 as a hospital and drilled and were quartered around the property (Deaderick, 2 June 1937).  With that being said, the WPA of Sligo (Home Site) states that Confederate soldiers were quartered in the house during December 1862 (Deaderick, 14 June 1937).  So, I guess no matter which way you look at it, Sligo was in the thick of it.

  

  Sketch of the Battle of Fredericksburg, 13 December 1862 (https://catalog.archives.gov/id/109182787) which shows the Union lines in blue and Confederate lines in red. The “Ferryhough” house is depicted and I drew a red circle around it for easier detection.

  The WPA of Sligo (Home Site) gives an account of how George (remember George, the son of Eliza) listened-in on the plans of the Confederate soldiers quartered in his home and ran to tell his mother.  The family quickly gathered their belongings and left.  After the Battle of Fredericksburg they returned to discover the house ransacked and a threat from the Union soldiers that they would hang George who was a 2nd Lieutenant in the boys Military Company of Fredericksburg.  After this the Ferneyhough family moved to Richmond and did not return to Sligo until 1865.  Unfortunately, they returned to find the house in disrepair.  All but one secondary building had been burned and much of the farming equipment thrown into the well. (Deaderick, 14 June 1937)

  I was having a conversation with my girls the other day about what it might be like to have to leave everything behind because soldiers were coming and it wasn’t safe anymore.  Their eyes grew big and they had many questions including who was the good guy and who was the bad guy (good question with many implications and I explained it as best as I could at an eight and seven year old level), how many lovies could a person bring, and (most importantly) what about the farm animals and pets?  We decided that the soldiers probably used or took the farm animals and we hoped the Ferneyhoughs were able to bring their pets.

  I want to remind everyone that the WPAs weren’t exactly thoroughly researched and a lot of the information was conjecture or word-of-mouth.  We do, however, have accounts of soldiers who write of Sligo.  One particularly interesting letter written by a soldier of the 122nd New York Infantry during the June 1863 battle describes how Confederate sharpshooters used Sligo as a “den” and shot at the Union lines (Harrison, 1995, Fredericksburg Civil War Sites, Vol 2, p. 103).  I imagine anyone with a metal detector reading this right now is probably salivating; there’s surely something left in the ground.

  So, there it is.  The Civil War at Sligo.  It took me a while to sit down and write this because 1.  Every time I write about the Ferneyhough family I have to log into my Ancestry.com account and look at my previous emails between myself and our Dovetail consultant in an effort to piece together who was who (and in an effort to be as accurate as possible). and 2.  The information is in pieces and scattered about and it took a minute to organize myself.  Lucky for you the children are out for the day and it’s raining so what else did I have to do?

   

  Posted in Ferneyhough, Grounds, History, Main House, Wars | 2 Comments

• The Battle of Fredericksburg at Sligo Part I

  Posted at 9:55 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on December 15, 2019

  As we all know writing about military battles, people, etc. is not my forté.  There’s something about reading the specifics of battles that make my eyes go cross and I quickly lose interest.  This is not to say that I don’t love history because clearly I do.  I think it has to do with the abundant use of cardinal directions and military terms such as “flank” which I think means rear because that’s what it means in most other circumstances but I could be wrong.  I digress.  The point is, I’m going to make an attempt to write about the Battle(s) of Fredericksburg at Sligo and the Ferneyhough family who would have been the occupants at that time.

  The Battle of Fredericksburg took place from the 11th through the 15th of December, 1862 and I made the judicious decision to go ahead and skip to the end because you all who are Civil War history buffs will absolutely scream in rage if I try and write anything more.  So, in the end it was a decidedly Confederate victory as the Union faced problems almost from the beginning when the pontoon bridges necessary to cross the Rappahannock did not arrive in time.  One interesting tidbit related to the Battle of Fredericksburg is that it was the first battle to take place in an urban environment in the history of the United States and, despite the urban setting (and the looting by the Union), there were only four civilian deaths reported during this time.

  A few years back we lived on Sunken Road and planned a Christmas party to introduce our friends to our second newly born and to say “good bye” as we were getting ready to move to Jacksonville, North Carolina (aka, the “Armpit of America” but ask me how I really feel).  Without realizing it we had planned our party for the same day as the 150th anniversary as the Battle of Fredericksburg.  Let me tell you, you know you live in a special town when you look out your window and can witness an entire reenactment taking place as you down your wine in a red solo cup (because we keep it classy).

  

  I wasn’t sure if I should tell them I had a GPS that might help them find their way…

   

  I digress, again.  You guys need to help me stay on track.  Anyway, it turns out, December 1862 was not the first, or last, time Fredericksburg would be witness to the horrors of war.  In the spring of 1863, the Chancellorsville Campaign began (“campaign” meaning something different from “battle” and which I have yet to figure out)  and which encompassed a second battle at Fredericksburg.  Considering the location of Sligo (just south of the city and directly on the Rappahannock) it should come as no surprise that the Ferneyhoughs were in the thick of the fighting from the first battle of Fredericksburg and on…

  Posted in Ferneyhough, History, Life, Wars | 1 Comment

• Slavery at Sligo

  Posted at 12:11 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on April 5, 2019

  I would be remiss to not mention the slaves that the Ferneyhoughs would have had during the 18th and 19th centuries. This isn’t to say that slaves were not present at Sligo prior to the Ferneyhoughs it’s just that the majority of our research has focused on the family who owned and operated Sligo for the longest period of time.

  In 1783 we know of Edmund Hollinger, the son of Barbara Hollinger a free woman, who is indentured to John Ferneyhough Sr. for training in coach making. I realize he is not a slave but I wanted to mention him all the same. By 1788 Edmund has turned 21. By 1806 it is verified under oath that Edmund is a free man and has appropriately served his apprenticeship.

  In 1799 we know that there is one runaway slave named Daniel. I plan to write what we know about his story in a separate blog post.

  In the early 1800s we have the names of Cornelius, Anderson, and Sally (listed as mulatto).

  In 1823 to 1824 the names of the slaves along with most of their ages are as follows: Mary (25); Joice (18); Betty (9); William (7); James (4); Aaron (2); Reuben.

  In 1833 the names of the slaves along with their ages (and in two instances their trade) are as follows: James (blacksmith) (45); Sally (cook) (35); Mary (16); Join (10); Juddy (12); Jim (7); Scipio (3); Bell (4); William (1).

  I am trying desperately to not confuse you by throwing out so many different dates but I also want to be sure that my information is corroborated by actual documentation. So, from the 1829 plat we know that there were at least four buildings on the property: The dwelling, a kitchen, a carriage shop, and a smith shop. With that being said, we know that by 1860 Sligo is 44 acres (according to John Ferneyhough Jr.s’ will). None of the plats mention slave quarters despite the fact that we know there are slaves.

  In the 1860 United States Census Slave Schedule in Spotsylvania County we know that John Ferneyhough Jr. owned 16 slaves ranging in age from 1 year old to 35. I do not know how any of these 16 slaves relate to the aforementioned slaves listed by name because no names are given, just their ages and sex.

  We also know the names of slaves thanks to varying documents such as John Ferneyhough Jr.’s will (1860) which leaves “one negro man named George,” a “negro boy named ‘Ned’,” and a “negro woman Corinna” to a daughter-in-law. Also, in the 1937 Works Progress Administration (WPA) of Virginia Historical Inventory we learn of an old slave referred to as “Uncle Isaac” who attempted to save some of the Ferneyhough’s belongings from the Union soldiers. The WPA also states that the Union soldiers burned “all but one of the out-buildings” and threw many of the Ferneyhough’s belongings in the well.

  After the Civil War I cannot say what happened to the slaves or where they went. However, on one of my many walks along the Rappahannock River Heritage Trail in downtown Fredericksburg I happened to stop and read an informational sign about the slaves of Fredericksburg during the Battle of Fredericksburg. It states that “many slaves saw opportunity in the resulting chaos (of the arrival of the Union army across the river at Falmouth)…(and) thousands of…African-Americans left their homes, seeking their own freedom through the Union lines.”

  If anyone has more information to share about the slaves at Sligo I would love to hear from you. Especially any descendants or further information of their stories since so little is known.

  Posted in Ferneyhough, History, Slaves and Servants | 2 Comments

• Termagant

  Posted at 2:35 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on March 21, 2019

  “Termagant” is one of my new favorite words.  From the Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary “termagant” is a noun and defined as “an overbearing or nagging woman.”  If you follow the Facebook page then you’ll know my children, if they knew of the word, would define me as a “termagant.”  But let’s be honest, just about every woman could be defined as such at some point in their lives, such is our burden.

  If you were accused of being a termagant up through the 19th century you faced the risk of being sentenced to the ducking stool, a very primitive way of dealing with us hysterical women.  In the picture below you can see what a sentence by ducking meant and to be perfectly honest if I wasn’t a little crazy before I would certainly be after.  The Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. (HFFI) wrote a recent blog post about ducking stools and their history in Fredericksburg which is what led to our discovery that there is a loose connection between John Ferneyhough Jr. and termagants.

  

  I don’t know about you but I think if strapped to this thing I would become more of a shrew…

  As we know, John Ferneyhough Jr. was a prominent carriage maker in the city of Fredericksburg.  It turns out he was a handy guy because he was also very likely the last person commissioned by the city to construct a ducking stool.  It’s very worth clicking on the HFFI blog post above because I am not one to plagiarize and they did a very nice job pulling up old articles relating to one termagant in particular, why it was deemed that women should not be nags (hint: it hurts the men’s feefees) and the method of using a ducking stool, plus evidence of John Ferneyhough Jr. making one.

  Posted in Ferneyhough, History | 1 Comment

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