CIVIL WAR VETERAN 
Calvin Ferguson

Calvin Ferguson’s gravestone simply records that he served with the 54th Indiana Infantry, in Company E.

photo: QHGS

To find genealogical information about him—date of birth, date of death—several online databases were visited in the following order:

1. To establish the fact that Calvin Ferguson served in the Union Army, we consulted U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009. 

This source provided the following information: 

“Calvin Ferguson, living in Indiana, enlisted in Company E, Indiana 54th Infantry Regiment, on 10 June 1862 as a Private. He was mustered out on 10 September 1862.”

2. To find out if Calvin was a Civil War pensioner, we looked for him in the National Archives and Records Administration. U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.  

This source provided the following information:

“Calvin Ferguson filed for a Civil War pension on 10 June 1899 as an Invalid. He filed this application in Oklahoma. His widow, Ellen J. Ferguson, filed for a Civil War Widow’s pension 16 years later, on 18 August 1915, in California.”

3. Using information from source two, we looked at the California, Death Index, 1905-1939 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

This source provided the following information:

“Calvin Ferguson, born about 1845, died on 8 August 1915, in Los Angeles county.”

4. Finally, using information from source three, we found a digitized image of Calvin’s death certificate on the FamilySearch® website at California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994, index and images, FamilySearch, Los Angeles, Long Beach > Death certificates 1915-1919 no 221-403 > image 48 of 2705. 

This source provided the following information:

“Calvin Ferguson was born on 21 June 1845, in Butler county, Pennsylvania. His father, Thomas Ferguson, was born in Ireland, and his mother, Kiziah, was born in Pennsylvania. Calvin died, aged 70, on 8 August 1915, at his home in Long Beach, California. He had lived at 1400 East 1st Street for 9 years and 2 months, and had been a resident of California for 10 years. Calvin was buried in Sunnyside Cemetery on 10 August 1915, and the undertaker in charge of his interment was E. H. Cleveland.”

The four sources cited above create only the barest outline of Calvin Ferguson’s life. To find out more about him—to make his story “come alive”—we can use U.S. Census records to trace his journey from Pennsylvania to Indiana to Oklahoma, and thence to Long Beach, California. We can also examine marriage records to find out when and where he married Ellen. To learn about the short-lived Indiana 54th Infantry,  The Civil War Archive at http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unininf4.htm#54th3mo can be consulted. Additionally, we can look for Calvin’s obituary on Find A Grave. We can also search Ancestry.com to see if there is information about him in public family trees.

RESEARCH TIP: Genealogical information is becoming more prevalent on the Find A Grave website. Check to see if an obit has been transcribed for your ancestor.