WILLIAM PORTER FRISBEE FERGUSON

Background

William Porter Ferguson was born in Delhi, New York, the son of Phineas Rice and Electa Ann (Frisbee) Ferguson. His mother was a descendant of Edward Frisbee, one of the first settlers of Branford, Conn. , who died in 1690.

Education

William graduated from Walton Academy, N. Y. , in 1884, and from Drew Theological Seminary in 1887.

In 1888 he received the degree of B. A. from Texas Wesleyan College at Fort Worth, tie was principal of the Mohawk Collegiate Preparatory Institute, Utica, N. Y. , in 1891, and the following year was principal of Utica Private Academy.

Career

After 1896 he was engaged chiefly in editorial work, being on the staff of the Voice, New York, from 1897 to 1899, and serving as managing editor of the New Voice, Chicago, from 1899 to 1902.

In the latter year he took charge of the Third Universalist Church, Brooklyn, New York, and assumed proprietorship of the Defender, New York. Purchasing the Home Defender of Chicago in 1907, and merging his own paper with it, he took over the subscription list of the New Voice, previously discontinued, and issued a publication called the National Prohibitionist.

This was consolidated with the Vindicator, Franklin, Pa. , in 1911, of which he was in charge until 1916. He also edited the Venango Daily Herald of Franklin (1912 - 19), and later the News Herald and the Citizen-Press.

In the Prohibition Convention of 1916 he had strong support for the presidential nomination, but he transferred it to J. Frank Hanly. During the later years of his life he carried on investigations in Isle Royale, Lake Superior, and published “Michigan’s Most Ancient Industry: the Pre-Historic Mines and Miners of Isle Royale” (Michigan History Magazine, July- October 1923), and “The Franklin Isle Royale Expedition” {Ibid. , October 1924).

Achievements

• He was an effective speaker and presented the subject of prohibition from the platform in many different sections of the country. In 1900 he published The Canteen in the United States Army; a Study of Uncle Sam as a Grog-Shop Keeper; and in 1902, Prohibition in the United States. His popularity was attested by the large vote he received as Prohibition candidate for Congress from the Twenty-eighth District of Pennsylvania in 1914, and as candidate for the state legislature from Venango County in 1918.

Works

• book

  • The success of prohibition in the United States: With a statement on "The Cambridge experiment"

Religion

In 1893 he was transferred to the Northern New York Conference, but withdrew from the Methodist Church, and until 1896 served as pastor of the Presbyterian church at Whitesboro, New York.

Once more shifting his denominational allegiance, he became pastor of the Universalist church, Harriman, Tennessee, and proprietor and editor of the Citizen in 1904-05.

Politics

He was a militant Prohibitionist, as early as 1880 contributing verses to the Living Issue, published in Utica, N. Y. , and actively supporting the candidates of the Prohibition party in the presidential campaign of 1884.

Connections

This same year he was admitted to the Troy Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and on April 5, married Lena Grace Hathaway of Sidney Center, New York.

Father:

Phineas Rice Ferguson

Mother:

Electa Ann (Frisbee) Ferguson

Wife:

Lena Grace Hathaway