SAMUEL RAPER FERGUS represents important business interests of Miami County. He was born October 27, 1848, in Bethel Township, Miami County, Ohio, and is a son of John Shannon and Susan (Black) Fergus.

The paternal grandfather, Gen. James Fergus, was a native of Virginia, and gained his military title on account of his activity in the militia. He came to Bethel Township, Miami County, in 1807, and was one of the most prominent citizens of Miami County in his day. He served in many offices and responsible positions, was both county surveyor and county commissioner, and he also served acceptably as a member of the General Assembly. Almost all of his mature life as passed in Bethel Township and his death took place at the home of a daughter, in Tippecanoe City. His children bore the following names: James, Samuel, Alexander, John Shannon, Jane, Evaline, Mary, Elizabeth and Amanda. Of the above family, John Shannon was the only one who lived and died in Miami County. The others scattered far apart, one dying in California, one in Missouri, two in Nebraska, one in Illinois, two in Indiana, and one in Cincinnati.

John Shannon Fergus followed an agricultural life. He married Susan Black, who was a daughter of John and Elizabeth Black, farming people who lived and died in Clark County, Ohio. John S. Fergus died in 1888, at the age of sixty-nine years and was survived until 1892 by his widow, when her age was about the same. Three sons were born to them, namely: James Corwin, Samuel Raper and John Franklin. James Corwin Fergus settled in Nebraska soon after the Civil War, here he engaged in farming and stock raising until his death. John Franklin Fergus has made a name for himself in the law. He graduated from the Ohio State University and has been a successful practitioner at Columbus, for a number of years.

Samuel Raper Fergus was educated in the common schools and the university at Lebanon, Ohio, after which he taught school, and assisted in the home farming. He also was interested in the nursery business and from 1880 until 1902 conducted this business in Bethel Township, and since 1902 the organization of which he is president, has maintained the business in Tippecanoe City, but from September 1, 1908, the offices have been at Troy. The Farmers' Nursery Company, of which Mr. Fergus is president, is one of the largest concerns of the kind in the State and it has a capital of stock of $200,000, $50,000 of which is preferred. Everything in the line of hardy nursery stock is carried, and the business territory extends all over the United States and into Canada and Mexico, a particularly good field being in Ontario. Mr. Fergus was one of the founders and president of the Citizens' National Bank of Tippecanoe City, which was organized in January, 1908.

Mr. Fergus was married to Miss Priscilla Freeman, a daughter of Robert and Mary Freeman, of Bethel Township, on December 29, 1873, and they have had six children, namely: Guy C., who is an electrician, married Miss May E. Dodd and resides at Zanesville ; they have one daughter, Hortense; Clyde Shannon, who is engaged in stock and sheep raising in Texas, practiced dentistry in Van Wert, Ohio, and married Bernice McMillan. The others: Fern, Jean, Maud E. and Mary Ruth-all reside at home except Jean, who died when in her fourteenth year. Mrs. Fergus was reared in the German Reformed Church and her daughters are Lutherans. The family home, a beautiful one, Mr. Fergus built at Tippecanoe City.