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Walton Ferguson
(1842-1922)
Julia Lee White
(1846-1933)
Henry Lee Ferguson Sr.
(1881-1959)
Marion Benner
(1890-1982)
Charles Benner Ferguson
(1918-2018)

 

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Charles Benner Ferguson

  • Born: 30 Jun 1918, Southold, Suffolk, New York, United States 1 2 3
  • Died: 7 Jan 2018 at age 99 1
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bullet  Noted events in his life were:

• Census: 1930 United States Federal: Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States. 4

• Census: 1940 United States Federal: Southold, Suffolk, New York, United States. 5

• Obituary: The Hartford Courant, 14 Jan 2018, Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, United States. 1

Charles Benner Ferguson, 99, of Bloomfield, Connecticut, and Fishers Island, New York, died in his sleep early Sunday morning, January 7, 2018. Charlie, as he was known by all his many friends and family members, was still winning cribbage games and playing his harmonica in the weeks before he died. Born on Fishers Island, NY, to Henry Lee Ferguson, Sr., and Marion Benner Ferguson, in 1918, Charlie traveled far yet always returned to Fishers every summer, to his beloved shack, "Flounder In." Charlie attended Greenwich Country Day School, the Pomfret School and Williams College, where he studied Fine Arts, and Trinity College, where he received his Master's degree, while teaching Fine Arts and Art History. He was one of the first art historians to take Art of the Americas seriously, and developed one of the first courses on American Art that included Aztec and Mayan art, while teaching at Trinity. He was also a painter, winning numerous prizes and running the Red Barn Art Gallery on Fishers Island for 67 years, where he exhibited his Fishers Island seascapes, which always featured birds, another of Charlie's passions. He published several books that feature Fishers Island seascapes, golf holes and birds. During WWII he served in the Signal Corps, stationed in Washington, DC, Australia and the Philippines, coordinating messages from radio operators behind enemy lines about Japanese troop movements, work which earned him a Bronze Star. Yet, even while defending his country he always found time for a sailing race or a round of golf. While in DC, he met Alice Joys, a Smith graduate code breaker, and after the war ended they married in 1946 and spent 62 years together until her death in 2008. After attending the Art Students League in New York, Charlie taught at Eaglebrook School and the Hill School, before the growing family settled in the Hartford area, where Charlie taught at Trinity College and the Loomis School, before being named Director of the New Britain Museum of American Art, where he worked until his retirement. In addition to his work as an artist, Charlie was a devoted sportsman and naturalist, whether playing a round of golf at the Big Club, fly fishing in the Bahamas, identifying shorebirds or migrating hawks, or simply looking at the sky and wind direction and accurately predicting the weather. Charlie is survived by his daughters, Marion "Marnie" Briggs and her husband Christopher "Kit" of Washington, DC, Alice Hartley Ferguson and her partner Esther Torrego of Bilbao, Spain, and Julia Hulslander and her husband Stephen of Williamsport, PA; his grandchildren, Alexander Briggs, Jessica Hulslander and Emily Hulslander; and his great-grandson Logan Ferguson Briggs. Besides his wife and parents he was predeceased by his brother H. Lee Ferguson. A memorial service will be held in the summer on Fishers Island. Memorial contributions in his honor can be made to the Henry L. Ferguson Museum on Fishers Island or to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. For online condolences please visit www.carmonfuneralhome.com


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Sources


1 <i>Hartford Courant</i> (http://www.legacy.com/hartfordcourant/), 14 Jan 2018.

2 <i>U.S. Public Records Index</i> (Ancestry.com. U.S. Public Records Index [database online]. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2005.),

Name: Charles B Ferguson
Birth Date: 30 Jun 1918
Address: 200 Seabury Dr Rm 4176, Bloomfield, CT, 06002-2650.

3 "New York State, Birth Index, 1881-1942," database, <i>Ancestry.com</i> (http://www.ancestry.com/);

Name: Charles B Ferguson
Birth Date: 30 Jun 1918
Birth Place: Southold, New York, USA
Certificate Number: 53875

4 <i>1930 United States Federal Census</i> (Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.).

5 1940 U.S. census, population schedule, Southold, sheet 8A, household 149; digital images, <i>Ancestry.com</i> (http://www.ancestry.com/); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T627.


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