John Day Ferguson

John Day Ferguson was born in 1832 to John and Helen Mosewood Ferguson in New York City. When he was 10 years old he moved with his family to Stamford in 1842. He pursued an education at private schools until graduating from Trinity College in 1851. He then attended Yale Law School and was admitted to the bar. He opened a law office in New York City and worked there for ten to twelve years until he sold the office and focused his efforts on Stamford. Twice he represented Stamford in the Connecticut State Legislature and served as a respected probate judge where he worked to protect the interests of legatees and orphaned children. His obituary notes that “No illegal fees ever filled his purse; no suspicion of corruption ever soiled his character as judge.”
During the final years of his life, John Day Ferguson devoted a major part of his energies to the cause of the public schools. He supported the centralization of all the district schools and boards under a common board to upgrade the quality of education in Stamford. The Annual Town Meeting in 1872 involved over six hours of oratory on the subject, but Ferguson’s charge for universal schooling won and the town passed a vote for school consolidation.
He passed away on December 8, 1877. The Stamford schools closed for the day of his funeral to honor the man that fought hard for their success and reform. According to his obituary, a large assembly gathered in his memory at the St. John’s Episcopal Church.
At his death, John Day Ferguson bequest $10 thousand for the creation of a public library in Stamford, with the condition that his fellow citizens provide an additional $25 thousand. The library was opened in 1882 on the second floor of Doctor Payne’s office on Atlantic Street. Annual membership at the library originally cost $2 and later was dropped to $1. The Ferguson Library moved to a new location on Atlantic Street in 1889 and moved one more time to its current location at Bedford and Broad Streets in 1909. It became a free public library in 1911.

Obituary for John Day Ferguson (Stamford Advocate December 14, 1877)