Records of the clan and name of Fergusson, Ferguson and Fergus

OE FEEGUSON 25
way between these brown bands, and at right angles to the
narrow green line, a narrow brown one. Upon the whole are
two red lines, equi-distant from either the narrow green line
or the brown one which crosses it. These red lines are placed
in couples, alternately inside and outside the larger brownish
bands. Upon the centre of the broad green band is a narrow
black stripe.
While the little rockrose is the badge given in all the
books on the Highlanders, the weight of testimony furnished
by representatives of various families of the name is to the
effect that the poplar was the proper badge.
It is right that a word should be added as to the ortho-
graphy of the name, as to which both Fergussons who require
two .ss's and Fergusons who are satisfied with one, are nowa-
days generally sensitive. In the past, however, the form is
found varying in the same families, and instances exist at the
present day in which one form is used by one brother and
the other by another. Thus, while the Fergussons of Kil-
kerran and Craigdarroch both adhere to the two ss's, in
the matriculation of the Craigdarroch arms in 1673 the
name is spelt ' Fergusone ' ; and in the records of the Faculty
of Advocates, three successive heads of the Kilkerran family
are found admitted to the Scottish bar as ' Fergusone ' or
' Ferguson.' The same occurs in the case of Alexander
Ferguson of Isle in 1685, and the last heir-male of this race
was buried as a Ferguson. On the other hand, while the
families sprung from the house of Badifurrow, in Aberdeen-
shire, are almost universally content with one s ; the book
plate of one descendant shows his name as ' Willm. Fergusson,'
and another also signs with two. The family of Dunfallandy
seem, however, to have consistently maintained the spelling
' Fergusson,' which appears to be the oldest, and represents
most accurately the translation of the Gaelic. It cannot, how-
ever, be said that either form is wrong, or that the presence
or absence of the second s settles descent, and it may be urged
that the pronunciation is better indicated by the form ' Fergu-
son ' ; and that Professor Adam Ferguson committed no crime
when he dropped his father's second s, on the ground that
it was unnecessary, and therefore unworthy of a philosopher.