Born near Pickensville, Alabama, Fergusson attended the public schools in the state.

He was admitted to the bar in 1875 and commenced the practice of law in Wheeling, West Virginia.

There he engaged in the practice of law and served as special United States attorney in 1893 and 1894.

Upon the admission of New Mexico as a State into the Union, Fergusson was elected to the Sixty-second Congress.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress