Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fergushill, John

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820723Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 18 — Fergushill, John1889James McMullen Rigg

FERGUSHILL, JOHN (1592?–1644), Scotch divine, son of David Fergushill, merchant and provost of Ayr, was educated partly at Edinburgh University, partly in France, and partly at the university of Glasgow, where his name occurs among the incorporati in 1611, and among the laureati in 1612. He was licensed to preach as a minister of the Scottish kirk and had a charge at Ochiltree in 1614. He was cited to appear before the high commission court at Glasgow in March 1620, and refusing to submit to its jurisdiction was suspended, and sentenced to be imprisoned in Perth. By the influence, however, of his friends, Robert Boyd of Trochrig, and John Chalmers, the court was induced to permit his return to Ochiltree under certain restrictions. There he appears to have continued to officiate until in October 1639 he was transferred to Ayr. He was a member of the assembly in 1638. He died on 11 June 1644, aged about 52.

[Wodrow's Collections upon the Lives of the Reformers and most eminent Ministers of the Church of Scotland (Maitland Club), ii. 66; Anderson's Scottish Nation; Hew Scott's Fasti, pt. iii. pp. 88, 133.]