The Cambridge City Tribune, Cambridge City, Indiana, 18 Mar 1886, Page 2 per newspaperarchive, Milton News:
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Martha F., daughter of Cyrus and Cahtarine Wallace, was born in Fayette county, Ind., September (13?), 1845, and was married to Oliver Ferguson September 30, 1863. Most of her life haas been that of an invalid, and after she left the loving care of the parental roof she was tenderly guarded and watched by a devoted husband and kind daughters. Sunday night, March 7, she was taken with a severe attack of neuralgia, from which she was an intense sufferer, and lay in a critical condition until Friday, March 13, when she fell into a stupor from which she could not be aroused, and passed unconsciously away from the earth friends at the finishing stroke of the midnight hour, aged 40 years 5 months and 27 days.
Besides a large circle of relatives and friends, she leaves a husband, two daughters--Mrs. Lafe Beeson and Mrs. H. E. Newman--parents and one sister, Mrs. James Baker, of Indianapolis, to mourn her departure.
Funeral services were conducted at the Christian Chapel, in Milton, Sunday, at 1 P.M., by Elder J. M. Land, of Harrison, O., assisted by Rev. Potts, of the M. E. Church, Milton. Beautiful calla lillies, fully open--emblematic of the purity of her who had passed away--stood upon the rostrum, draped in mourning and befitting the sad occasion. A floral pillow and wreath were also emblematic--the one of the rest of peace upon which her head was pillowed and the other of the unbroken beauty of the heaven above and the crown of life awaiting her in the great beyond. At the close of the services in Milton, a large procession followed her remains to Valley Grove Church, where exercises of song, prayer, remarks by Elder Land were conducted and interment in the Valley Grove Cemetery.
The deceased was a member of the Christian Womans' Foreign Missionary Society, and known as a good, kind woman, loved by all who knew her. A daughter, sister, wife and mother--holiest names given to woman--has passed away. Never more shall her form be seen moving hither and thither in the domestic and social avocations of life, for it now reposes in death. But beyond the tomb it takes on the beauty of immortality.