Underbill, trading in a small way behind his country counter, missed the active and energetic young clerk who had left him and finally, after two years had elapsed, offered him a partnership. Mr. Ferguson accepted the offer, and the firm began business in 1857, under the name of Underbill and Ferguson. The partnership expired by limitation in the spring of 1861. He then leased a proi>erty

upon the Main Street, opposite the old store, and resumed business under the firm-name of Geo. Ferguson & Co. After three years his partner retiring on account of ill health left Mr. Ferguson the sole proprietor.

He finally purchased the leased property, improved and enlarged his store, and continued the business alone till the spring of 1875, when he formed a partnership with a friend doing business in New York City. A fire in a neighboring building one night in the autumn of 1875, consumed his store and about seventy-five thousand dollars worth of property, but with characteristic promptness he hired a vacant store, set men cleaning and scrubbing, and by sunrise the next morning had a large sign posted up and his clerks ready, books in hand, to take orders for immediate delivery.

His prompt action at this time not only saved him much money but enabled him to hold his trade till he could replace the destroyed building by the elegant brick one, which is at present devoted, with the exception of a public hall occupying a portion of the second floor, to the purposes of his business. The property has a frontage of eighty-two feet on Main and one hundred and forty upon Centre Street, and is probably the largest establishment of its kind in Westchester County.