called “Dick the Nigger” (died 19 Aug. 1940, said to be aged 87), vagabond. “A colorful figure, about whose early days little is known,” Richard Ferren “spent his life wandering from farmhouse to farmhouse.” He died when he was hit by a troop train west of Glen Nevis. He is buried at Dalhousie Mills United Church cemetery. Under various spellings, others of what may be the Ferren family can be found in the records. In the 1871 census, a resident of Cornwall called John Ferrin, aged 60, born in Quebec, is described as an African and a labourer. Harkness in an anecdote about the Cornwall court of police magistrate Danis mentions “a mulatto named John Farran, an old offender.” Given the dates involved, it is not impossible that John Farran of the anecdote was the same man as Richard Ferren.

Report on his death Glengarry News 23 Aug. 1940 (QF) * Elliott 86 * Harkness 432