Gravesend (New York, N.Y.). Board of Trustees of Common Lands.

Thomas Ferguson (1845-1903) was a businessman and real estate investor who lived in Gravesend, N.Y. with his wife, Lizzie Ferguson. He was a member of the Town of Gravesend Board of Trustees of the Common Lands and was one of the town's largest landowners. John Phillips, who is represented in the papers, was Thomas Ferguson's uncle and business associate. The Fergusons' relationship to Robert B. Hill and Elizabeth F. Hart, whose papers are also included in the collection, is unclear, though they are presumed to be family members.

The Town of Gravesend was one of the six original towns that comprised Kings County, N.Y., notable for being founded by a woman, Lady Deborah Moody, in 1645. The original town encompassed 7,000 acres of land in southern Kings County stretching to the coast, including the entirety of Coney Island, which was part of the town's common lands. Gravesend was annexed to the City of Brooklyn in 1894, a few years prior to its consolidation with New York City in 1898.