SAMUEL H. PUGH

Sacramento County

Biographies

SAMUEL H. PUGH

SAMUEL H. PUGH, of Brighton Township, was born in Owen County, Indiana, August 21, 1832, son of James and Nancy (Sikes) Pugh, natives of Virginia; the father was born in Charlotte County, that State, and the mother in Halifax County. His paternal grandfather, a native of France, came to America as a soldier under Lafayette; was a corporal in the Revolutionary War, and remained throughout the struggle, being present even at the siege and surrender of Yorktown. His maternal grandfather also served in the same war. Samuel’s mother’s first husband was named Scott, who was of the same lineage as General Winfield Scott. He wintered at Valley Forge and died there after the war of the Revolution had closed. On his mother’s side Mr. Pugh’s ancestry were Scotch and English. James Pugh was born in 1790, and in the War of 1812 was in the first regiment that volunteered from Virginia. He marched to Norfolk under Captain Carter and Colonel Henderson. At Fort Norfolk he served first in heavy artillery, and was afterward transferred to different points where the fighting was in progress. After the close of the war he continued to live in Virginia, married there, moved to Tennessee, and then to Indiana, settling on White River, seven miles below Spencer, in 1827 or 1828, being one of the first settlers in Owen County. There were then ten times as many Indians as white inhabitants. Wild game was so plentiful that a feast of fresh meat could be obtained at any hour on any day. When Samuel was eight years old the family located three and a half miles southeast of Neosho, Missouri. As they passed through Neosho the first log store was in progress of erection there. The first clerk employed in Anthony’s store there was “Jim” Raines, afterward General, who was killed in the Rebel army at Murfreesboro. Mr. Pugh was reared in Newton County, Missouri, from 1839 to 1854, learning the carpenters’ trade from his father, who was about the first contractor and builder in that locality. They built the first courthouse for that county, a log structure with one door and one or two windows, for $143. They also built the Masonic Hall. Young Pugh also worked on the new courthouse, under Martin Garrison. He followed carpentering until he was seventeen years of age and then learned blacksmithing, under Hendrick & McKee, at Neosho, and afterward he remained a year with his father, building houses. November 4, 1854, Mr. Pugh started with another man to Texas, with a small stock of dry goods and notions, and 2,000 apple trees, which they took to Austin. They traveled through thirty-seven different counties of Texas that winter and forty-seven towns. In January Mr. Pugh returned to Austin and accepted the superintendency of Judge Sneed’s ranch, remained with him till June 17 and returned to Missouri, where he wound up his affairs, and on the 24th of September moved with his family to Texas, locating four miles south of Austin, where he had 100 acres of land. There he followed blacksmithing for five years. In 1859 he started for Pike’s Peak with a team, passing through Indian Territory, Kansas and Nebraska, to find a train going there, and failing, he abandoned the trip. He then settled in Salem, Richardson County, Nebraska, and worked there at blacksmithing and gunsmithing. While there he held the offices of City Marshal, Deputy Sheriff and Deputy United States Marshal, and was holding all these offices when he left. He raised the first military company that volunteered in that county, and was elected its captain. The company was raised to garrison Western forts. He also served in the Home Guards one and a half years, and was in the fight with the Jayhawkers at Fall City. Between thirty and fifty shots were fired, two men killed and several wounded. Mr. Pugh lost some blood and a small piece of his ear. May 11, 1862, a train was made up, of which he was captain, and each started with four oxen and a number of cows for California. Mr. Pugh came by mail and stage route up the Platte by way of the Big Blue, Fort Kearney and Fort Laramie, crossing the South Platte at Julesburg, the North Platte at Louis Bernard’s bridge, camped at Independence Rock on the night of July 3, and celebrated the Fourth there the next day. Onward he came by way of Fort Bridger to Salt Lake and the overland stage route to Reese River and the sink of the Carson River to Carson City, and by way of Placerville to Sacramento, passing directly by his present place of residence. When he reached Placerville he was out of money, and he sold a $100 rifle at the Kingsley House for $10, paid $7.50 for expenses and $2.50 for crossing the bridge at Sacramento! He then worked for Mr. Crocker, superintendent of the Steam Navigation Company, in their yard, until he could earn money enough to go to his brother’s in Sonoma County. There he remained till March 1863; returning then to Sacramento, he worked in the ship-yard there until the middle of May. Next he followed blacksmithing at Carson City, Nevada, about two years, and then bought a ranch upon Carson River, fifty-five miles from Carson. He built a hotel and blacksmith shop upon that place, moulding the brick, laying them and doing all the carpenter work himself. When the Central Pacific Railroad was built at Wadsworth, it drew the travel from his place and he had to leave it, losing all. Then, November 1, 1866, he located on the McCarthy ranch, in this county, until 1869, following farming and blacksmithing, and also hauling some for building the levee. During the year just mentioned he bought a piece of land in San Joaquin Township, two miles east of Florin, and continued farming and blacksmithing for five years, and finally purchased a half acre which he now occupies as a residence. Here he built a blacksmith’s shop, house, barn, etc., all with his own hands. In his political views Mr. Pugh is a Democrat. He has served many years as inspector of elections, and one term as school trustee. He was admitted into Sacramento Lodge, No. 40, F. & A. M., in 1868, and is still a member of that lodge, and he, as well as his family, are members of the Grange. He was married in McDonald County, Missouri, February 19, 1852, to Miss Mary Ann Greer, a native of Clarksville, Pike County, Missouri, and a daughter of William and Ann (Jones) Greer. Her father was of Scotch descent and the mother of French. She was a child when her parents moved to Jasper County, Missouri, and subsequently they moved to McDonald County, two and a half miles from Placerville. Her mother died in Carson City and her father in Sonoma County, California. Mr. and Mrs. Pugh have nine children, as follows: L. M., born December 15, 1852, in Missouri, three miles from Neosho, and now living in Lewis, near Battle Mountain; he was made a Mason at Elk Grove on the night that he was twenty-one years old, at the youngest age known in the United States; Mary Marcilla, now the wife of R. J. Brown, and living in San Joaquin Township; Nancy Ann, the wife of Peter Chrisman, and living at Gonzales, Monterey County; Samuel A., residing in Lander County, Nevada; Parmelia Belle, now the wife of Frank H. Raulet, of San Francisco; Ethan Franklin, a resident of El Dorado County, near Shingle Springs; Joseph A., near Gonzales; Charles Lorenzo, who lives in Lander County, Nevada; and James Nathan, with his parents.

Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.

Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 661-662. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.