USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > History of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and personal history > Part 2
USA > Pennsylvania > Somerset County > History of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and personal history > Part 2
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(II) Thomas Ogle, eldest son of John Ogle, the founder of the family in this country, was married to Mary Crawford, by whom he had five children, the eldest of whom was Thomas, born in Oglestown, Newcastle county, Delaware, in 1705, and he was the ancestor of Hon. Thomas M. Ogle, late of Wilming- ton, Delaware. By his second wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Graham, he had six children. His fourth child by his first wife was Joseph.
(III) Joseph Ogle, son of Thomas and Mary (Craw- ford) Ogle, married Sarah Winters, with whom he migrated to Frederickstown, Maryland, about 1746. He was commissioned a justice of the peace by his kinsman, Governor Samuel Ogle, when Frederick was organized as a county of Maryland in 1748, and by virtue of that office was a member of the first county court of Frederick county. He had seen military serv- ice, and in the court records and elsewhere in the history of those days is called Major and sometimes Colonel Joseph Ogle. He owned lands on Owen creek, Frederick county, Maryland, aggregating about five thousand acres. He was father by his first wife, Sarah, to seven sons and three daughters. His first child was named John.
(IV) John Ogle, eldest child of Joseph and Sarah (Win- ters) Ogle, at the death of his father in 1756 received by his last will and testament, recorded at Freedrick, Maryland, about five hundred acres of valuable land from off the old homestead. He married and had six sons. About 1785 he, with two of his sons, Joseph, the eldest, and John, the fifth son, migrated to Illinois, along with other families from Frederick and Wash- ington counties, Maryland. Among others was Captain Joseph Ogle, who as early as 1769 was living on the Ohio river, near the present city of Wheeling. Jacob Ogle (a sergeant in Jo-
General Alexander Ogle
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seph Ogle's company) was killed near Fort Henry, being am- bushed by the Indians, in 1777. Another brother, Captain James Ogle, was killed in 1782 in the unfortunate engagement of Colonel Crawford at Upper Sandusky, Ohio. The Ogles settled in what is now known as Monroe county, Illinois. The second son of Joseph Ogle was Charles; he lived in Elizabethtown, now Hagerstown, in 1794, and during that year severed his connection with the Mount Etna iron works, of which he was a member and of whose business at the Mount Etna furnace he was superintendent. The sanie year he engaged in the general merchandise business as a member of the firm of Ogle & Hall. He was a vestryman in St. John's Protestant Episcopal church. The third son of John was Alexander.
(V) Alexander Ogle, third son of John Ogle, born about 1766, was a clerk in the grocery store of his uncle, James Ogle, which grocery store stood on the corner of a two or four acre lot, in the center of which stood his uncle's dwelling, being the same house in which Major Joseph Ogle had lived-the old homestead on Owen's creek, Frederick county, Maryland. With others of the family and friends, the Cresaps, the Wetzels, the Poes and other Frederick county people, he went westerly to Washington county, Maryland, where, after the Revolutionary war, they congregated in the neighborhood of Oldtown, from which place Alexander removed to Somerset county, Pennsyl- vania, about the time of the formation of the county in 1795. Here he almost immediately sprang into prominence. He was repeatedly commissioned as prothonotary, register and record- er; was a representative in the assembly and state senator and member of congress. He was commissioned by Governor Sny- der in 1811 as major-general of the state militia, and also by Governor Shultz, August 3, 1828, to the same office. As the representative of Somerset county, in one of his speeches de- livered in the senate of Pennsylvania he referred to his con- stituents as the "frosty sons of thunder," in reference to the high altitude of this mountain county, an appellation by which the people of Somerset county have ever since been known and in which they take peculiar pride. Alexander Ogle was a tall man of commanding presence, finely chiseled features; gener- ally wore a red vest and ruffled shirt. He was a Democrat and - a great admirer of General Andrew Jackson. He was the sub- ject of a character sketch by Dr. William Elder, of Philadel- phia, published in his book, "Periscopics."
He married Mary Williams. of Bedford county, distin- guished for her beauty and Christian amiability. She was one of the "three Marys" by whose efforts the first Christian (Disciple) church was started in Somerset. Alexander and Mary Ogle had two children, Charles and Alexander.
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(VI) Alexander Ogle, Jr., son of Alexander and Mary (Williams) Ogle, was brigade general of the militia and cap- tain of the Independent Blues. He was prothonotary, register and recorder for a number of years and a member of the legis- lature. llis brother Charles was distinguished as a lawyer and a member of congress, where he delivered his speech in 1840 on the "Royal Splendor of the President's Palace," so effective in the Harrison campaign of that year.
Alexander Ogle, Jr., married Charlotte, daughter of Jacob Schneider and wife. Jacob Schneider's brother Adam owned most of the land in Somerset borough north of Main street, and conveyed to the county the lot where the court house and jail are erected, and to the borough the lot where the academy or high school stands. Alexander Ogle and wife, Charlotte, were the parents of six children: Andrew Jackson; Charles Henry, graduated at West Point, member of New York cavalry regi- ment and died during the Civil war; Mary, married Judge F. M. Kimmel; Charlotte, married Ross Forward; Louisa, mar- ried Hon. Edward Scull, for many years editor of the Somerset Herald, collector of United States revenues and member of congress.
(VII) Andrew Jackson Ogle, son of Alexander and Char- Jotte (Schneider) Ogle, born in Somerset, Pennsylvania, March 25, 1822, attended college at Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, read law with Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, who was his brother-in-law. In 1845 he was elected prothonotary and in 1848 to congress, representing the district composed of Somerset, Fayette and Green counties. He was a Whig in politics, and in the election of 1850 the Democratic majorities of Fayette and Green coun- ties elected his competitor, Hon. John L. Dawson, of Fayette county. He was then appointed charge de affaires to Den- mark by President Fillmore, but died suddenly of apoplexy, October 14, 1852, at his home in Somerset. He was six feet tall, fair complexion, light brown hair and blue eyes. He was unusual as a stump orator, popular and beloved by all who knew him. His untimely death cut short what promised to be a brilliant political career.
He married . Harriet Forward, daughter of Hon. Chauncey Forward, who was a lawyer of prominence. a member of con- gress and a brother of Hon. Walter Forward, who was a judge in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and secretary of the treasury in the cabinet of President Tyler. The children born to Andrew Jackson and Harriet (Forward) Ogle were: Mand, married Hon. Francis J. Kooser, present president judge of Somerset county; Alexander, who graduated at West Point in 1872 and died as first lieutenant in 1901 ; and John G. Ogle.
(VIII) John G. Ogle, youngest son of Andrew Jackson
J. L. Pugh
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and Harriet (Forward) Ogle, was born at Somerset, Pennsyl- vania, March 25, 1851. He attended the public schools, Millers- ville State Normal and Bethany College, West Virginia. He then read law with his brother-in-law, Hon. F. J. Kooser, was admitted to the bar in 1873 and his since continuously prac- ticed law. At present he is associated with General W. H. Koontz as Koontz & Ogle. He has never held office, but takes an interest in politics and has several times been chairman of the Republican county committee.
Mr. Ogle married. in 1875, Cora Baer, daughter of Hon. William J. Baer, who was president judge of the counties of Somerset and Bedford from 1881 to 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Ogle have two children, Hallie and Elizabeth.
PUGH FAMILY.
"An honest tale speeds best when plainly told."
The Pugh family of Somerset county, including Hon. James L. Pugh, attorney at law, of Somerset borough, and subject of this sketch, are all descended from the great-grandfather who emigrated from Wales and settled in the state of New Jersey some time prior to the American Revolution. The Pughs are known to be of Welsh descent and not unlikely from the Welsh philologist and antiquarian, William Owen Pughe,. retaining the final letter e, hence the orthography "Pugh" is believed to be more nearly correct than "Pew," which is the English spell- ing of the name. The change in the spelling of the name was made during the earlier school days of James L. Pugh and is believed to be the correct method and will be used in the writ- ing of this sketch. The change in orthography seems to have been a matter of regret among the older members of the fam- ily, but it is now so well established that it seems desirable to continue the "Pugh." The great-grandfather, James Pugh, was an ardent Tory during the War of the Revolution, and it is said did not fare very well from the hands of the colonists. He resided in Jersey Shore, state of New Jersey, and had three sons, James, Nathan and William. There is an old log-book in the family that would seem to indicate that he was a mariner at one time; some say sea captain, but this is doubtful.
James Pugh, the grandfather of James L. Pugh, born Janu- ary 23, 1764, emigrated from the state of New Jersey to Somer- set county, which was then a part of Bedford county, about 1786. He was on his way to Greene county when James Black, the grandfather of Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, stopped him on his way and induced him to remain in what was then known as "The Glades." Here he located and remained for some time ; becoming dissatisfied, he coneluded to remove to the state of Kentucky, whither he went on a pack-horse trail in the early
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spring of the year. Not liking the country, he returned to Som- erset county the same year and located in Stony Creek town- ship. He was married to Mary Hulet, of Trenton, New Jer- sey, and had three sons, James, Boaz and Hulet. He continued to reside in Stony Creek township until the date of his death in February, 1841. His wife, Mary Hulet Pugh, an active mem- ber of the Disciple church, died April 21, 1844. James and Boaz Pugh continued to reside in Stony Creek township, and Hulet Pugh, born January 4, 1788, the eldest, moved to the state of Ohio.
James Pugh, father of James L. Pugh, born January 8, 1794, married Rachael Smith, of German descent, who was born July 7, 1803. They were married May 14, 1832. They had eight children, four sons and four daughters: Rosanna, married to Alexander Saylor, deceased; Ephraim, deceased; Mary, mar- ried to Oliver Knepper, deceased; Elizabeth, deceased, married to Charles F. Rayman, deceased; Nancy, deceased, married to Josiah J. Long, deceased; Timothy, deceased; James L. and Boaz. James Pugh was a strict and consistent member of the Dunkard church. He died February 12, 1875. Rachael Pugh was a faithful member of the Lutheran church. She died April 28, 1882. They were buried in the old family graveyard on the old James Pugh farm in Stony Creek township, fulfilling the text, "That I may be buried by the grave of my father and of my mother."
Boaz Pugh was born May 11, 1796; was married to Susan- nah Weigle in January, 1822; she was born August 23, 1800. They had seven children: Hulet, deceased; Sarah Matilda, mar- ried to William H. Coleman, deceased; Delilah, deceased, mar- ried Emanuel Auman, deceased; Mary, married to Samuel Fox, deceased; Samson, deceased; John; and Rachael, married to John Trent, deceased. Boaz Pugh was a consistent member of the Disciple church and died March 5, 1876, and his wife, Susannah Pugh, belonged to same church, died March 5, 1886. They are buried in the old family graveyard. "When the dead are at rest, let their remembrance rest."
Rev. B. F. Pugh, the youngest son of James Pugh, whose family name is Boaz, was born August 4, 1847. He attended the country schools and when a mere boy enlisted, August 21, 1864, Company K, Two Hundred and Fourth Regiment, Penn- sylvania Volunteers, in the Union army of the War of the Re- bellion. He did good service as a soldier and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. He returned home, attended the normal schools of the county, taught school, entered the Missionary Institute, now Susquehanna University, at Selins- grove, Snyder county, Pennsylvania, studied theology, pre- pared himself for the Lutheran ministry under Dr. H. Zeigler
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and graduated in June, 1877. His first charge after being or- dained a Lutheran minister, June 30, 1877, of the Evangelical Lutheran church, was at Orangeville, Illinois, where he met his future wife, Frances Adaline Cadwell. They were married September 10, 1878, at Elmira, New York. He is now located at Ottawa, Kansas, and writes:
"It is time to be old, To take in sail."
James L. Pugh, son of James and Rachael Pugh, next to the youngest son, was born October 14, 1844, in Somerset town- ship, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, on the farm of his father, about seven miles east of the town of Somerset, in what is known locally as "Sheep's Ridge." His early education was obtained from the common schools of the neighborhood, which were of the lowest and poorest grade. He attended a normal school at Somerset in charge of Professor J. J. Stutzman and commenced teaching school when he was but fourteen years of age ; attended normal school and taught several terms of schoo !. In 1860 the Civil war cloud, which had hung over the nation for some time, broke out in all its fury, and during the summer of 1862 he enlisted in the Union army and went forth to battle for his country. When he was but seventeen years of age. on August 14, 1862, he was mustered into service, Company D, One Hundred and Thirty-third Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. He was engaged in some of the hardest fought battles of that great civil conflict, including the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, being wounded in the former battle three times. At the expiration of his first term of enlistment he re- turned home and taught one term of school. The war not hav- ing ended, he enlisted again on August 21, 1864, in Company K, Two Hundred and Fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volun- teers. known as the Fifth Heavy Artillery, being a corporal in that company. He did good active military service until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged. Upon his return home he continued to attend the normal schools of the county and taught school during the winter term, which was then only four months. In 1867-68 he taught school in the state of Maryland, where the term was longer and the wages better. During the spring and summer months of these years he at- tended the State Normal School at Millersville, Pennsylvania. He returned to his native county and taught normal school suc- cessively for several terms; was principal of the high school at Somerset and Berlin, and took great interest in the schools and teachers' institutes of the county. On December 15, 1870, state superintendent of common schools, Professor J. P. Wiek- ersham, appointed him county superintendent of the public
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schools of the county, which position he held and filled credit- ably for two years; about this time he commenced the study of the law, read for some time in the office of Hon. A. H. Coffroth at Somerset and later entered the law department of the Uni- versity of Michigan, graduating in 1874. He returned to Som- erset county and was admitted to the bar on May 14, 1874. He at once had an active and lucrative practice. In 1875 he was elected district attorney, serving in that capacity for a term of three years with credit and ability. During the legislative ses- sions of 1887-89 he was a member of the house of representa- tives, where he made a creditable record as a legislator. Since that time Mr. Pugh has applied himself assiduously to his legal practice, which has become large and lucrative, especially in the Orphans' court and commercial branches of the practice. He is an active member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and is reporter for the district reports from Somerset county. He possesses one of the finest libraries within the community, including many rare and costly volumes, in all amounting to over three thousand volumes. On the walls of the three rooms of his office in which this well selected library of books is kept are to be found a large number of portraits of members of the state and local bar, supreme judges and noted national and world-wide famous characters. Mr. Pugh seems to be wedded to his books, as he is unmarried. In his political life he has al- ways been a Republican. In religion he is a member of the Episcopal church. He is a member of various societies and is a past master Mason by service in that order. Mr. Pugh is a plain, unassuming man, and views matters from none but a practical standpoint. He has been highly successful in his chosen profession. He is a director and vice-president of the First National Bank of Somerset, a director of the Somerset Trust Company, and a large stockholder in both of these con- cerns.
"Time is hastening on, and we What our fathers are shall be, --- Shadow-shapes of memory."
THE SCULL FAMILY.
The Scull family has been identified with Pennsylvania ever since the establishment of the Colony. William Penn came in October, 1682. and on the 4th day of the following Decem- ber the first assembly met at Chester, passed Penn's "Great Law" and adopted his first "Frame of Government." On the 10th of September, 1685, the ship "Bristol Merchant," John Stevens, master, arrived at Chester, having among her pass- engers Nicholas Scull, the progenitor of the Pennsylvania fam- ily bearing his name. On the 9th of July, 1688, he purchased
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400 acres of land at a place named "Springfield Manor, " about ten miles from Philadelphia, and there he resided until his death occurred, in 1703. He left a family of six sons, but, trac- ing the descent of only that portion of the family identified with Westmoreland and Somerset counties, the next in line is Nicho- las Scull, the surveyor, eldest son of Nicholas Scull, the colonist, first named above.
Nicholas Scull, the surveyor. was born in 1686. Being a man of studious habits he acquired a knowledge of the Indian lan- guage and was employed by the government as interpreter. He resided in Philadelphia, following his occupation of surveyor. In October, 1744. he was commissioned sheriff of Philadelphia county, and held the office for several years, or until he was appointed surveyor general of the Colony on June 14, 1748. This office he filled until the time of his death, which occurred in 1761. In 1759 he published a large scale map of the improved parts of Pennsylvania and Maryland, prepared chiefly from his own surveys. It was the first correct map of the province published and embraced more than half of the present area of the state. A copy of this map is preserved in the library of the Historical Society in Philadelphia. He was a friend of Benja- min Franklin and a member of his celebrated literary and de- bating club, the "Junto." In his autobiography Franklin speaks of him as "a man who loved books and sometimes made a few verses."
Nicholas Scull was married in 1708 to Abagail Heap and they had a family of six sons and four daughters. One of the daugh- ters, Mary, married William Biddle and was the mother of Com- modore Nicholas Biddle, a distinguished American naval officer in the Revolutionary war. One of their sons, Jasper Scull, born December 3, 1718, was the father of John Scull, born in 1765, and who went to Pittsburgh, then in Westmoreland county, in 1786, preceded by a press and an outfit of types to establish the Pittsburgh Gazette, which first appeared on July 29th of that year and has maintained an uninterrupted existence to the present day.
Pittsburg, in 1786, was a town of less than one thousand in- habitants, but many things indicated a prosperous future for it. The Indian title to all the lands in the northwest section of Pennsylvania, including what is now Allegheny county, had re- cently been extinguished by "the purchase of 1784." The treaty of peace with Great Britain, terminating the Revolution- ary war and acknowledging the independence of the United States, had been signed September 3, 1783. New York, Vir- ginia, Massachusetts and Connecticut had ceded to the confed- eration their respective claims to the vast Northwest Territory which was about to be thrown open to settlement under the aus-
Vol. III 2
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pices of the general government, and Pittsburgh, at the "forks of the Ohio," was the gateway toward which converged Brad- dock's road and Forbes' road, the shortest, most direct and best roads yet opened between the more populous regions of the east and what was then called "the back country." Situated thus at the western extremity of two overland roads, where the Monon- gahela and Allegheny rivers met to form the Ohio, Pittsburgh was marked out as the point at which the commerce between the east and west must meet for interchange and trans-shipment, and the discerning mind of the young editor of the Pittsburgh Gazette foresaw clearly that the town at the head of the Ohio must become a centre of distribution and manufacture for the western country. In the fourth issue of his paper, August 26, 1786, he declares "this town must in future time be a place of great manufacturing, indeed the greatest on the continent, or perhaps in the world. It is a prospect of this, with men of re- flection, which renders the soil of this place so valuable."
Here, then, John Scull set up his press, and on the 29th day of July, 1786, published the first newspaper printed west of the Allegheny mountains. He continued to edit and publish it for thirty years, until he was succeeded by his son, in 1816. The Gazette press also printed books, school books, cate- chisms, the Pittsburgh Almanac, and one of its earliest produc- tions was Brackenridge's "Modern Chivalry." The Pitts- burgh Gazette favored the adoption of the National Consti- tution and supported the policy of Washington's administra- tion, including the suppression of the Whiskey Insurrection in 1794. For his attitude in that first crisis of the young republic, Mr. Scull's office was mobbed, but he fortunately sustained no personal injury nor damage to his property. The Gazette upheld the principles of the Federalist party during the period of his ownership, and was always a leader in and supporter of any movement for the intellectual, moral or material benefit of the community. When the Gazette first began publication there was no postoffice in Pittsburgh, and no postal service. The transmission of letters was by private messenger or the courtesy of friendly travelers. An office was, however, estab- lished in the following year with John Scull as the first post- master. He continued in the office until 1797. In addition to his newspaper and printing business he had other public interests. He was one of the founders and the president of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank, 1814-1819, and one of the incorporators of the Western University of Pennsylvania.
In 1789 John Scull married Mary, daughter of Colonel John Irwin, for whom the town of Irwin was named. Colonel Irwin was born in Ireland in 1739, came to America in 1762 and en- gaged in the Indian trade. He sided with the Patriots in the
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Revolutionary war and upon the reorganization of the sub- sistence department of the Continental army, under the act of congress of June 10, 1777, was in that year appointed deputy commissary general of issues and continued to serve in that capacity until the close of hostilities. He subsequently served in the state legislature and as associate judge of Westmoreland county. He died at "Brush Hill" farm, February 5, 1822, and his tomb is near the old stone mansion built by him, in which some of his descendants still live. His wife, who was Elizabeth Bingham, the daughter of a British army officer, died June 3, 1818, at the age of seventy years, and her tomb is in the same plot of ground as that of her husband. Mr. Scull continued to reside in Pittsburgh until 1826, when he removed to his farm, called "Highland," situated near the town of Irwin and ad- joining "Brush Hill." He died at "Highland," February 8, 1828. His widow survived until September 9, 1842, and rests beside him in the old Long Run churchyard, near Irwin.
The fruit of the union of John Scull and Mary Irwin was two sons and one daughter. The eldest son, Edward Scull, re- ceived a liberal education, studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and attended the lectures of the famous physi- cians, Doctor Benjamin Rush and Doctor Caspar Wistar. He was surgeon in the Volunteer army under General William Hen- ry Harrison, and was with him in the Tippecanoe campaign and battle in 1811. He continued to serve with the Volunteers until he was appointed surgeon in the regular army. He was sur- geon of the First United States Infantry and stationed at Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he died November 28, 1815.
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