Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/451

 PRYOR

PUGH

PRYOR, Roger Atkinson, jurist, was born in Dinwiddle county, near Petersburg, Va., July 19, 1828 ; son of the Rev. Theodorick Bland and Lucy E. (Atkinson) Pryor ; grandson of Richard and Anno (Bland) Pryor and of Roger and Agnes (Poythress) Atkinson, and a direct descendant of Henry Isham of Bermuda Hundreds, William Randolph of Turkey Island, Va., Richard Bland, the patriot, Samuel Pryor, who married Prudence Thornton and settled in Caroline county, Va., 1700, and Richard Bennett, colonial governor of Virginia in 1653. He was graduated at Hamp- den Sidney college, valedictorian, in 1845, and at the University of Virginia in 1848. He was married Nov. 8, 1848, to Sara Agnes, daughter of the Rev. Samuel Blair and Lucinda (Leftwich) Rice of Charlotte county, Va. He was admitted to the bar in 1849 and settled in practice in Ctiarlottesville ; subsequently edited the South Side Devwcrat, Petersburg ; was attached to the staff of the Washing- ton Union ; edited the Enquirer at Rich- mond, Va., 1854 ; and The South in Rich- mond, in which he advocated states rights, and the pub- lication of which was discontinued on his withdrawal from the editorship. He after- ward served on the staff of the Washing- ton States. While junior editor of the Washington Union he wrote a notable article on the Anglo-Rus- sian war wliich was extensively copied and translated abroad. He was a special envoy to Greece in 1855, succeeding in adjusting the diffi- culties between the United States and that country after others had failed ; and a Demo- cratic representative from the fourth Virginia district in the 36th congress, 1859-61, having been elected to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William O. Goode. He was re-elected in 1860 to the 37th congress, but owing to the secession of Virginia, did not take his seat. He was attached to Beauregard's staff at the time of the firing on Fort Sumter, Charleston harbor, April 12, 1861 ; and was appointed to fire the first gun but declined to do so, giving as a reason that Virginia, his state, had not yet seceded. He also refused, on the same ground, to enter the captured fort. He was a delegate from Virginia in the provisional Confederate congress, where he so vigorously opposed the proposed measure offered by William L. Yancey to reopen the

ilvy^JHr^.^-

slave trade as to defeat the bill. He was a repre- sentative in the 1st Confederate States congress that met in Richmond, Va., Feb. 22, 1862, serving as a member of the military committee. He entered the Confederate army as colonel ; was promoted brigadier-general, April 16, 1862 ; com- manded the 5th brigade in Longstreet's division at Yorktown and Williamsburg, April-May, 1862 ; in Anderson's division, Longstreet's right wing at Seven Pines, May 31-June 1, and in the seven days' battles before Richmond, June 25-July 1 ; in Wilcox's division in the second battle of Manas- sas, Aug. 16-Sept. 2 ; and in Anderson's division in the Maryland campaign, including Harper's Ferry, Sept. 12-15, and Antietam (Sharpsburg), Sept. 17, 1862, succeeding to the command of the division when Gen. R. H. Anderson was wounded. He resigned his commission owing to a misunder- standing with President Davis ; re-entered the service as a private in Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry ; was taken prisoner at Petersburg in November, 1864, and confined at Fort Lafayette and was released at the close of the war. He accepted a position on the New York Daily News conducted by Benjamin Wood ; studied law; was admitted to the New York bar in 1866, and prac- tised in New York city, 1866-90. He was a dele- gate to the Democratic national convention of 1876, and was appointed judge of the court of common pleas of New York by Gov. D. B. Hill in 1890, being afterward elected to the full term of fourteen years. In 1894 he was transferred to the bench of the supreme court and held the office until retired by the age limit in January, 1899, when he resumed the practice of law. His decision in the case of the Sugar Trust was the first blow received by trusts in the United States at the hands of the courts, and his presentation of the law left an appeal impossible. He received the degree LL.D. from Hampden Sidney college; was a member of the board of visitors of the University of Virginia, and is the author of many speeches and literary addresses.

PUGH, Evan, educator, was born in East Not- tingham, Pa., Feb. 29, 1828; son of Lewis and Mary (Hutton) Pugh ; grandson of Jesse and Elizabeth (Hudson) Pugh, and of Hiett and Sarah (Pugh) Hutton, and a descendant of .John and Jane Pugh, who came from Wales to East Not- tingham, Pa., early in the 18th century. He at- tended the district school ; worked as a black- smith's apprentice, 1844-46; attended the Manual Labor school at Whitestown, N.Y. ; taught ad is- trict school in East Nottingham, and in 1850 took charge of Jordan Bank seminary, near Ox- ford, Pa., which he inherited and conducted until 1853. He took a special course in natural and mathematical science and in practical chem- istry in the universities of Leipsic, Gottingen,