Prof. Thomas Bryan Pugh, Jr., Assumption Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Mike Miller ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.org/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.org/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Prof. Thomas Bryan Pugh, Jr. An old family name that has been one of stability and distinction in Louisiana for generations is that of Pugh, and a prominent hearer (it this old and honored name at the present time is Prof. Thomas Bryan Pugh, Jr., principal of the Independence High School, and a leading factor in civic and social life in the community. He was born at Napoleonville, Louisiana, August 31 1888, and is a son of Dr. Thomas Bryan and Nannie (Jones) Pugh, a grandson of Col. Whitmel Pugh, and a great-grandson of Col. William w. Pugh, who was the original owner of the old family home estate, "Woodlawn," near Bertie, Assumption Parish. Dr. Thomas Bryan Pugh was born on Woodlawn plantation, May 3, 1853, and grew up there. His Parents were Col. William Whitmel and Josephine (Nicholls) Pugh, the former of whom, like his father, was born in North Carolina. Colonel Pugh inherited Woodlawn, and lived on that extensive plantation until his death, at the age of ninety-five years. His wife died there also. She was born at Donaldsonville, Louisiana, and was a sister of the late Francis T. Nicholls, former governor of Louisiana. Dr. Thomas Bryan Pugh has long been an eminent medical practitioner at Napoleonville. After graduating from the University of Virginia he attended Washington & Lee University, then entered the medical department of Tulane University, from which he was graduated with his degree of Doctor of Medicine, and still maintains a deep interest in his Greek letter fraternity, Delta Psi. Doctor Pugh entered upon the practice of medicine in Assumption Parish, of which he is health officer and for two terms was coroner. He also served two terms as mayor of Napoleonville and is a vestryman of the Episcopal Church there. Politically he is a democrat and fraternally a Mason and a Knight of Pythias. He is a member of the Louisiana State Medical Society, the Assumption Parish Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and is on the directing hoard of the Bank of Napoleonville. He was united in marriage with Miss Nannie Jones, who was born at Danville, Virginia, September 3, 1854, and they have had the following children: Mary Flower, who died, unmarried, in the summer of 1923; William Whitmel, a physician and surgeon at Napoleonville, a veteran of the World war, two years in service as a first lieutenant, Medical Corps, at Kentucky Field, San Antonio, Texas; Agnes Atkinson, who is the wife of Ben A. Washburn, holding a state office at Baton Rouge; Thomas Bryan, Jr.; Jean Baird, who is the wife of Francis Nicholls Pugh, a lawyer at Monroe, Louisiana ; Josephine N., who is the wife of Arthur M. Foley, a sugar planter, Napoleonville. Thomas B. Pugh is indebted to the devotion of his mother for his early educational training. In 1904 he was graduated from the Napoleon High School, when but sixteen years old, then for two years studied under a private tutor, specializing in English and Latin, and in 1906, in a competitive examination, won the Assumption Parish Scholarship for the Louisiana State University, which institution he entered in the same year and was graduated in the class of 1911 with his degree of Bachelor of Arts. He took an active part in university matters both in and outside the class room, and has many pleasant memories of those busy years. He was one of the founders of the Friars Club, which later was granted a charter to become the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity; was a member of the Dramatic Club; first sergeant of Company A. University Cadets associate editor of the college weekly, the Reveille; made the class baseball team; was business manager of the Gumbo, the college annual; and a popular member of the Cotillion Club. After leaving the university he took a short course in law, hut soon was called to assume the principalship of the Consolidated School of Assumption Parish, in which office he continued until 1913, when he became assistant principal of the Independence High School, two years later becoming principal in this position he has nineteen teachers and 825 pupils under his supervision, and is justifiably proud of the hearty interest they take in school work and their noticeable advance in scholarship. Professor Pugh married March 21, 1913, at Napoleonville, Miss Lucile Wilson, a graduate of the St. Augustine (Florida) High School, and the Louisiana State Normal School at Natchitoches. She is a daughter of Hon. William M. and Willie (Gayle) Wilson, the latter of whom resides at Independence. The father of Mrs. Pugh, who died at Independence in 1923, was in the drug business there and was prominent in politics, serving as mayor of the city. Professor and Mrs. Pugh have two children: Lucile Gayle, who is a student in the Independence High School; and Thomas Bryan III, who is still in the grades. The family belongs to Christ Episcopal Church at Napoleonville, and their beautiful home is a fine residence surrounded by two acres of valuable laud situated on East Railroad Avenue. Professor Pugh is a stockholder in the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Independence, and also in the J. G. Blaine Company, exporters and importers, New Orleans. In political life he has always been a democrat, at present is a valued member of the City Council at Independence, and is secretary of the Independence School Board. He is a member of fraternal and professional organizations that are widely representative, including Oak Lodge, Knights of Pythias, Three Day Camp, Woodmen of the World, and the Louisiana State Teachers' Association. A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 171-172, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.