Evan Pugh

Early life

Evan Pugh was born to Lewis and Mary (née Hutton) Pugh on February 29, 1828 near Oxford in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He was the fourth of six children: Rebecca, who died soon after birth (1823), Susan (1824-1913), Elizabeth (1826-1847), Enoch (1830-1854), and John (1832-1834). The family traced their lineage back to Ellis Pugh, a Quaker Welsh settler in William Penn's colony.

They lived on fifty-six acres of land, given to Lewis by his father Jesse, on family property in a stone farmhouse with a barn and blacksmith/wheelwright shop. Shortly after Evan's birth, Lewis was blinded and burned in an accident at the forge. He died in 1840, and his widow sent Evan and Elizabeth to live with their grandfather and three aunts on a neighboring farm.

Education

Pugh was tutored by his aunts in algebra, geometry, geography, history, Latin, and stenography. From 1844 to 1846 he served as a blacksmith's apprentice, but his extensive tutoring and his dislike of his "master" convinced him to pursue higher education. His family agreed and he enrolled at Whitestown Seminary, a manual labor school near Utica, New York. After attending the seminary for a year he returned home to help with the farm and opened the Jordan Bank Academy. Pugh taught classes, including botany, analytical chemistry, geology and mineralogy, on the second floor of the blacksmith shop, and in his personal time conducted chemistry experiments and contributed to farm journals and county newspapers.

During his visits to discuss mineral composition of the Nittany Valley with notable Bellefonte ironworks master Abram Valentine, Pugh met Abram's daughter. Rebecca and Pugh met frequently to talk about books, German language, and current news, and by early 1863 the two were engaged. In preparation for their marriage, he began designing, hauling stone, and building a house that would later become the president's residence.

The wedding, however, was delayed when both were injured in a carriage accident in June 1863 while returning from visiting William Shortlidge near Bellefonte. Pugh broke his arm and spent the summer and fall in local Philadelphia hospitals having treatments for improper setting of the limb. This injury, along with enormous stress due to General Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania, the already enormous academic and administrative workload for the School, and continuing construction of his house contributed to a weakened immune system unable to fend off an attack of typhoid fever. Pugh collapsed at his desk while penning a statement for Legislature and died a week later on April 29, 1864. Rebecca never remarried, and only visited campus twice after his death: once to present the first graduating class at an alumni reunion with his portrait, and the second time to attend a semi-centennial celebration of Penn State's founding. She died in 1921 and left all of Evan's books, correspondence, and memorabilia to Penn State.