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,
