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Submitted: 1/6/13 • Approved: 1/6/13 • Last Updated: 1/9/13 • R807201-G0-S3
January 23, 1817 - FEbruary 7, 1873
Son of Ephraim M and Elizabeth Warren "Patsy" Lanier Bugg. Born Williamson County, Tennessee. He was the oldest of five children.
He married Annis Tucker on March 9, 1835 in Williamson Tennessee. They moved to Little Piney in Johnson County, Arkansas before settling in Sebastian County. They had eight children: Sarah Elizabeth, John E, Martha C, Nancy A, William Thomas, Winfield Scott, Eliza Jane, and Benjamin Harve Bugg. Their first four children were born in Tennessee, and their last four, in Arkansas. Nancy A Bugg was born in 1842 and died in 1843 while they still lived in Johnson County. Her grave has not been located.
Benjamin and Annis lived near the Maness/Barling communities on land that became part of Camp Chaffee. For a period of time, Benjamin worked as a bookkeeper for the Knox Plantation in the river bottoms. He later taught school in a small log building at Steep Hill where his daughter Sarah Bugg Harris and her husband James had a farm. At some point, the entire family moved there. Their land included the beginning of Steep Hill Cemetery.
Benjamin died February 7, 1873 and is buried beside his wife and near several of his children in Steep Hill Cemetery. His son, William Thomas and wife Martha T. McAlester Bugg, and Martha's sister, Louisa and husband, James W Rutherford, purchased and donated an additional three acres of land to expand Steep Hill Cemetery beyond the original half acre that belonged to the Bugg family. Therefore, Benjamin Bugg, his wife, and some of their children, along with some McAlesters, have the oldest graves at Steep Hill.
Ancestral records indicate that the family line of Benjamin Nicholas Bugg traces to an original spelling of Bugge. The name was Anglicized from Bugge to Bugg when the first relative, Samuel Bugg(e), came to America from England. Samuel Bugg(e) first settled in New Kent County Virginia c. 1716; his family eventually migrated to Mecklenburg County Virginia c. 1754 where Benjamin Nicholas Buggs parents were born and later moved to Williamson County Tennessee c. 1800; finally, Benjamin Nicholas in his migration left Tennessee with his wife, Annis Tucker, settling in Sebastian County Arkansas c. 1843. According to "History of Davidson County, Tennessee: with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers," Benjamin Nicholas Bugg's parents were both "Scotch-Irish."
*Note - *Annis Tucker's father, and Benjamin Nicholas Bugg's mother, married in their second marriage.
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OBITUARY OF BENJAMIN NICHOLAS BUGG:
"Died - Bugg - At his residence in this county on the 7th inst. Mr B N Bugg, aged about 65 years. Mr Bugg was a good, honest, upright man; an old and good citizen beloved and esteemed by all who knew him. Peace to his ashes."
Source: Fort Smith Weekly Herald, February 15, 1873, page 2.
Contributed on 1/6/13
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Record #: 807201