Enoch Pugh (1735 - 1771)

Born 1735 in Chester Pennsylvania, Colonial America

Ancestors

Husband of Esther (Worthington) Pugh — married 1 Feb 1766 in Alamance, North Carolina

Descendants

Died 19 Jun 1771 at about age 36 in Battle of Alamance, Alamance, North Carolina

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Biography

Early Life

Enoch was a Friend (Quaker)

Enoch Pugh was born in 1735 in Chester Pennsylvania, Colonial America, son of Thomas Pugh (1705–1797) and Elizabeth Unknown (1709–1794).

His siblings were:

• Jesse Pugh (~1732–~1794), married Elizabeth Stewart
• Elizabeth Pugh (~1738–1783), married John Fruit
• Mary Pugh (~1739–1765), married Herman Husband
• John Pugh (~1744–~1820), married Elinor Fruit
• James Pugh (~1749–1810), married Jane Patterson-Ward
• Peninah Pugh (~1754–~1834), married William Walker
• Thomas Pugh (~1758–<1846), married Barbara Amick

Moving to North Carolina

Enoch later moves to North Carolina with his family and on 20 February 1760, Enoch along with his brother Jesse were received by request into Cane Creek Friends (Quaker Religion)^[1]. There are no records of Enoch or Jesse being part of the Quaker religion before this point, probably because their father had been disowned years earlier and was only a few years prior accepted back into the faith himself.

On 14 Feb 1764 Enoch purchased 183 acres of land tract from James Vestal^[2][3]

Marriage & Children

Enoch (30) married Esther Worthington (23) (born about 1742 in Frederick, Colony of Virginia; daughter of Jacob Worthington and Abigail (Borden) Pritchard) on February 1, 1766 in Alamance, North Carolina. Their children were:

• Thomas Pugh (1766–1846)
• Jacob Pugh (1767–1825)

Enoch is disowned from Cane Creek MM for marrying out of union, Esther was not a Quaker^[4].

Early Colonial Records

In May of 1768 the regulator advertisement No. 9 goes into circulation, Thomas Pugh and his sons James, John, Enoch, and Jesse Pugh and sons-in-law John Fruit and William Walker all signed the advertisement^[5].

"[B. P. R. O. A. & W. I. N. C. No. 216.] REGULATORS' ADVERTISEMENT No. 9. To the Governor & Councill &c. The humble Petition of us the Subscribers sheweth that We the Inhabitants of Orange County pay larger Fees for recording Deeds than any of the adjacent Counties and many other Fees more than the Law allows by all that We can make out from which a jealosie prevails that we are misused and application has been made to our representatives to satisfy us But we were disregarded in the said application upon which the said discontent growing more and more so as to threaten a disturbance of the public peace, we therefore beg that those matters may be taken under your serious consideration and interpose in our Favour so that we may have a fair hearing in this matter and [be] redressed where we have been wronged Our complaints are too numerous and long to be notified in a Petition, but have sent herewith copies of the Applications Petitions &c that has been made on this Occasion with a small sketch of our Misusage and begging your protection and aprobation in so just and equitable an undertaking and an opportunity to be heard We conclude your humble Petitioners."

Myths and Legends: Battle of Alamance

"No Regulator is lionized more than James Pugh for his role as a sharpshooter during the brief 1771 skirmish with Gov. William Tyron's milita forces at the Battale of Alamance. Captured, convicted, and hug from the scaffold in Hillsborough, North Carolina, Pugh was ensured legendary status when from the gallows he railed against the despised Edmund Fanning, and with an allusion to Christs's "Parable of the Sower", said that his own blood would be as "good seed sown on the good ground, which would soon produce a hundred fold."

James Pugh's tale has been told and retold, and hist story is further memorialized by a plaque and painting alike. But James Pugh did not die hanging from the noose of a Hillsoborough gallows. More likely, it was his brother Enoch who died there as a convicted traitor in the summer of 1771. This presumed case of mistaken identiy in no way diminishes the noteworth role played in the Regulation by Chatham COunty's Pugh family, whose father and three sons and two sons-in-law, Herman Husband and John Fruit, are emblematic of an eighteenth-century farmer-artison class citizenry that found itself wedged between its allegiance to British rule and the nascent egalitarian freedoms afforded to it by the American Frontier."^[6]

“…The blood that we have shed will be as good seed, sown in good ground, which will soon reap hundredfold…” -Enoch Pugh, 1771 Moments before his execution at Hillsborough.

Enoch was mentioned on a memorial with a death date of 19 Jun 1771.^[7]

Johnston Riot Act

Aside from his support in the Regulator Advertisement No 9, nothing is revealed in records about Enoch's involvement in the regulation. Enoch's actions within the next few days seem to show his involvement and his fear of things to come...

The Johnston Riot Act enacted January 15, 1771 stipulated that persons deemed outlaws must surrender themselves within 60 days of receiving a summons. If they did not comply with this order, then it was within the law for anyone person to kill such offender. The lands of the offenders shall be forfeited to his majesty.

• It is because of this provision that Enoch Pugh took action in January 1771. In an attempt to protect his property, should he be declared an outlaw himself. On January 13, 1771 just two days before the final ratification of the Johnston Riot Act, Enoch Pugh made deeds giving his sons the 183 acre tract of land he had purchased from James Vestal in 1760. Thomas and Jacob were only four to five years old at the time.

• Enoch Pugh died at the Battle of Alamance which occurred on May 16, 1771. It was Enoch Pugh not his brother James (who did not die until 1810) that died in battle.

Enoch's death is proven by the recording of his estate by his father Thomas Pugh February Term 1772 Chatham County Court records^[8].

Most of Enoch's estate was purchased back by his widow Esther (shown as Hester on the estate inventory). Esther was a weaver, she purchased a loom, reeds and gears, a chack reel, and four sheep. Another interesting fact is that other items in the estate were purchased by known regulators, including Eli and Thomas Branson, James Hunter, John Davis, Thomas Pugh (Enoch's father) and John Fruit (Enoch's brother-in-law) among others. John Fruit, Enoch's brother-in-law had purchased a rifle and a saddle.

After his Death

The Johnston Riot Act expired a year later on January 15, 1772. By the fall of 1772 all of the outlawed regulators were living on their land again.

It is not known exactly when Enoch's widow Esther Pugh died but she was still living in August 1788 when she is recommended to the General Assembly as a person proper to exempt from payment of Taxes for the future.

Enoch died in 1771, he was outlived by his father Thomas Pugh and all of his brothers including his brother James Pugh who did not die until 1810.

James Pugh, Enoch's brother (the one said to have been the hero hanged in 1771) made his will on 14 February 1810. James died sometime that same year as his will was probated in May Court 1810.

Thomas Pugh and his sons Enoch, James, John, Thomas, and Jesse were all involved with the regulator movement but only one died in 1771, Enoch Pugh.

It is very probable that Enoch Pugh was the one captured May 16 at the Alamance Battleground site, he was taken to Hillsborough, NC, with other captured Regulators, jailed and hanged at Hillsborough on June 19, 1771. Their bodies thrown or buried by/in the Eno River.

• If there was anyone among this family who was involved in the regulator movement and was among those who died in 1771, then it was Enoch Pugh, not his brother James. We owe it to those brave souls who went before us and loved ones who come after us to get the facts straight.

Sources

1. ↑ Other Church Event: "U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935"
   Guilford College; Greensboro, North Carolina
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 2189 #3458936 (accessed 13 January 2024)
   Name: Jesse Pugh; Event Type: Admittance; Residence Date: 2 Feb 1760; Residence Date on Image: 2 1760 Second; Residence Place: Alamance, North Carolina; Monthly Meeting: Cane Creek Monthly Meeting; Yearly Meeting: North Carolina Yearly Meeting; Meeting State: North Carolina; Meeting County: Alamance.
2. ↑ Eve B. Weeks, abs.. Register of Orange County. N.C.. Deeds (Danielsville, GA, 1984), p. 30.
3. ↑ . (Chatham County reg of deeds office book A pp 102)
4. ↑ Marriage: "U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935"
   Guilford College; Greensboro, North Carolina
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 2189 #9169235 (accessed 13 January 2024)
   Enoch Pugh marriage to Wife not named Extinded on 1 Feb 1766 in Alamance, North Carolina.
5. ↑ Regulators' Advertisement No. 9: Regulators' Advertisement No. 9 - Petition from Regulators concerning public fees; Regulators of North Carolina May 1768; Volume 07, Pages 733-737. Colonial and State Records of North Carolina. https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr07-0289#p7-734
6. ↑ "James Pugh," Regulator Sharopshooter: A Conundrum Unfolded by Stephen C. Compton. Volume XC - Number 2 - April 2013. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23523923
7. ↑ Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
   Find A Grave: Memorial #129822782 (accessed 14 January 2024)
   Memorial page for Enoch Pugh (1735-19 Jun 1771); Maintained by Always Searching (contributor 47332759).
8. ↑ Probate: "North Carolina, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998"
   Wills and Estate Papers (Chatham County), 1663-1978; Author: North Carolina. Division of Archives and History (Raleigh, North Carolina); Probate Place: Chatham, North Carolina
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 9061 #287210 (accessed 14 January 2024)
   Enoch Pugh probate in 1772 in Chatham, North Carolina, USA.

See Also:

1. Chatham County reg of deeds office book A pp 102
2. North Carolina Burial Census - Death date 1810. Cemetery records of Randolph Co., NC, from book at Salt Lake City Family History Library, 10 July 2003. James is buried in the old Pugh Fruit Campbell Cemetery.
3. Census records for North Carolina
4. North Carolina Will and Probate records
5. North Carolina deed records
6. Book: "James Pugh," Regulator Sharpshooter: A Conundrum Unfolded by Stephen C. Compton
7. Pugh DNA website
8. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/129822782/enoch-pugh

• Mark Chilton, "Who were the Regulators?", 9 March 2016, Wandering through the NC Piedmont