Jacob S. Bugh

Jacob Sylvester Bugh (January 23, 1826 – October 23, 1901) was an American farmer, judge, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was one of the founders of Waushara County, Wisconsin, and represented the county for two terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly. He was county judge for the last 10 years of his life.

His brothers, William A. Bugh and Samuel G. Bugh, also served in the Wisconsin Legislature.

Biography Bugh was born in Somerset, Ohio, in January 1826, although sources have differed on the exact date. He was raised and educated there, studying in the district schools and the Somerset Academy.

In 1849, Bugh emigrated west to the new state of Wisconsin and settled on a claim in what is now Dakota, Wisconsin. At the time, this area of the state was mostly unorganized and attached to Marquette County. Bugh was instrumental in the effort to create a new county from the northern half of Marquette, which became Waushara County.

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he was appointed to the military staff of Governor Alexander Randall with the rank of colonel, to assist in raising Wisconsin volunteers for the Union Army. He served in the recruiting service for most of the war, and was appointed to the United States Volunteers paymaster corps by President Abraham Lincoln near the end of the war, with a commission in that service as a major.

After the war, he was appointed assessor of internal revenue for the 5th district of Wisconsin, by President Andrew Johnson, and served in that office for five years.

Personal life and family

Jacob S. Bugh was the sixth of nine children born to John Bugh and his wife Marian ( Wolfe). John Bugh was a staunch abolitionist and his home in Ohio was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Jacob Bugh married Lydia Ann Hood in 1861. Lydia Hood was a daughter of Thomas Hood, a Dane County judge and politician. Jacob and Lydia Bugh had three children, though one died in infancy.