Fugard, Judson

FUGARD, COWAN, STONE, SLEMMONS, OWEN

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/22/2009 at 15:01:52

Fugard, Judson

Mr. Fugard was born at Bellville, Richland County, Ohio, February 14, 1850, and is the son of John F. and Angalina (Cowan) Fugard. His father's people came from the Granite state, and his mother's from Maryland, and were among the early settlers of Ohio. One of his ancestors was Rev. Isaiah Stone, a prominent Baptist minister of New England. Another one was Samuel Fugard, of Bedford. New Hampshire, who had quite a good record as a Revolutionary soldier. He was a minuteman at the beginning of the war, and accompanied the ill-fated winter expedition against Quebec. He afterwards served for six years in the Continental line, or regulars, as a member of the Sixth Company of the First New Hampshire Regiment, and took part in the principal campaigns and battles of the war. He endured the hardships of Valley Forge, and was among the one thousand five hundred picked men who crossed the Delaware River and attacked Trenton, on a night so cold that two of their number froze to death. On this occasion his company was given the post of honor, by being selected to lead the advance and capture the enemy's outposts, receiving great credit for their gallantry. After his return from the war, he was granted a pension by the Legislature. The records state that he had been discharged as unfit for duty he cause worn out in the service, and that a certificate has been given him by his Excellency, General Washington, stating that lie was entitled to a pension.

Mr. Fugard's parents moved to Jasper County in 1855, and settled in Buena Vista Township, eight miles southeast of Newton. The country was then new and thinly settled, but they enjoyed pioneer life and did their full share towards building up the community by actively favoring those things that were for the public good. Four children were born to them, three of whom died in infancy. Noble J. Fugard, of Newton, grew from childhood to honorable manhood in this home, and several other children also shared its benefits for one or more years, so that it was often known as the ""Orphans' Home." The farm on which the Fugard family first settled remained in their possession for fifty years.

The father died at the age of sixty-three. His widow afterwards married J. J. Young, who is now deceased. She makes her home with her son, and, although past her eightieth year, she enjoys good health and takes an active interest in affairs at home and abroad, and has learned the great secret of how to grow old sweetly.

Judson Fugard grew to manhood on the farm and knew the meaning of hard work, performing his part in helping to develop the home place from its raw state. He attended the public schools and Hazel Dell Academy and graduated from the law department of the State University. He opened an office in Newton and practiced for a number of years alone, and afterwards was associated for some twenty years with A. F. Brown, Esq. under the firm name of Fugard & Brown. He still maintains a law office, but devotes a part of his time to looking after outside interests. Some years he has had charge of as much as two thousand acres of farmlands belonging to others. For several years he has been interested in dairying, and has a herd of thirty cows, and a modern dairy barn and silo in a fine grove adjoining town. Improved methods are used in caring for the dairy products, which find a ready market,

On March 5, 1884, Mr. Fugard was united in marriage with Ella Slemmons, a worthy young lady of Des Moines Township. Her parents, Mr., and Mrs. Benjamin Slemmons, were highly esteemed people of that community. They afterwards lived at Newton for a number of years, and then removed to Mahaska County. Both are now deceased.

Mr. and Mrs. Fugard still reside in the same home in which they commenced housekeeping. Two children have graced their union. John Reed, the son, is twenty-four years old, and married Rowena Owen, an excellent young lady of Plano. Illinois. He is a graduate of the Newton High School and afterwards took a four-years course of study in the School of Architecture of the Illinois University. Upon his graduation from the latter institution, he was offered a position with a prominent architect of Chicago and spent six months superintending the erection of some fine residences at Princeton, New Jersey. He is now located in Chicago and doing well. Florence Angelina, the daughter, is fifteen and is the light of her parents' home.

Mr. Fugard and his family belong to the Newton Baptist Church and make four generations of their family that have been connected with it. He is also a member of the Iowa Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. He is a Republican in politics, and has served his party as secretary of the county committee and in other capacities. At the time of the prohibitory amendment campaign, he served for three years as secretary of the amendment association and helped to thoroughly organize the county and carry it for prohibition by nearly two thousand majority. He has achieved some reputation as a writer, his articles possessing a quaint and interesting style full of humor and pathos. For several, years he had charge of the local work of the Newton Journal, was the Newton correspondent for the State Register, and has done considerable work for other papers, among them the Chicago Tribune.

Personally, Mr. Fugard is a very pleasant gentleman to know, being genteel in manners, unostentatious and obliging. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 430.