By Muriel Bristol | April 28, 2024
Ralph Walter Pugh was born in Lynn, MA, April 18, 1908, son of Charles and Amelia (Rockwood) Pugh.
Ralph W. Pugh married in Manchester, NH, May 18, 1935, Rachel Margaret Doe, he of Barnstead, NH, and she of Manchester, NH. He was a shoeworker, aged twenty-seven years, and she was a houseworker, aged twenty-nine years. Rev. Allan Lorimer performed the ceremony. She was born in Milton, February 13, 1906, daughter of James F. and Etta J. (Martin) Doe. (Her father, James F. Doe, died on Plummer’s Ridge in Milton, April 5, 1920, aged forty-eight years. He was a married farmer. M.A.H. Hart, M.D., signed the death certificate).
(The children of Ralph W. and Rachel M. (Doe) Pugh were: Shirley Ann Pugh, Ralph W. Pugh, Jr.).
Ralph W. Pugh was one of those that found the body of Maude Horne, February 4, 1939, when they stopped by her house to pick her up for dinner. (See Milton and the Horne Murder – 1939).
Milton, N.H., Feb. 4 – Believed to have been murdered, the body of Miss Maude Horne, 61, who lived alone on the Farmington road [now Elm Street] in the heart of the town was found tonight on the floor of the living room by relatives who called to take her out for supper. Her Car Missing. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph W. Cobb of Dover, their daughter, Miss Miriam Cobb and Ralph W. Pugh of Milton called at the house tonight. The fire in the stove was out and the pint bottle of milk was still on the doorstep. Miss Horne’s car, a 1935 Plymouth sedan, carrying New Hampshire registration 51,839, was missing from the garage adjoining the story and a half frame house near the Nute High school. … (Portland Press Herald (Portland, ME), February 5, 1939).
Ralph W. Pugh, a fireman (leatherboard mill), aged thirty-one years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Rachel M. [(Doe)] Pugh, aged thirty-four years (b. NH), and his daughter, Shirley A. Pugh, aged three years (b. NH). Ralph W. Pugh owned their house, which was valued at $1,500. He had resided in a rural location in 1935, and his wife had resided in Manchester, NH. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of George W. Ellis, aged seventy-eight years (b. NH), and Norman V. Dillon, a fireman (leatherboard [mill]), aged thirty years (b. ME).
Ralph Walter Pugh of R.F.D. Union, Milton, N.H., registered for the WW II military draft in Milton, October 16, 1940. He had been born in Lynn, MA, April 8, 1908, aged thirty-two years, and was employed by Spaulding Fibre Company in Milton. His next of kin was his wife, Mrs. Rachel Margaret Pugh. They had no telephone. He stood 5′ 11″ tall, weighed 210 pounds, and had blue eyes, brown hair, and a light complexion.
The Milton Selectmen of 1945 were John G. Gilman, Ralph W. Pugh, and Halton R. Hayes. The Milton Selectmen of 1946 were John G. Gilman, Ralph W. Pugh, and Halton R. Hayes.
MILTON MILLS. By Alfred W. Lewis. The picture “The Man Who Forgot God” was presented at the Free Baptist Church Sunday evening under the direction of Ralph Pugh of Plummer’s Ridge. A delegation from the Milton Community Church and the Rev. Ralph Townsend were present (Sanford Journal-Tribune (Biddeford, ME), March 28, 1946).
Father Charles Pugh died of coronary thrombosis in Barnstead, NH, May 16, 1946, aged seventy-seven years, seven months, and twelve days. He was a married and retired G.E. employee, who had lived in Barnstead for twenty years, i.e., since circa 1926. H.W. Epling, M.D., signed the death certificate.
RECENT DEATHS. Charles Pugh. Charles Pugh, former employe of the General Electric Company and resident of Lynn for 48 years, died yesterday of a heart attack while working in a field near his home at Barnstead, N.H. He was 77 years of age. Born in Heart’s Content, Newfoundland, he recently celebrated his 56th wedding anniversary with his wife, Mrs. Amelia (Rockwood) Pugh. Besides his wife, he leaves a daughter, Mrs. Theodore Dahlquist and four sons, William Pugh, Arthur Pugh, Leslie Pugh, all of Lynn, and Ralph Pugh of Milton, N.H.; two brothers, John Pugh of Newfoundland and William Pugh of Toronto, Canada; nine grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren. Funeral services will be held at the Rhodes Memorial Chapel Saturday at 3 PM. Burial will be in Pine Grove cemetery (Lynn Daily Item (Lynn, MA), May 17, 1946).
The Milton Selectmen of 1947 were Ralph W. Pugh, Robert P. Laskey, and John G. Gilman.
The Milton Selectmen of 1948 were Robert P. Laskey, John G. Gilman, and Ralph W. Pugh. Their salaries as Selectmen and Overseers of the Poor were $225 apiece. (According to an inflation calculator, their inflation-adjusted pay would now be $2,915.96 apiece). Ralph W. Pugh received as $45.17 in expense and mileage reimbursement. (His reimbursement was the smallest of the three Selectmen).
Rachel D. [(Doe)] Pugh was assessed for Milton taxes for a 10-acre plains lot, valued at $400; an 80-acre farm, valued at $1,400; a homestead and garage, valued at $1,200; G.W. & T (growing wood & timber), valued at $50; four goats, valued at $40; pumps and tanks, valued at $185; and stock in trade, valued at $200.
The Milton Selectmen of 1949 were John G. Gilman, Ralph W. Pugh, and Robert P. Laskey. The Milton Selectmen of 1950 were Ralph W. Pugh, Robert P. Laskey, and John G. Gilman.
Ralph W. Pugh, a beaterman (fibreboard mill), aged forty-two years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Seventeenth (1950) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Rachel M. [(Doe)] Pugh, aged forty-two years (b. NH), his children, Shirley A. Pugh, aged thirteen years (b. NH), and Ralph W. Pugh, Jr., aged ten years (b. NH), and his mother-in-law, Etta F. [(Martin)] Doe, a widow, aged seventy-six years (b. MA). The house was located in the “4th house on left” (when “Proceeding North on State Highway #16 from Milton Town House.” Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Carl A. Flagg, a manager (service station), aged sixty-nine years (b. NH), and Wilhelm E. Baloodis, a loader in warehouse (woolen mill), aged fifty-two years (b. Latvia).
Milton Mills. By Alfred W. Lewis. School Notes. At the Riverside School, Clayton Waymouth, Maine State fire warden, recently showed films. Mrs. Rachel Pugh of Plummers Ridge, Milton, furnished the movie projector. Pupils receiving 100 per cent in spelling last week were: Ruth Ann Doe, Robert Mee, Robert Rand, Paula Hunter, Donna Doyle and Kenneth Fox (Sanford Journal-Tribune (Biddeford, ME), June 10, 1954).
SCHOOLS. NUTE HIGH. Mr. Roberge was guest speaker at the special assembly held at Nute High because of Constitution Week. Ralph Pugh played the piano for the singing of “America” by the student body (Farmington News, October 6, 1955).
Mother Amelia (Rockwood) Pugh died in Lynn, MA, December 30, 1958, aged eighty-seven years.
Mrs. Amelia Pugh. Mrs. Amelia Pugh, 87, of 29 Michigan Avenue, died last night at her home after a brief illness. She was born in Heart’s Content, Newfoundland, and lived in Lynn for 60 years. She leaves four sons, William J. Pugh and Leslie S. Pugh, both of Lynn, and Arthur Pugh and Ralph W. Pugh, both of New Hampshire; a daughter, Mrs. Theodore Dahlquist of Lynn, with whom she made her home; and ten grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. Services will be held at the W.C. Goodrich Funeral Home, 128 Washington Street, on Friday at 3 PM. Burial will be in Pine Grove Cemetery (Lynn Daily Item (Lynn, MA), December 31, 1958).
Nute High School Dedication and Open House Sunday. Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o’clock Dr. Charles F. Ritch, Jr., Commissioner of Education for the State of New Hampshire will be the guest speaker at dedication exercises to be held at Nute High School, Milton, N.H. The Nute High School Band directed by Mrs. Dorothy Bassett and the Nute High School Chorus, directed by Arthur Mirabile, are to provide the musical numbers. The Rev. Bradley T. Lines is to give the invocation and the benediction will be offered by the Rev. Raymond Laferriere. The keys to Nute High School and the Milton Elementary School will be presented by the Maxam Company, general contractors, and Mr. Hersey of Irving W. Hersey Associates, architect, to Ralph W. Pugh, Sr., chairman of the school board. C. LeRoy Dickson, president of the Board of Trustees of Nute High School, is to preside at the dedication. Open house at the Nute High School and Milton Elementary School will follow the dedication. The public are invited to attend. Pupils attending Nute High School are largely from Milton but in Grades 9-12 there are many tuition pupils from Acton and Lebanon, Brookfield, Middleton, Rochester, and Wakefield, N.H. The freshman class of 54 is the largest in the history of the school (Sanford Journal-Tribune (Biddeford, ME), October 13, 1960).
Mother-in-law Etta J. (Martin) Doe was honored as a long-term member of the Multon Community Church in November 1961.
40 YEAR MEMBERS HONORED IN MILTON. Milton. Eight 40-year members were honored at the Forefathers’ Sunday service of the Milton Community church Sunday. They were Mrs. Etta Doe, Mrs. Amy Stow, Mrs. Grace Willey, Mrs. Adah Nutter, Mrs. Katherine Dorr, Mrs. Hugh Innes, Mrs. Peter Lover and Mrs. Grace Dickson (Farmington News, November 23, 1961).
Mother-in-law Etta J. (Martin) Doe took a series of three ambulance trips to the hospital beginning in May 1962.
LOCAL LINES. Last Thursday the Peaslee ambulance took Mrs. Doe, mother of Mrs. Ralph Pugh of Milton, to Frisbee hospital. She had a broken hip. On Saturday Oscar Gagnon of Union was taken to Huggins hospital in Wolfeboro suffering from a heart attack (Farmington News, May 17, 1962).
FARMINGTON LOCAL LINES. Mr. Clarence Peaslee reports two ambulance calls, one Monday when Mrs. Etta Doe was taken from her home in Milton to Frisbie hospital for observation and treatment and Tuesday when Mrs. Dolly Ryder of Milton was returned home from Mary Hitchcock hospital in Hanover after surgery (Farmington News, November 21, 1962).
FARMINGTON LOCAL LINES. Peaslee ambulance took Mrs. Inez Ellis of Milton to Frisbie hospital in Rochester for observation Tuesday and Mrs. Etta Doe from Frisbie hospital to the home of her daughter, Mr. Ralph Pugh of Milton after treatment for a fractured shoulder (Farmington News, December 6, 1962).
Mother-in-law Etta J. (Martin) Doe died of broncho-pneumonia on Route 16 in Milton, March 29, 1963, aged eighty-nine years. She was a widowed practical nurse. She had resided in Milton for seventy-five years, i.e., since circa 1888. George E. Quinn, M.D., of Farmington, NH, signed the death certificate.
DEATHS. MRS. JAMES F. DOE. MILTON – Funeral services were conducted Sunday afternoon at the Milton Community church by Rev. Frank Bunker, Jr., for Mrs. Etta F (Martin) Doe, 89, who died Friday, March 29 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Rachel Pugh, after a long illness. She was born in Brockton, Mass., and had lived in Milton most of her life. She was the widow of James F. Doe, was a 60-year member of the Lewis W. Nute grange in Milton and a member of the Milton Community church. Mrs. Doe served as nurse at the Daniel Webster Home for children in Franklin for 18 yrs. She was also a school teacher in Somersworth many years ago. Besides her daughter, members of her family include three grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren. Funeral arrangements were in charge of the Peaslee Funeral home in Union and burial will be in Forest Glade Cemetery, Somersworth (Farmington News, April 4, 1963).
UNION NEWS. By Ray Marsh. GRANGE. The Reunion Grange held the last of the three point meetings Friday night. It was an exceptionally fine meeting with 62 Grangers attending. The program was under the supervision of Mrs. Evelyn Chamberlain of Lewis W. Nute Grange of Milton. William Pomeroy of Lewis W. Nute Grange showed a special collection of bottles, many of which were very old. A question-and-answer period followed. Ralph Pugh, Master of the Nute Grange, played several selections on the piano and Donald Stowe did his thing with some humorous anecdotes. We consider the whole three point program a complete success and deserves repeating next year. The Reunion Grange whist party last Wednesday night was well attended and women’s high score went to Polly McKinney, low to Arzelle Littlefield; Men’s high to Emerson Abbott and low to Guy Greenlaw. Annette Dunnells took the cake (Farmington News, October 27, 1970).
Ralph W. Pugh died in Milton, in November 1982.
Discovering life down on the farm. By Tom Long. Globe Staff. MILTON – Walter Kasinskas walked in the door of Levi Jones‘ farmhouse last week and entered another world: a world of straw mattresses, woodstoves, bed warmers and butter churns. “A lot of people have a quaint idea of what farm life was like, but I know better,” says 73-year-old tour guide Milford (Mickey) Galarneau, as he leads Kasinskas and his mother along with a handful of tourists through Jones‘ house on Plummer’s Ridge in Milton, home of the New Hampshire Farm Museum. “I grew up on a farm in North Conway and I know what it’s like to get a load from the woodpile on a winter night. I know what it’s like to wake up with frost on your chin.” During the chatty, anecdotal 45-minute tour of the museum’s six interconnected buildings, Galarneau introduces Kasinskas, a tow-headed 12-year-old from Kingston, to the mysteries of rope bedsprings. thunder jugs, rag rugs. Christian doors and ceiling rails. 
Kasinskas gets a chance to peek through a stereopticon, to wear a water yoke, to pat a horse-hair rocking horse and try on a 19th century waistcoat. In the parlor, Rachel Pugh, whose family lived on the ridge for seven generations, lets Kasinskas examine a whale’s tooth that belonged to a relative who “followed the sea.” Pugh, who claims to be “83 years young and foolish” also allows Kasinskas to examine a farm ledger that shows a 32-cent debit to pay a farrier for a day’s horse-shoeing. Levi Jones scratched his livelihood out of the woods of the northern parish of Norway Plains, now Milton, in the late 18th and early 19th century. He was an enterprising Yankee who sold lumber, bartered butter and opened a tavern when the farm became a stop on the stagecoach run from Boston to the White Mountains in 1810. The farm remained in Jones’ family until 1977, when Elizabeth Jones willed the property to the Society for the Preservation of New Hampshire Forests and it became the home of the New Hampshire Farm Museum, a collection of farm tools and furniture stored in Exeter-area barns for a decade. “We’ve tried to create a casual, hands-on atmosphere so people can learn about farm life in an un-intimidating manner.” says museum director Melissa Walker as she leads a visitor to the barn. The barn houses an assortment of antique farm tools and furniture including a high-chair that converts into a stroller, several generations of wooden washing machines, a dog-powered butter churn and other original examples of Yankee ingenuity. The artifacts were donated to the museum. The farm’s original furnishings were auctioned off when Elizabeth Jones died. “The blacksmith shops and cobbler’s shops weren’t part of the original farm either.” says Walker. “They were donated by families in Belmont and Kingston. We just got a horse-powered cider mill, too. We’re hoping to raise enough money to raise a barn to house it.” To further illustrate life on the farm, the museum hosts weekly demonstrations: Rock Splitting Day, Stone Wall Day, Quilt Day, Ice Cream-Making Day. Today is Herb Day. Herbalist Chris Whitmann stands behind a table of apothecary jars filled with dried mint and sassafras, explaining the Insect repellant properties of tansy to a visitor. A half dozen scarecrows made on Scarecrow Day guard an adjoining vegetable patch. Though 20 visitors are exploring the farmhouse and outbuildings, the barnyard is quiet. Too quiet. Where are the animals? “In order to keep animals, we’d need to hire a caretaker,” explains Walker. “That would mean paying his salary and probably heating the farmhouse. We can’t afford it. “We used to have an ox named Bucky, but he had a tendency to wander. We got sick of chasing him down the highway.” But young Walter Kasinskas doesn’t seem to mind. “This is the best museum I’ve ever been to,” he says as his tour breaks up. “They let you touch things and the people are real friendly. It was neat. I feel like I really learned what it was like to live on a farm.” New Hampshire Farm Museum – Off Route 16, Milton. Telephone 652-7840. Hours: Tuesday through Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (after Labor Day. Saturday and Sunday only). Admission: Adults $3, children 50 cents (Boston Globe, August 27, 1989). – [Hours and fee information are NOT current (See References instead)].
Rachel M. (Doe) Pugh died in Rochester, NH, December 4, 2000, aged ninety-four years.
Rachel D. Pugh. MILTON – Rachel D. Pugh, 94, of White Mountain Highway, died Monday, Dec. 4, 2000, at Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester. Born Feb. 13, 1906, in Milton, she was the daughter of the late James and Etta (Martin) Doe. She resided most of her life in Milton and was a graduate of McIntosh College in Dover. She was employed as the House Hostess at the New Hampshire Farm Museum in Milton. She was a member of Reunion Grange, Pomona State and National, and also a member of the Milton Historical Society. Rachel was “bad as ever.” The widow of the late Ralph W. Pugh, Sr., who died in 1982, she is survived by her four children: Shirley A. Varney of Madbury, Ralph W. Pugh, Jr., of Milton, Betsy R. Mack of Somersworth and Barbara E. Chick of Milton; nine grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandson; several nieces and nephews. She was pre-deceased by a granddaughter, Kim Varney (Portsmouth Herald, December 4, 2000).
PUGH – Rachel D. Pugh, 94, of Milton, died Dec. 4, 2000. Calling hours are from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday at C.E. Peaslee and Son Funeral Home, 32 Central St. in Farmington. The funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2000, at the Community Church of Milton with the Rev. Linda J. Rackliffe, the Rev. Michelle A. Violette and the Rev. Stephen E. Hanson officiating. Interment will follow at the family cemetery in Milton. At the conclusion of the service, a time of reception will be held at the New Hampshire Farm Museum. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in her memory, to either the New Hampshire Farm Museum, P.O. Box 644, Milton, N.H. 03851 or to Strafford Guidance Center, 130 Central Ave., Dover, NH 03820 (Portsmouth Herald, December 4, 2000).
References:
Find a Grave. (2017, July 30). Etta F. Doe. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/181902169/etta-f-doe
Find a Grave. (2007, April 11). Charles Pugh. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/25936757/charles-pugh
NH Farm Museum. (2024). NH Farm Museum. Retrieved from nhfarmmuseum.org/
Milton Observer 