Photo to right is Solomon and his grandson Leland Wenner, Margie's son.
Solomon Rugh was one of six children born to William and Charlotte (Mikesell) Rugh in Clarion County Pennsylvania. Solomon and Elizabeth Fowles, daughter of Reuben and Susan (Laughner) Fowles, were married October 12, 1865 in Beaver Township, Clarion County. They had five children; Charles Edward, Ida Minnie, Harry E., Arthur and Margie L. The following was written by the youngest brother, Arthur, following the death of his two brothers.
MY BROTHERS
There were five of us Children. After sixty-three years of an unbroken circle both of my brothers died this year of pneumonia.
I suppose they were ordinary men. Certainly we came from ordinary sources. I know of no blue blood in our veins; no crowned heads in our ancestry. My father often said that he never heard of a Rugh who was rich or famous or in jail. Then one of my cousins landed in jail and broke part of that good record.
We grew up on a rocky little farm in Pennsylvania, which much hand work developed into a home which is a very beautiful memory. We went to the village school "after the corn was husked". Our parents were farmers for generations, but both of them for some unknown reason determined that their children should have a higher education. That was not required or always approved in our neighborhood.
We went to one of the three village churches. where loving pastors and pretty farmers' daughters made religion attractive in spite of some archaic theology. We had two sisters who, I thought then and still think, were superb characters.
There was nothing in our inheritance or environment to make my brothers different from the regular variety of men. And yet if all men, or even a minority of men, were like them our world would be a very different world. Ignorance. injustice, poverty and war would not be in the world they worked heroically to build.
C. E. was an educator. H. E. was a lawyer. Both were recognized as first-rate in their profession. There are a good many people who would rise up and call them blessed for the difference that these brothers of mine made in their lives through their profession. But they were much more than successful men in their profession. They were elevoted citizens and friends in their communities and loving members of their families. I do not remember a selfish thing either of them ever did. And that is not because the passing years has blurred memory but because they were too absorbed in doing their part of the world's work to be selfish about anything.
Last,spring C. E. took me to a luncheon of one hundred prominent educators of California. The speaker of the day did not arrive. The chairman said "Our speaker is lost but we are not lost. We will turn this meeting over to Charlie Rugh." The torrent of applause was not primarily for a great educator but for a dear friend of them all.
I called with H. E. on an invalid farmer woman. She said "Harry, what is my future when father's pension stops?" Harry said "Forget it." And she knew then, what everybody else in the country knew, that if life's load became too heavy for her "Harry" would carry it. And he did.
My brothers both sang unusually well. C. E. had a lyric first tenor voice. H. E. had a rich full bass voice. They will both be welcomed in Heaven's Choir. They were both good athletes. C. E. was quick as a flash and H. E. was a heady partner or opponent in any game
Both were good farmers. C. E. could plow more ground in a day than the labor law woule! allow now. And H. E. always plowed the straightest furrow in the township, which was a record to be appreciated. And both liked to argue. Oh, did they! C. E. usually started the argument, and soon discovered he had his hands full. The fun of watching the argument and getting into it, if I could, was that hot as each one fought for his point, you knew they both were interested in something much bigger than winning a debate.
They were both vigorously religious. They travelled from Pennsylvania theological conservatism to a consistent modern position with no loss of any essential and with much vitality of religion. They were charming Christians. Harry's poor health in recent years gave us and many others a good chance to see what a gracious Christian gentleman he always was. He loved his Church. He was an expert Christian whenever any man had needs.
The chief sickness in C.E,'s life was the shock to his nerves when he discovered that when a man was seventy, he was old enough to retire. That was a strange idea to him and with reason. He used his rare pedagogical skill to help many a Bible teacher be a real teacher. Both were elders and pillars in their Churches, patient usually, if not always, with narrow sectarianism.
They both owed much to their homes, our old farm home and their own homes. Both won grand mates and had beautiful children. They both always worked very hard. They would both have lasted, here, past their three score years and ten if they had taken life more easily. But what if they had. It is much happier to remember them working their heads off for somebody for half a century and then leaving us than to think of them saving themselves while somebody needed them.
The processes which made them the grand souls they have been are so simple and so available you wonder why our world is not producing enough men like them to make this the kind of world of which they dreamed and for which they worked so valiantly and so well.
In any case let one "kid brother" record his unmeasurable gratitude for two big brothers who have left no memory which is not an inspiration and who have embodied life as I should like to live it until the sun goes down.
Peking, China, March I939 Yenching University
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Solomon Rugh was a married and retired farmer. He was born in Pa. on April 5, 1840 and died in Clarion, Clarion Co., Pa. from the effects of an infected gall bladder, on July 10,1919. His father was William Rugh, mother not listed.He was interred in the Clarion Cemetery on July 12, 1919. The informant was his son, H. E. Rugh of Clarion, Pa.
Source: Pa Certificate of Death, 1919. File No. 74003
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In the death of Mr. Solomon Rugh, of Clarion, which occurred at his home corner of Liberty Street and Eighth avenue, Clarion, on Thursday, July 10, 1919, Clarion town and Clarion county has lost one of their foremost
citizens.
Mr. Rugh's illness was not long in duration, but it was intense as to suffering. So deep seated was the disease that,notwithstanding his rugged constitution and in spite of the most careful attention and the best medical skill, he was forced to succumb. He gradually grew weaker.
Fortunately, there was a surcease of pain which characterized his case from the beginning. As he went down into the valley of the shadow, he not only had rest from pain, but enjoyed in full the Christian's support and the
Christian's hope.
Mr. Rugh was a native of Clarion county having been born in Salem township, April 5, 1840, the son of William and Charlotte Rugh. Growing up on the farm he followed that calling all of his life, and he was one of the best informed, most intelligent and most practical farmers in the county, and it might be added, one of the more successful. Through long years of hard work and careful study he learned to know soil as a man knows how to read; its characteristics were all open to him, hence he was
able to supply what was missing.
Owing to his wide reading he was also thoroughly posted on all questions affecting his occupation, msuch as cattle breeding, and was a broad gauge man on all civil government questions. Above all, he was a man of the highest type of religious character, well informed and of deep conviction, and yet was as free from religious prejudice as one could be. He had a brother's sympathy and brother's greeting for every christian who was earnestly striving to serve the Master. He was a lifelong member of the Lutheran Church and his faith was evidently the basis upon which he erected his long, useful and helpful life.
The deceased was also a veteran of the civil war, showing the patriotic spirit that he possessed giving his country a just and faithful service. He was a member of the G. A R.
Mr. Rugh was joined in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Fowles, of Beaver township, on Oct. 12, 1865, who now survives him to mourn the loss of her life companion. The following children also survive,viz: C.E. Rugh, of University of California, at Berkeley; Arthur Rugh, Shanghai, China; Mrs. W. E. Wenner, Ashtabula, Ohio; Mrs. Don C. Corbett and Harry E. Hugh [sic], Esq. of Clarion.
The deceased made his home all of his life in Salem township up until October, 1918, when he removed to Clarion and was in the full enjoyment of his home here when the final summons to a better home came to him. The funeral was held last Saturday, July 11th, the services being conducted by the Rev. Joseph Arnold,pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, and the interment was made in the Clarion cemetery. The family has the sympathy of the community, many members of which mourn with them over the loss sustained.
Source:Sally Jordan Reed. “Obituaries From The Clarion Democrat, 1918 Through 1920.” 2002. Print (with author's permission)
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Solomon Rugh was one of six children born to William and Charlotte (Mikesell) Rugh in Clarion County Pennsylvania. Solomon and Elizabeth Fowles, daughter of Reuben and Susan (Laughner) Fowles, were married October 12, 1865 in Beaver Township, Clarion County. They had five children; Charles Edward, Ida Minnie, Harry E., Arthur and Margie L.
Provided by great-grandson, Gerald R. Hurlbert.
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Family Members
Parents
William Rugh
1801–1886
Charlotte Mikesell Rugh
1806–1883
Spouse
Elizabeth Fowles Rugh
1838–1924
Siblings
John Enos Rugh
1833–1891
Margaret Caroline Rugh Hubler
1837–1914
Louisa Rugh Biery
1842–1893
Emanuel J. Rugh
1845–1939
Children
Charles Edward Rugh
1867–1938
Ida Minnie Rugh Corbett
1869–1944
Harry Emanuel Rugh
1871–1939
Arthur Rugh
1873–1946
Margery L Rugh Wenner
1876–1941
