Pugh Cemetery


Pugh Cemetery

The Pugh Cemetery in Stonycreek Twp., Somerset Co., Pa., is the final resting place of pioneer settlers James Pugh II and his wife Mary "Polly" Hulet. They came this place called Sheep Ridge from New Jersey some time before 1800. The last known burial in the cemetery was in 1922. The cemetery has been neglected ever since and is in very bad shape. Invaded by mature trees and wild vegetation, it is home to a colony of groundhogs. Most of the stones are knocked over, broken, and scattered. The photo at right was taken in Oct. 2012. In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) surveyed the cemetery, recording those inscriptions that were legible. Below are the gravestone inscriptions that were recorded by that survey.

WPA Gravestone Transcriptions for Pugh Cemetery

BURNS	Clara C.	d. 12-10-1889	Age 16 y 7 m 12d
BURNS	Mary C. w/o W.	d. 12-10-1889	Age 39 y 9m 1d
COLEMAN	Boaz	d. 10-16-1889	Age 36y 2m 19 d
COLEMAN	Sarah E.	1824-1922
COLEMAN	Wm. H.	1822-1894
PUGH	Rachel	b. 7-7-1803	d. 4-28-1882
PUGH	James	b. 1-8-1794	d. 2-12-1872
PUGH	Boaz	b. 5-11-1796	d. 4-5-1876
PUGH	Susanna	b. 8-23-1800	d. 5-5-1886
PUGH	Elizabeth w/o John nee Weigel	d. 8-20-1874	age 31 y 8m 27 d
PUGH	Jerome F.	d. 8-13-1888	age 25y 1 m 10 d
PUGH	James	b. 1-23-1764	d. 2-1841
PUGH	Polly nee Mary Hulet of Trenton, NJ	(Notes: no dates, wife of James, Pioneers of the family)
Total 29 graves - children & not inscribed graves omitted. Copied June 22, 1946.


	This is a four-sided stone, with James Pugh II, pioneer settler, on one side. Note the metal pin that originally anchored a top piece to this stone. Jerome Pugh, son of John Pugh, son of Boaz Pugh, son of James Pugh II.		This inscription for Rachel (Smith) Pugh is on the opposite side of the four-sided stone from husband, James Pugh II. Timothy Pugh, son of James Pugh III, son of James Pugh II. This inscription is on another side of the aforementioned four-sided stone. It was somehow missed by the WPA survey.

On the right, satellite imagery (courtesy of Google Maps) showing the location of the Pugh Cemetery. GPS coordinates are 40.0075, -78.9691. It's about six miles East of Somerset and 3-1/2 miles West of Shanksville.	View Larger Map

On the right, guide for getting to the Pugh Cemetery from Somerset. It is easiest to get to the cemetery by approaching it from the north, from Sheep Ridge Road. Park in the large driveway by the barn. You'll be on private property so make sure to get permission to park there. If nobody is home at the house by the barn, try asking at the house across the street if you can park there. The people are friendly and you should have no problems if they know you are there to visit the cemetery. (Aerial image courtesy of Bing Maps.)