Notes for: Henry Keith Bugbee

This picture is of a family reunion in Woodstock, Connecticut about 1887. The location is the Bugbee family homestead, 350 Roseland Park Rd, Woodstock and is still there. At the time Ellen (Bugbee) Child and her husband Able Child (she was Henry Bugbee's half sister) owned the house but are not in the picture.

Betty said, "The two older people seated, I believe, are Henry Keith Bugbee and Sarah Patch who were visiting. The children on the wall I know are Edwin Bugbee and Mary Bugbee (my grandmother) who are a nephew and niece of Henry Bugbee and first cousins of Anna Ella Bugbee who married Ernest Cooper Bodine. After this I am guessing... This is my guess: The three standing women are Mary "Rilla" Bugbee, Alice Bugbee and to the right Anna E. (Bugbee) Bodine. The man behind Anna Bodine is her husband Ernest Cooper Bodine and son, Henry Keith Bodine. Possibly Joel Alfred Bodine standing under the tree. And I have no idea who the young lady is who is sitting under the tree."

Betty also wrote, "It occurred to me that the lady under the tree was probably one of Ernest Bodine's sisters, probably the youngest, Anna (Fannie) Bodine. Compare that face to the one on your website for her. Once I looked at pictures on your site I felt more confident that the people noted were very likely the Bodines I thought they were."

This may be the only known picture of Henry and Sarah Bugbee.


And here is a larger picture of the family and house:

From: Jack Jennings [jejennings at comcast.net]
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011
Subject: Back the Bugbee line

Hi Dave,

Here's some information for addition to and going back a bit more. All of this is based on the entries in "Biographical History of the First Congressional District of New Jersey. Illustrated Volume II, The Lewis Publishing Company, New York and Chicago 1900"

I am attaching pictures from the above book.

Here is a much of Henry Keith Bugbee's lineage as I've been able to extract from the text, which is reproduced in full below**:

Stephen Bugbee, who resided at Whitechapel, East Division, London, England, which place was originally called Bugbee's Marshes.
|
His son, Edward Bugbee, came to the United States in 1634 and made his residence in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
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His son, Joseph Bugbee, together with thirty-seven others of Roxbury people, obtained from town officials a grant of land westward, - a place then called Wabbaquassett country, subsequently and still called Woodstock, Connecticut. This wilderness locality had been one of the missionary fields of John Eliot, the Indian apostle, who was the minister of the first church of Roxbury, and it was undoubtedly from him that the new and fair country was made known to the Roxbury people, and a desire created by Joseph and his friends to possess it. which they did in 1686, their object being, as stated in their petition, "to improve the condition and usefulness of the colony and to increase the pasturage for their cattle." The choice was a wise one; for Woodstock is one of the best and finest of all the agricultural towns in Connecticut.
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Of Joseph Bugbee's family, his son Samuel was the next in the line of direct descent to our subject, and he was the father of James Bugbee
|
James Bugbee
|
Hezekiah Bugbee ----------------------- married a daughter of Dr. David Holmes,
held the rank of captain | who served as a surgeon in the
of transportation in | French and Indian war, also
the Revolutionary war. | during the Revolutionary war.
/
/
/
/
-------------------
|
Hezekiah Bugbee, Jr. ----------------------- married a daughter of Eleazer
| Keith, a descendant of
| Rev. James Keith, who was
| a graduate of Aberdeen
| and came to America in 1662.
/ Mrs. Eleazer Keith was a
/ descendant of the noted
/ missionary family of Judson.
/
--------------------
|
Henry K. Bugbee
b. 3 JUl 1858
d. 7 Feb 1911 (date from Monroe Building Association "In Memorium"**
m. 3 Jul 1858

**On May 5, 1911 the Monroe Building Association, of which Mr. Bugbee had long been a member and officer passed an "In Memoriam" resolution which they had inscribed in a leather covered folio that was presented to the family. This document represents an interesting example of turn of the last century shadowed calligraphy and was passed down in the Bugbee, Bodine and Jennings families to Henry Keith's Great Granddaughter Gwendolyn Gladys Bodine Wylde, who gifted it to the Historical Society of Monroe Township at their Williamstown Ireland House on Sunday, November 14, 2010.

* From "Biographical History of the First Congressional District of New Jersey. Illustrated Volume II, Starting on page 208:
"HENRY KEITH BUGBEE
It has assuredly been not uninteresting to observe in the series of biographical sketches appearing in this volume the varying nationality, origin and early environment of men who have made their way to positions of prominence and success. In no better way can we gain a conception of the diverse elements which have entered into our social, professional and commercial life, and which will impart to the future American type, features which cannot be conjectured at the present time. We have had an American type in the past; we shall have a distinctly national character in the future; but for the present amalgamation of the various elements is proceeding and the final result is yet remote.

Mr. Bugbee is of English lineage and belongs to a family that has long been prominently connected with the history of New England at an early period in our colonial history. The first of the name of whom we have record was Stephen Bugbee, who resided at Whitechapel, East Division, London, England, which place was originally called Bugbee's Marshes. His son, Edward Bugbee, came to the United States in 1634 and made his residence in Roxbury, Massachusetts. His son, Joseph Bugbee, together with thirty-seven others of Roxbury people, obtained from town officials a grant of land westward, - a place then called Wabbaquassett country, subsequently and still called Woodstock, Connecticut. This wilderness locality had been one of the missionary fields of John Eliot, the Indian apostle, who was the minister of the first church of Roxbury, and it was undoubtedly from him that the new and fair country was made known to the Roxbury people, and a desire created by Joseph and his friends to possess it. which they did in 1686, their object being, as stated in their petition, "to improve the condition and usefulness of the colony and to increase the pasturage for their cattle." The choice was a wise one; for Woodstock is one of the best and finest of all the agricultural towns in Connecticut.

Of Joseph Bugbee's family, his son Samuel was the next in the line of direct descent to our subject, and he was the father of James Bugbee, who was the father of Hezekiah Bugbee, who held the rank of captain of transportation in the Revolutionary war. He married a daughter of Dr. David Holmes, who served as a surgeon in the French and Indian war, also during the Revolutionary war. Captain Hezekiah Bugliee was the father of Hezekiah Bugbee, Jr., who was the father of our subject, and was the fifth in the line of direct descent. All were Woodstock farmers, and all Congregationalists of the old Puritan order. The five generations of the Woodstock family lie buried in the old town cemetery. Hezekiah Bugbee, Jr.. married a daughter of Eleazer Keith, a descendant of Rev. James Keith, who was a graduate of Aberdeen and came to America in 1662. Mrs. Eleazer Keith was a descendant of the noted missionary family of Judson.

Henry K. Bugbee, whose name heads this sketch, acquired his preliminary education in the common schools and later pursued a course in the Woodstock Academy, where he was graduated. In 1847 he came to Brunswick, New Jersey, where he engaged in teaching for six years. Subsequently he went to Blackwood, where he taught for three years, in the Blackwood Academy, after which he was employed as an instructor in a private school in Elizabeth, New Jersey. In 1865 he came to Williamstown and for twenty years was the principal of the public schools, demonstrating himself to be an able educator. In his methods of teaching he was progressive, and he had the faculty of imparting readily to others the knowledge that he had acquired. His health failing him, he purchased considerable land, and, abandoning the schoolroom, turned his attention to the real-estate business. He has erected many houses here and has the thereby contributed largely to the improvement and prosperity of the town. He is now a surveyor, conveyancer and commissioner of deeds, and owns and handles valuable property interests. For twenty years he served as a member of the county board of examiners of teachers, and through the care he exercised in this matter he was instrumental in advancing the educational interests of the county. He has held a number of township offices and in such positions has discharged the duties with marked promptness and fidelity.

On the 3d of July, 1858. Mr. Bugbee was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Patch, a daughter of Charles Patch, who was a native of England, and they have had three children: Ella, the wife of Ernest C. Bodine, of Williamstown; Rilla and Alice, who are teachers. The family holds a high position in social circles where culture, intelligence and true worth are received as the passports into good society. For thirty-one years Mrs. Bugbee was a successful teacher in Williamstown, where she held the position of vice principal; and when she resigned her position the teachers and school board presented her with a finely engrossed memorial and testimonial in token of their esteem and of their appreciation of her able work.

Mr. Bugbee is a member of the Presbyterian Church, is now serving as its treasurer, and in its work takes a deep and active interest. He is the friend of all measures that tend to benefit and uplift mankind, and in many ways he has left the impress of his individuality for good upon the social, intellectual and moral life of the community. He is now seventy-four years of age, his birth having occurred February 5, 1826; yet his advanced years indicate neither physical nor mental infirmities. He keeps himself well informed on the issues of the day, is still actively associated with the business affairs of his adopted county, and is a public-spirited and progressive citizen who well merits the high regard in which he is held.

"