The Pugh brothers, William Whitmell Hill and Alexander Franklin, along with half brother Thomas, moved to Louisiana in 1818 from North Carolina and settled on Bayou Teche. In 1820 they moved to Bayou Lafourche. Alexander Franklin Pugh became part owner and manager of a number of sugar plantations in Assumption and Lafourche parishes, including Augustin, Bellevue, Boatner, and New Hope plantations. William Whitmell Hill Pugh founded Woodlawn plantation.
The Madewood Plantation House, which is now a National Historic Landmark in Napoleonville, Louisiana, was the manor house for the group of plantations owned by the family in the 1830s and 1840s. Eventually the family owned close to 10,000 acres of plantation land.
Louisiana Day Tours. “Madewood Plantation House.” http://www.louisianadaytours.com/aamadewood.htm (accessed June 8, 2010).
The Pugh Family papers, 1807-1907, include correspondence, diaries, legal documents, journal, memoranda books, invoices, bills, receipts, account books and papers, cash book, promissory notes, payroll lists, plantation records, school papers and reports, United States naturalization papers, genealogical papers, literary productions, pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, and a scrapbook of clippings. The papers relate to the personal and business activities of the Pugh family in Louisiana, specifically to the ownership, management, and administration of the Augustin, Highland, Mount Lawrence, New Hope, Whitmell, and Woodlawn plantations. Furthermore, the papers include subcollections of Alexander Franklin Pugh, Robert Lawrence Pugh, and William Whitmell Hill Pugh.
Microfilm of papers is available for use.
Unrestricted access.
Photocopies should be made from microfilm, not from originals. See microfilm inventory on Reference shelves under the title, “Ante-Bellum Plantations.”
Pugh Family Papers, 1807-1907, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Forms part of the Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations, Series G, from University Publications of America, 44 North Market St., Frederick, MD 21701. (OCLC: 16125404)
All or a portion of this collection is available on CAH microfilm 18,335 Series G, Part 1, Reels 1 - 11.
This collection was processed by Winnie Allen, October 1935. Subsequent revisions were made by Claire Maxwell, August 1986, and by Deborah Bloys, March 1993.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s