George E. Bugbee

GEORGE E. BUGBEE. - A venerable and highly esteemed resident of Bonner Springs, George E. Bugbee, a retired agriculturist, is here pleasantly passing the sunset years of his life, enjoying a well earned leisure from business cares. A native of New England, he was born in 1837, in Perry, Washington county, Maine, coming from distinguished Colonial stock, on his mother's side having been a lineal descendant of Roger Sherman, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His father, John B. Bugbee, was a life long resident of Maine, his birth occurring in 1800 and his death, in 1898. He was a farmer by occupation, a man of sterling integrity and honesty, a member of the Congregational church, and after the formation of the Republican party was one of its most loyal adherents. He married Hannah Sherman, who was born about 1812, and died in 1853. Five children were born into their household, as follows: Elijah, George E., Thomas, Mary, and John B. Fraternally the father belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Brought up on the Maine farm, George E. Bugbee attended first the district schools and later the Washington Academy in Machias, Maine. Beginning his active career as a teacher, he taught school seven years in Washington county, Maine. At the breaking out of the Civil war, he enlisted in the First Maine Cavalry as a private, and was afterward commissioned lieutenant of his company. His regiment, which was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, participated in many of the more important engagements of the contest, including those at Gettysburg and Antietam, two sanguinary battles of the Civil war, the battle-flag of his regiment, now in the state capitol at Augusta, Maine, bearing the names of thirty-nine battles in which it was borne.

In 1866 Mr. Bugbee migrated to California, and for seventeen years thereafter was inspector of customs at San Francisco. Coming eastward to Kansas in 1883, he purchased land in Johnson county, and there, on his fine estate of four hundred and fifty acres, was successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising for twenty years, in his operations being eminently successful. Locating at Bonner Springs in 1903, Mr. Bugbee purchased a beautiful cottage home and other property of value, and is here living retired from business affairs. He is a stanch Republican in politics, proud of the fact that he voted for Abraham Lincoln for president, and in 1905 was elected mayor of Bonner Springs. He is a member of the Ancient, Free and Accepted Order of Masons, and he and his family belong to the Methodist church, towards the support of which he is a generous contributor. He was born, as he says, in the far east, has spent a part of his life in the extreme west, and is now a resident of the central part of the United States.

Mr. Bugbee married, February 8, 1864, Helen M. Cooper, of Maine, and to them three children have been born, namely: George L., of Los Angeles, California, land agent for the Pacific and Electric Land Company; Alice C., wife of John A. Stark, postmaster at Bonner Springs; and Fred W., who as a member of the "Rough Riders" fought bravely at San Juan and is now captain in the United States army. He married Grace Cornell, a daughter of Dudley E. Cornell, of Kansas City, Kansas.