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DR. JOHN PARKES DUGAN, President of the Springfield School Board, has been identified with the educational interests of the Buckeye State for many years and was selected for the office which he now holds as being a man eminently qualified to fill the position. He is a lifelong resident of Clark County, his early home being on a farm in Springfield Township and where he was born July 22, 1859. His early trainings and associations were such as to inculcate in him both the love of truth and the love of learning, and which by years of careful development have constituted him a man of more than ordinary intelligence and one who can always be trusted to perform his duty.

In reverting to the parental history of Dr. Dugan we find that his father, William Dugan, was likewise a native of Springfield Township, and born September 25, 1815. The paternal grandfather was John Dugan, a native of Somerset County, Pa. and the son of Jeremiah Dugan who was born in Ireland. Jeremiah Dugan emigrated to America with his parents when a small boy and was educated to the priesthood. As he grew in years he renounced the Catholic faith and threw his books into the mill-race. Subsequently he was married to a Miss Anthony, a lady of German birth and parentage. He remained a resident of Pennsylvania until 1794, then removed to Kentucky and located near the struggling town of Cynthiana. There his first wife died and he was married a second time.

In the meantime the grandfather of our subject found his home rather unpleasant with a stepmother and he left as soon as attaining his majority. He entered the employ of a man named Newell, who was about removing to Ohio, and he assisted in driving the team, the journey being made overland. They arrived upon the present site of Springfield, October 24, 1806, when there were only two families on the prairie east of the infant town. Being an unmarried man Mr. Dugan sought employment with the heads of the two families mentioned-Mr. Reid and Mr. Snidgrass-with whom he remained for some time. He lived economically and saved his money and in due time bought a six horse team and a wagon and commenced hauling pork and other produce to Cincinnati and what was then Portland, but is now Sandusky. Upon the return trips he transported merchandise, salt and fish for a Mr. Wallace and Pierson Spinning, the only two merchants in Springfield at the time.

In 1812, Grandfather Dugan volunteered in the service of the United States as a teamster, taking with him his six horses, and served until peace was declared. He received for his services two land warrants, one of which he gave to his youngest son and the other he traded off. He followed teaming for about twenty-five years and in the meantime purchased a tract of wild land four miles east of the court house for which he paid $10 per acre to Griffith Foos who had entered it from the Government. While he was teaming his family resided upon the farm and improved the land. Afterward he engaged in farming until 1858, then sold out and purchased a home at the intersection of East Main Street and Burnett Road near the corporation line where he spent the remainder of his days, passing away July 2,1868. He was married March 10,1810, to Miss Polly Hall, a native of Harrison County, Ky., and born April 22,1792. Her father, John Hall, removed from Kentucky to Clark County in 1808, and located in Springfield Township where he died. Grandmother Dugan departed this life July 21, 1867.

Of the five children born to the paternal grandparents of our subject the record is as follows: Sally married Jacob Pence who is now deceased; William, the father of our subject, was the second born; Margaret, Mrs. Wood, is living in Springfield; John resides on East Main Street, Springfield; James died when a promising young man of twenty-two years. William, like his brothers and sisters, obtained his education in the pioneer schools which were conducted in a log schoolhouse on the subscription plan. The temple of learning was a rude structure, heated by a fireplace and furnished with seats made of split logs upheld by wooden pins. Light was admitted through the place made vacant by the removal of a log, over which was pasted greased paper. The chimney was built outside of earth and sticks. The system of education was in keeping with the surroundings, the principal branches taught being, reading, writing and ciphering."

At home the father of our subject was reared to agricultural pursuits and worked on the farm until his marriage. He then settled on a part of the Old homestead, where he resided until 1857, during which year he removed to the farm which he now owns and occupies. This is located six miles east of the court house, near Oxtobys Station. There he has gathered around him all of the comforts and conveniences of modern life. He was married August 19, 1847, to Mrs. Caroline (Harris) McDonald. This lady was born in the eastern part of Clark County, October 7, 1824, to Ezra and Hannah Harris. She was first married to Samuel McDonald who died, leaving one child who afterwards died.

To William and Caroline Dugan there were born five children, the eldest of whom, a daughter, Mary, is the wife of Christian Foster and resides in Springfield; James W. is farming in Decatur County, Ind.; John Parks, our subject, was the third child; Sarah A. and Louemma remain at home with their parents. John P. attended the district school during his boyhood and later was placed in a select school at Springfield, this being taught by Prof. John Rowe. He at an early age decided upon the profession of medicine and commenced studying, when approaching manhood, with Dr. Cyrus D. Richey as his preceptor.

In 1881 young Dugan entered the Miami Medical College at Cincinnati, from which he was graduated March 1, 1883. Eleven days later he commenced the practice of his profession in Springfield, of which he has since been a resident and among whose people he has a large number of patrons and friends. He was married November 25, 1887, to Miss Carrie M., daughter of E.N. and Abigail Tibbetts of whom an extended sketch appears elsewhere in this ALBUM. To the Doctor and his estimable lady there has been born one child, a daughter, Grace Vernon.

Dr. Dugan belongs to Clark County Medical Society and the Southwestern Medical Association. In politics he has always been a Democrat. He was first elected a member of the School Board in 1888, and re-elected in 1890. Upon its re-organization he was made its President. During the administration of President Cleveland, he was made Secretary of the Board of Pension Examiners and served four years.

The maternal great-grandfather of Dr. Dugan was Lazarut Harris, a native of Virginia, who emigrated to Ohio at an early day and settled in Muskingum County, where lie died. He was the father of a goodly family and his son, Ezra, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Virginia, January 22,1790. He emigrated to Ohio when a young man with his parents and later settled in what was then Champaign County but is now Clark County. He was married April 11, 1813, to Miss Hannah Roys who was born July 3, 1798, near Morgantown, Va. They located on a tract of wild land in Harmony Township where Mr. Harris improved a farm and with his estimable wife spent the balance of his life. They reared a large family of children, who were named respectively, Joana, Phebe, Chipps, Thomas, Eliza, John, Caroline, Foreman, Mary, Susan, James, William, Harrison and Washington. The youngest son measured six feet four and one-half inches in height and was the tallest man serving in the Ninety-Fourth Ohio Infantry, which was comprised of one thousand and eight members. He yielded up his life to his country, dying at Murfreesboro, Tenn., from the effects of measles. Ezra Harris died March 12, 1865. Hannah Harris died December 1, 1868; her maiden name was Phoebe Carey.

Sept 20, 1999

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