My Great-Grandfather on my Father's side

ARTHUR JAMES RUGG

Arthur was born in St. Luke, Middlesex, England, in December 1858 to Charles Rugg (b. May 1831 in Clapham, Surrey, England) and Jane Eaton (b. 1830 in Wybunbury, Cheshire, England).

At age 14, Arthur migrated to the United States with his father, four brothers, Charles, Thomas, Sidney and Frank, and two sisters, Maude and Lydia. They booked steerage class passage from Liverpool, England on the SS Egypt, arriving in New York City on May 5, 1873. Arthur’s mother did not come with them to America because she had passed away some time in the two years previous to this migration. The family settled in Minnesota. Following is a snapshot of the passenger list from their passage:

According to the 1880 census, Arthur was 21 years old and living with his father, Charles, and his brothers and sisters only a few doors down the street from the Antrim family. It is quite probable that the two families knew each other and it can be assumed that sometime between 1880 and 1888 a courtship ensued between Arthur and Iva Belle.

They were married on September 17, 1888. He was 29 years old and she was 20 years old at this time. Each of their seven children were born in Clay County, Minnesota. Their first child, Charles, died when he was two months old in October 1889. Another child, Amelia, died just before she turned eight years old in 1900.

On May 23, 1900 Arthur, his father, and his brother, Thomas, became naturalized citizens of the United States. An additional value of the following document is his own personal signature.

By 1906 the family had moved to Sutter County in California. This year marked the death of their sixteen year old daughter, Angie Barbara, who succumbed to typhoid fever on December 1. Angie is buried in the cemetery near the center of town in Yuba City. Ten years later, on the December 16, 1916 Arthur died of aortic insufficiency (probably a heart attack). He was buried head to head with his daughter, Angie Barbara. They share the same headstone in the cemetery.

Arthur was a hard working man and worked many jobs which required muscle. Either by occupation or as a hobby he was also a photographer. Many of his photographs and his business card have survived the century.