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Below is a family biography included in the book, Portrait and Biographical Record of Johnson and Pettis County Missouri published by Chapman Publishing Company in 1895.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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GEORGE E. DUGAN, who is now serving as Alderman from the Fourth Ward in Sedalia, is a contracting decorator and painter, and is also proprietor of one of the largest carriage repositories in central Missouri. He is very active and enterprising in his business affairs, and takes much interest in everything relating to the growth and improvement of this city. In 1891 he was elected on the Republican ticket to serve as Alderman for two years, and in the spring of 1894 was re-elected from the same ward. He has served as Chairman of the Finance Committee, and also of the one on public buildings, as well as acting on others.

Mr. Dugan was born near Pittsburg, Pa., in November, 1845. His father, T. T. Dugan, was also born in the Keystone State, and by trade was a contracting painter. For some years he lived in Beaver, Pa., but later removed to Warren County, Ohio. His death occurred in Missouri in the year 1872. His wife, formerly Eliza McLean, also of Pennsylvania, is now living in Sedalia. Of their nine children, only two survive. Five of the sons were soldiers in the late war.

From the time he was seven years of age our subject attended the district schools in Ohio, and from his thirteenth year has made his own way in the world. In 1861 he volunteered in the One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio Infantry with his father, and in 1864 became a member of the National Guard, but was not called into action. In May, 1864, he enlisted in Company K, One Hundred and Forty-sixth Infantry, and from Camp Dennison went to West Virginia, serving with the rank of Corporal. In September he received an honorable discharge and returned home.

For the next five and a-half years Mr. Dugan was a brakeman on the Little Miami Railroad, running between Cincinnati and Columbus, and later he worked at his trade in Warren County, taking contracts for himself. He finally came West and located in Lawrence, Kan., where he worked industriously for two years. Later, while the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad was in process of construction, he did contract work for two years. During this time he superintended the building of the road from Junction City to Neosho Falls, and from Sedalia to Denison, Tex., employing from fifteen to twenty hands.

In 1872 Mr. Dugan settled in Sedalia, and January 1, 1889, purchased a store at No. 116 East Fifth Street, and fitted it out with a full line of wall paper, paints, glass and other articles usually found in his line. He has a three-story building, 23x120 feet in extent, with basement. In busy times he employs from twenty to thirty-five men, and has had contracts for finishing all of the principal residences and public buildings of this city. He also takes outside contracts, and the beautiful work on the Clinton (Mo.) court house is a sample of his skill. In May, 1894, he bought out the Kelks Carriage Works, and has since conducted the same, being sole owner. He manufactures a high grade of various kinds of carriages and carries a stock of over one hundred vehicles. A force of twenty-two men is kept busy, and occasionally the force is increased to about one hundred hands. The plant, which has a frontage of ninety feet on Osage Avenue, is run by steam power.

Socially Mr. Dugan belongs to George R. Smith Post, G. A. R., and is a charter member of the Royal Tribe of Joseph. He is a Republican politically, and quite a leader in his party. For several years he has been a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, and by all who know him he is considered an upright, honorable and trustworthy man.

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This family biography is one of the numerous biographies included in the Pettis County, Missouri portion of the book,  Portrait and Biographical Record of Johnson and Pettis County Missouri published in 1895 by Chapman Publishing Co.  For the complete description, click here: Pettis County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Pettis County, Missouri family biographies here: Pettis County, Missouri Biographies

View a map of 1904 Pettis County, Missouri here: Pettis County, Missouri Map

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