J. Howard (John Howard) Pugh

Born in Unionville, Pennsylvania, in 1827, John Howard Pugh attended local schools and the Friends' School at Westtown before teaching for a time in Marietta. He studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, graduated in 1852, and began practicing first in Bristol, Pennsylvania, before moving to Burlington, New Jersey, in 1854.

During the Civil War, he served without pay as a physician at the United States general hospital in Beverly, New Jersey. Beyond medicine, he became a major local figure in Burlington, serving for thirty-six years as president of the Mechanics' National Bank of Burlington.

Pugh was elected as a Republican to represent New Jersey's 2nd district in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving one term from 1877 to 1879. After his time in Congress, he returned to medical practice and also served on the state board of education, continuing a long pattern of public-minded work until his death in Burlington in 1905.