Thomas H. Bugless

The address of 30 East Gay Street was formerly occupied by ambrotypist Levis Davis, who left by September of 1857. It is likely Bugless bought out Davis’s gallery, perhaps learning the craft from him.

The first advertisement was placed on September 22, 1857, in the Village Record and ran through November 14th, it proclaimed:

Another advertisement was placed in The Jeffersonian, West Chester’s Copperhead newspaper, on September 26, 1857. It ran through January 9, 1858, and featured a large, shadow effect typeface.

With the Christmas season in full swing, Bugless’ holiday advertisement was placed in the Chester County Times on December 26, 1857, and ran through January 2, 1858.

Note that he renames his gallery from Bugless’ Ambrotype Gallery to the Keystone Photograph Gallery in the December advertisement. But after five months in business, there is no mention of Bugless’ gallery after January of 1858.

By August 10 of 1858, his landlord, Eusebius Townsend was advertising the studio space for rent in a Village Record advertisement that read: “TO LET. A LARGE UPPER ROOM in the new building on GAY STREET, west of High, fitted up with a large skylight expressly for the business of a daguerreotypist and photographer. Inquire of E. H. Townsend.”^[3] So we know that Bugless threw in the towel between January and August of 1858.

Bugless would have had tough competition from two well established photographers, namely, Nathan Parker and Eber Woodward. Bugless certainly had the cheapest prices of all of the competition. He offered all of the photographic processes popular in that day, with the exception of artistic hand-coloring of photographs. To have such a wide variety of skills he would have to have broad experience. How did he learn photography, where did he come from and where did he go after January of 1858?

Who was Thomas H. Bugless, the photographer? The information available on him is largely contradictory, because there were two different Thomas Bugless’ in West Chester during the early 1860s. This is evidenced in the West Chester Tax lists for 1862, there are two people named Thomas Bugless. One is listed as a landowner and the other as a tenant/freeman. The landowner’s occupation is that of a “laborer” while the freeman’s occupation is not recorded.

After extensive research on both names, I am convinced that photographer Thomas H. Bugless always used his middle initial to distinguish himself from others. What is presented here tells the story of Thomas H. Bugless. Note that sometimes the name is spelled Beugless, and I am retaining the original spelling as used in the primary sources.

In the Chester County History Center’s collection is an apprenticeship indenture in which Thomas H. Bugless is bound out to William Apple as a tin plate and sheet iron worker on August 5, 1853, for a term of 2 years, 2 months and 6 days^[4]. He is identified as the son of Charles P. Bugless. In the 1850 Census, Charles and Ann Bugless of West Goshen Township were operating a farm with their six children. Thomas is the eldest at age 15^[5]. He had a brother John, and four sisters.

After his apprenticeship concluded Bugless married Hannah Sturgis, daughter of a shoemaker in the village of Grove. Their first child was born on November 30, 1857. It is possible that Bugless thought he was purchasing a viable business from Levi Davis that could support his family better than tin smithing, only to discover that he had no knack for it. He soon returned to the tin smithing trade. Curiously, we find Bugless listed in West Chester tax lists for 1857 & 1858 with the occupation of a tinner, not a photographer.

By the time the 1860 Federal Census was taken, Thomas Bugless (25) was a master tin smith living in West Chester Borough with his wife Hannah Sturgis Bugless (25), their two children Charles (4) and Frank (2), two apprentices and two domestic servants^[6]. Two of the household members were his wife’s siblings. He seems to be doing well with real estate valued at $1000. But are his fortunes really steady with all these mouths to feed? In 1860 he was excused from paying federal taxes because he was too poor, according to a tax exoneration list^[7].

Bugless had gotten into some business difficulty, this time with a real estate investment. He partnered with Jewish businessman Abraham Mosteller to act as architects, contractors and builders for residential development. The two had purchased a lot on the south side of Chestnut Street between New and Darlington in West Chester where they intended to erect a three-story house. Before the building rose beyond the first story, there were four mechanic’s liens on the property; one from Lewis Shields who sold them the land, another from Marshall & Thompson brickmakers, Shoemaker & Robinson for sand & stone and Lackey & Passmore for lumber. The case was brought before the Court of Common Pleas on August 22, 1860. The result was the unfinished building of 70 x 25 feet was sold by Sherriff’s Sale in February of 1861 for $221 to settle the claims.^[8] Whatever Bugless had invested in the property was lost.

At the dawn of the Civil War, Thomas H. Bugless enlisted in West Chester on June 4, 1861, in a regiment raised by Captain Henry McIntire. The muster roll listed Thomas Bugless’ occupation as tinner^[9]. He mustered in July 26, 1861, as a private in Company A, 1^st Infantry Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteers^[10] for a three-year term of service. His brother John enlisted in the same unit.

The company clerk wrote to Washington Townsend on July 24, 1861, requesting that Thomas Bugless’ wife and two small children be assisted by the Board of Relief while Thomas was serving in the military^[11]. His soldier’s salary did not stretch far enough to cover the family’s needs.

Bugless was discharged from his unit on a surgeon’s certificate during February of 1862. The nature of discharge was not described, but it surely was some sort of illness, since the unit did not engage with confederate forces before his discharge. Bugless returned to West Chester and his family thereafter. His wife gave birth to a daughter Catherine known as “Kate” on November 15, 1862.

In 1863 Thomas H. Beugless acted as the recruiting officer for the United States Colored Troops in Chester County. Clearly, he wanted to remain engaged in the war effort, even if he was not well enough to fight. Beugless’ goal was to raise a company of 78 men from Chester County. He placed an advertisement in the Village Record on June 2, 1863, extolling the advantage of volunteering over waiting to be drafted, promising the men one month’s pay plus a $25 bounty for enlisting. Furthermore, he established a recruiting office in Everhart’s Building promising the recruits will receive the same clothing and bounty as white troops for the three-year enlistment^[12]. Frederick Douglass was the speaker at a recruiting event held at Horticultural Hall in West Chester on July 14, 1863^[13] where Beugless was on hand to record the enlistments. Douglass served as the spokesperson for the USCT recruitment advocating for the rights of African Americans to fight for their own freedom.

The 1864 West Chester tax list records Thomas Bugless as a tinner and soldier. But Bugless is clearly casting about for a better career, in the 1865 taxes he is listed as a butcher. The IRS tax listing record him as a fish peddler!^[14] But his health failed him, and he died in December of 1865. According to the Tax Exonerations for 1865, Thomas H. Bugless is now deceased^[15].

A file on Thomas H. Beugless in the Civil War manuscript collection in the library of the Chester County History Center contains an obituary for him^[16]. Published in the Village Record on January 16, 1866, the brief obituary is as follows: “At his residence in east Gay Street, West Chester, Capt. Thomas H. Beugless in the 32^nd year of his age. Thus perisheth the noblest work of God- an honest man.”

Bugless had struggled hard throughout his life to provide for his family while working as a tinsmith, soldier and photographer. Photography had but a brief trial during his career. If he was hoping to find a more lucrative niche for himself, it was not a good fit.

A T. H. Beugless (spelled with an e) is buried in Goshen Friends Cemetery in East Goshen Township. The grave marker records only his name and death date of December 18, 1865^[17]. Would Thomas Bugless who served in the military during the Civil War be buried in a Friends cemetery? A few meetings looked the other way for military service during the Civil War, but some disowned members who served. Also, why didn’t his family supply his birth date?

What happened to the family he left behind on such tenuous financial footing? Now it was up to Hannah to provide for her three small children. She was able to get her two sons educated in the Soldiers’ Orphans School at Yellow Springs. These schools were established by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to aid families shattered by the war. Hannah remarried in 1867, raising her daughter in the household of her new husband, West Chester Coal Dealer Albert Hilderman. In 1869 she applied for and received Thomas Bugless’s Civil War pension and named banker Eber D. Haines as trustee for the funds.^[18] Upon the decease of her second husband^[19] she married a third time, veteran William Conyers in 1893^[20]. Both husbands left Hannah well fixed to provide for her children in her will, giving each gifts of property and money.^[21] Hannah Sturgis Bugless Hilderman Conyers died July 21, 1908 at age 74.

© Pamela C. Powell, 2021, updated 2024.