Zug, John (John D.)

John Zug and Margaret Hood spent most of their lives in southern Pennsylvania. John Zug's family lived in Carlisle in Cumberland County, while Margaret Hood evidently lived in several southern Pennsylvania towns, including Newville, Springfield, and Stoughstown in Cumberland County and York in York County.

John Zug was an agent of the Colonization Society, an active speaker for the temperance movement, and an advocate of the Methodist Church, before entering Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to study law. He graduated from Dickinson College in 1840. Later that year he relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, where he helped establish a private school and served as instructor. Margaret Hood remained in southern Pennsylvania until July 1841, when she married John Zug and joined him in Baltimore.

Life in Baltimore was not easy for the newly married couple. In August 1842, as Margaret recovered from the birth of their son Edgar, John departed for several months of travel to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. He attempted to sell copies of a book he had written on a subject not disclosed in his letters. The couple's correspondence from this period indicates that they sold some of their furniture and personal belongings in an effort to reduce their debt.

The Zugs moved back to southern Pennsylvania by September 1842, probably due to their deepening financial problems. John returned to his family's farm to assist his father and practice law. Margaret and Edgar moved to Newville, where they probably stayed with her family. In early 1843, the couple still lived apart, although John planned to move his family into a new home in Carlisle in April.

John Zug's health was a perennial concern for his family and friends. Immediately before his wedding in July 1841, he suffered a ruptured blood vessel in his lung. He believed that his illness was due to "frequent exposure in public speaking [for the temperance movement], particularly in the open air," and he curtailed his excessive schedule of public addresses thereafter. In March 1843, Zug wrote to a friend that he had been ill since Christmas and that a recent convalescent trip to the country was unsuccessful. Zug's efforts to move his family and to begin practicing law compromised his recuperation. Despite the assistance and care of family and friends, John Zug died during the latter half of 1843.

Margaret Hood Zug remained in Carlisle with her young son after her husband's death. She remarried in 1847.