A distinguished physician in the Edgecombe County, North Carolina area during the first half of the 19th century, Dr. Phesanton Southerland Sugg's political notoriety rests on his brief service as a delegate to the North Carolina State Constitutional Convention held in Raleigh in 1835.
The story of this oddly named North Carolinian begins in the county of Edgecombe, where he was born on December 13, 1805, one of a number of children (one listing gives the total as 14) born to Reading and Margaret Southerland Sugg. Phesanton decided upon a career in medicine early in his life and in 1826 graduated from the University of Maryland's School of Medicine, and wrote his thesis on the "means of abstracting blood". Following his graduation, Sugg married Lucinda Pender on January 9, 1827, and during their 28-year marriage had at least 14 children born to them, some of whom died in infancy.
Although little is known of Sugg's life, it is known that he practiced medicine in Edgecombe County for the majority of his life, and was a large landowner in the area. In 1835 he received the honor of being named as one of two delegates from Edgecombe to attend the North Carolina State Constitutional Convention being held at Raleigh in June of that year. A roster from the convention bearing Sugg's name is shown below.
Little is known of Phesanton Sugg's life after his service at the Constitutional Convention concluded, but he did continue in the practice of medicine in his home county of Edgecombe. The Rootsweb genealogical website gives notes that Sugg died at age 49 on October 14, 1855, as the result of an "infected carbuncle" located on his neck. He was later buried at the Greenwood Cemetery in Tarboro, North Carolina, and was survived by his wife Lucinda, who died in 1876 at age 67.
