The American Red Cross Bulletin (Vol. IV, No. 4, October 1909)

by American National Red Cross

RHODE ISLAND.

The American National Red Cross and the Rhode Island Branch have sustained a great loss in the death of Mr. John C. Pegram, of Providence, a member of the Central Committee of the American Red Cross and the President of the Rhode Island Branch. The Red Cross in this country has had no more loyal and faithful supporter than Mr. Pegram since its reorganization in 1905. At the next meeting of the Central Committee appropriate action will be taken to express the deep appreciation of the Red Cross of Mr. Pegram’s services and its sincere sympathy with the members of his family and the Rhode Island Red Cross Branch.

John Combe Pegram, a member of the Providence bar since 1868, a former Representative in the General Assembly, and prominently known throughout the city and State because of his activities in benevolent and civic work, died at the Hope Club at 6 o’clock on the morning of August 11. His death resulted from an attack of cerebral hemorrhage.

JOHN COMBE PEGRAM.

John Combe Pegram, son of William B. and Charlotte Combe Pegram, was born August 26, 1842, at Owensborough, Ky. He was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, of Annapolis, in the class of 1863, and served in the south Atlantic blockading squadron from July, 1863, to October, 1864, on the U. S. S. Wachusett in 1865-66, on various other vessels during the civil war, and on the staff of Admiral Dahlgren. He resigned from the navy in 1866, when he went to Cambridge. He was graduated from the Harvard Law School in the class of 1868. He was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1868, and had been the senior member of the firm of Pegram & Cooke since 1885, though he had not been in active practice recently.

Mr. Pegram had always been active in public affairs and had held many offices testifying to his interest in hospitals of the community. He was a trustee of the Rhode Island Hospital, and for several years was Secretary of the Board of Trustees. He was, until last year, a Trustee of the Rhode Island State Sanatorium at Wallum Lake, and President of the Rhode Island Branch of the American National Red Cross.

The Providence Journal says of Mr. Pegram:

“There was a fine blending of Southern chivalry and New England rigor in John C. Pegram, who died suddenly yesterday. His Annapolis training and naval service during the civil war were marked by the same sense of public responsibility as his interest in our local hospitals and charities. He was the leader of the Red Cross movement in Rhode Island, and the Rhode Island Hospital and the State Sanatorium especially profited by his loyal and valued cooperation. Independent in politics, fearless in denunciation of everything unwholesome, refined in thought, cultivated in speech, a gentleman of pleasing address, he gave to this community willingly of his time and labor and leaves it in his debt for forty years of good citizenship.”