Carey Pugh was born around 1847 in North Carolina. Pugh was a farmer who resided in Clinton (Sampson County), North Carolina, with his wife Hester Pugh and their children. Pugh was charged with larceny on June 4, 1873, and sentenced to five years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Pugh was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 703. The register notes his "color" as Black. Pugh was twenty-six years old when he was arrested. Pugh was noted as possessing no formal education, meaning he could not read or write at that time. During his incarceration, Pugh was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He died while working on the Western North Carolina Railroad on November 2, 1877.