Bill Dugan

William H. Dugan

• Bats Unknown, Throws Unknown

• Debut August 5, 1884
• Final Game September 23, 1884
• Born April 1862 in Brooklyn, NY USA
• Died April 13, 1906 in Brooklyn, NY USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Bill Dugan was the brother of Ed Dugan; both were active as players only in 1884. Little was known about the two and the death information associated with Bill was likely that of another person. SABR researcher Peter Morris was able to identify the pair in 2016.

The family was living in Brooklyn, NY and appears in various city directories from 1883 to 1895. Bill was still living with them as of 1887 and his younger brother Ed in 1893. In the 1870 census, Bill is an eight-year-old and Ed was 6, while in 1880, Bill is 19 and a machinist while Ed is 15 and a student. The boys' father, also named William Dugan and an immigrant laborer from Ireland, died that year in Brooklyn, while their mother, Bridget, also from Ireland, died in 1895. Morris also found a parish census from St. Paul's Catholic Church dated June 15, 1865, which also includes the family, and gives more precise details about the two boys' ages, as William gets a birthdate of April, 1862 and Edward of February 1865. Baptismal records for the family's older children also indicate that the boys' mother was born Bridget Murphy.

This information allowed Morris to trace Bill's death certificate, which confirmed that the 1921 date of death associated with him was a mistake. He died in 1906 in Brooklyn, and was listed as a widowed laborer.

Further Reading

• "The Dugan Brothers", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, November/December 2016, pp. 2-5.