Biography - John Hughes
John C. HUGHES, deceased. The father of our subject, Thomas C. HUGHES, was born in Knox County, Tenn., in about 1804. He was raised on a farm, and was married, in his native county, to Miss Mary GODSEY. In 1828, he came with his family to this county and first settled in the Gray neighborhood, afterward moving to the place now owned by John COVER; he moved thence to the Crawford neighborhood, and thence to where Martin A. RITCHIE now lives; here he lived several years, and each one of the previous places he improved and sold at an advance. After leaving the RITCHIE place, he moved to the head of Shoal Creek; thence to Litchfield, where he traded largely in town property, at the time of the building up of the city; here he lived until after the war, when he moved to Section 22. In all, he owned about four hundred and sixty acres of land, and was remarkably successful in almost every undertaking. Mr. HUGHES was Justice of the Peace in North Litchfield Township four years; he was a member of the Methodist Church for many years. He was the father of four sons and three daughters, all of whom are living except John C. HUGHES, his oldest son, whose sketch appears in another paragraph. Thomas C. HUGHES died November 14, 1871, and his wife in 1866. John C. HUGHES was born in Knox County, Tenn., on December 17, 1823, and came to Montgomery County, Ill., with his parents when in his sixth year; he was fortunate in obtaining a common-school education superior to that of most farmer boys, and was the school-mate of Gen. Jesse PHILLIPS. He was ingenious with tools, and picked up the carpenter's trade, building several barns and houses in the country when not engaged in farm labor. On November 26, 1846, he married Miss Susan E. ROBERTS, daughter of Josiah and Susan (HART) ROBERTS. He bought a Mexican land warrant about three years after he had settled here, on vacant land, and by it became the owner of 160 acres in 1840. He engaged in farming here until 1852, when he went by ox team from St. Joseph, Mo., to California, the journey continuing over one hundred days. After spending about eighteen months in the mines, he returned by the Panama route in 1854, and lived on his farm until his death, on November 17, 1879. At the time of his demise, he owned 200 acres of land, all of which was acquired by his own labor; he was a hard-working, shrewd and enterprising farmer. He had five sons and one daughter; one son died at the age of six weeks; his children are William H., born June 23, 1849, a stock-dealer in Colorado; Hiram J., born February 27, 1855; John C., Jr., born June 23, 1857; Mary J., born October 15, 1862, the wife of John GUNDY, of this county; and George B., born April 19, 1864. Three sons are still living at the homestead.
Extracted 19 Nov 2016 by Norma Hass from 1882 History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 2 Biographical Department, page 146-147.
