Charles J. Hughes

As printed in 1881

CHARLES J. HUGHES.

Charles J. Hughes was born near Paris, Bourbon county, Kentucky, June 27, 1822. His father, William Hughes, was a native of Culpepper county, Virginia, and with his parents moved to Kentucky, and was one of the early settlers of that state. He had no advantages of education, having early in life enlisted as a soldier in the United States army for the repression of Indian hostilities, where he served with due devotion and gallantry under General Arthur St. Clair. In the Indian fight, known as St. Clair's defeat, which took place near where Cincinnati now stands, November 4, 1791, he was wounded. He moved with his family to Boone county, Missouri, in 1827, and settled two and a half miles south of Columbia. Throughout his life he was esteemed for his high moral character, and his home was ever the seat of hospitality and a place of social enjoyment. In the year 1840 William Hughes died, respected by all his acquaintances. The maiden name of Charles' mother was Lucy Neal. She was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, and was of highly respected parentage. She died shortly subsequent to the death of her husband. The subject of this sketch had five brothers and three sisters, all of whom are now dead, except the youngest brother, Julius C. Hughes, of Colorado; Laura (Hughes) Sickles, widow of the late Doctor Sickles, of St. Louis, and Catherine, wife of Doctor A. M. Robinson, of Clinton county, Missouri. Charles received a good education from

Columbia College, but pecuniary embarrassment compelled him to quit school. He, however, continued to be a close student. He was noted during his boyhood years as a bright and thorough scholar, so far as he had advanced in the college curriculum. After leaving school he hired out by the month, and was engaged six months with a surviving party on the Great Chariton river, in Adair county, Missouri. After his return home he entered the law office of Honorable J. B. Gordon, of Columbia, then regarded as among the most prominent lawyers of the state. After a severe course of some eighteen months' study in this office, he went to Monticello, and for some time studied law in the office of Honorable James S. Green, when he settled down to the practice of his profession, in Kingston, Caldwell county, Missouri, a stranger, without money and without friends. He soon acquired a good practice, being retained on one side or the other of all important litigated cases in the courts of his county, besides having a respectable practice in other counties of the fifth judicial circuit. Shortly after becoming a citizen of Caldwell he was appointed county seat commissioner of Kingston. In 1844 he was elected to represent his county in the lower house of the general assembly, and in 1846 was re-elected, and again in 1848, but resigned, and devoted his time and attention diligently to the practice of his profession till 1856, when he was again elected to the same position, and served faithfully and efficiently for two years. During his terms of service in the general assembly, he occupied prominent positions, being appointed a member of many of the most important committees. He was chairman of the committee on federal relations, a member of the judiciary committee, and of the committee on constitutional" amendments, etc. When the cloud of civil war hung like a pall of darkness over the country, he, like others, hoped in vain for compromise. He desired that bloodshed should be avoided, if possible, and consistent with the honor and dignity of the union.

In 1863, Charles J. Hughes, with his family, moved to Richmond, Ray county, Missouri, and after what was known as the test oath was required of lawyers, preachers and teachers, he looked upon it as a deep and dangerous scheme to subvert the rights of the people; refusing to take such oath, he removed to Kansas City in the fall of 1865, and engaged in the real estate business, which he continued till the spring of 1867, when the supreme court having declared the test oath unconstitutional, he returned to the city of Richmond, and resumed the practice of law, soon re-establishing himself in an extensive lucrative practice. In the spring of 1871, he was elected mayor of Richmond. In 1872 he was elected by the Democratic voters of Ray county, judge of the court of common pleas. This court was abolished in 1874, and Judge Hughes was, that year, elected judge of the county and probate court. In 1878 he was elected judge of the probate court and presiding justice of the Ray county court. Judge Hughes held by appointment the office of county and circuit attorney, county school commissioner, and curator of the state university, and was, also, for a number of years director of the school board of the Richmond graded school. He is the ardent friend of education, regarding it as the paramount duty of our country to prepare, by liberal, free education, the youth of the land for useful and honorable positions in life. Whilst a member of the legislature he aided in procuring the 500,000 acre land grant to the public school fund. Judge Hughes is, likewise, a warm advocate of internal improvement, as is evidenced by the fact that he introduced into the Missouri legislature the first memorial from his county, asking for the chartering of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, and aiding the same. He is a member of the Christian Church at Richmond, and in his habits is temperate, industrious and upright. He is widely known as a true friend, a generous neighbor, genial, obliging and kind. He began life without means, and has succeeded by dint of untiring energy and perseverance. It has always been his pride to aid the young when starting out in life; nor have the deserving indigent ever called on him in vain. In politics, Charles J. Hughes is a democrat of the strictest faith; always conceding to others, however, the right of enjoying and expressing their opinions. June 9, 1850, he was married to Miss Susan Catharine Pollard, daughter of William C. Pollard, who represented Ray county in the legislature from 1834 to 1836, and who was captain of a company in Indian wars, and also in Colonel Richard Gentry's regiment in the Florida war.

Judge Hughes and wife have six children, three sons and three daughters, the eldest of whom, Charles James, Jr., graduated from Richmond College, and is a fine scholar. He is now a successful lawyer, having prepared himself for his profession at the State University, at Columbia. He was married to Miss Lucy Menefee, of Richmond, in September, 1874, and now resides in Denver, Colorado. The other five children are at home with their parents, to-wit: William Pollard, Margaret, Catharine, Luanna J., John, and Edna.

Judge Hughes is five feet nine inches in height, has black hair and eyes, and weighs one hundred and twenty pounds.

As printed in History of Ray County, Mo. (1881). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.