Joseph S. Hughes

As printed in 1881

JOSEPH S. HUGHES.

Joseph S. Iughes is a native of Jessamine county, Kentucky, and was born Januaryll, 1820. He is the sixth son and seventh child of John Hughes and Elizabeth (Berry) Hughes. His grandfather, Joseph Hughes, whose father settled on the eastern shore of Maryland at an early day, was of Welch descent. He married Sarah Swann before the revolution, and afterwards served gallantly in that war. In 1777, he moved to Pennsylvania, and settled in the old Red Stone Fort (now Brownsville), on the Monongahela river, where John Hughes was born on the 26th of November, 1777. The family remained at that place till 1779, when they removed to Kentucky, and for a number of years lived at Bryant's station. After the Indian troubles subsided, they settled in Jessamine county, Kentucky. The father of the subject of this sketch, as well as his maternal grandfather, Samuel Berry, were soldiers in the war of 1812, and served with becoming bravery under General Harrison. In 1822, when Joseph was but two years old, his father emigrated to Missouri, and located in Boone county, becoming one of the pioneer farmers of that section. Joseph S. Hughes remained with his father on the farm until he was eighteen years of age, when, in 1838, he came to Richmond, Ray county, Missouri, where he now resides, and engaged as salesman in a dry goods store, and continued to act as clerk and salesman until the year 1811. In that year, by patient industry, self-denial and economy he had acquired sufficient means to begin merchandizing on his own account. He continued the business alone until 1819, when he and George I. Wasson, Esq., of Richmond, formed a copartnership for the purpose of carrying on a general mercantile business, under the firm name of Hughes & Wasson. This copartnership existed till 1859. March the ist, 1856, Joseph S. Hughes was elected secretary of the Richmond Insurance Company, and continued to fill that position until June 23, 1859, at which time he was elected cashier of the branch of Union Bank, located at Richmond and served as such till the national banking law supplanted the state banks. The parent bank, organized under the national banking law virtually closed the branches, and on the first day of January, 1866, the subject of our sketch and Geo.

I. Wasson, Esq., became the purchasers of the assets of the Richmond branch bank, and organized a private banking house, under the style of Hughes & Wasson, which continued till January 1, 1877, when George I. Wasson sold his interest to James Hughes and his son, Burnett Hughes. Since that time the business has been conducted under the firm name of J. S. Hughes & Co., private bankers and exchange dealers.

In 1869, when the St. Louis & St. Joseph railroad (now St. Joseph branch of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific), was completed to Richmond, Joseph S. Hughes, with Messrs. John Gibson and William Wilson, commenced sinking a shaft for the purpose of developing the coal interests in the vicinity of Richmond. The undertaking was quite successful, and by energy, unyielding perseverance and close attention to business, they have built up a trade of exceeding magnitude, which greatly augments the business and material wealth of Richmond and surrounding country. It is individual effort, industry and enterprise that most largely contribute to the growth and prosperity of the entire country. While personal energy, invited by a laudable ambition, enhances one's individual interests, it, at the same time, promotes the welfare of the community. This being true, it is safe to say that there is not a more useful citizen in Ray county, than the subject of our sketch. Messrs. J. S. Hughes & Co., are now operating three mines, and employ upwards of one hundred miners. Their coal is shipped to St. Joseph, whence, through their house at that place, it is distributed in large quantities to southern Nebraska and northern Kansas.

On the 2d day of October, 1844, Joseph S. Hughes was married to Miss Ann Laura Hughes, step-daughter of the late Major John H. More- *head, of Richmond, Missouri. They have an interesting, intelligent family of six children, four sons and two daughters. Their oldest son, George A. Hughes, is book-keeper in the banking house of J. S. Hughes & Co., and is also interested with his father in the Richmond coal mines. Charles B., the second son, is also clerking in the same bank. Their elder daughter, Martha S. (Hughes) Ferguson, is the wife of James M. Ferguson, Esq., a merchant of Columbia, Missouri. Their younger daughter, Mary E., now at school at Christian College, Columbia, Missouri, and their two youngest sons, Robert L. and John, are living with their parents and attending the public schools of Richmond. Mr. Hughes has lived in Richmond many years. He has seen the town grow from a rude hamlet to a business place of considerable importance; and to him, and such gentlemen as he, that growth, as well as the corresponding progress of the county, is largely due.

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.