VI.        Iowa and Kansas, 1853 - 1900 

              George and Edwin: Generations Six and Seven, Canada to Iowa and Kansas  


            Born in 1803 in the Catawissa and Roaring Creek area of Pennsylvania, 
George was a toddler when he moved with his parents in 1805 to Canada.  He 
married 16 year old Rachel Taylor in April 1825, and they had their first child, 
Edwin, in November 1826.  They then had 14 additional children, 15 in all, at the rate 
of one every other year until the last was born in October 1854.  In 1853, with 
children ranging in age from 28 (Edwin) to not yet one (Harriet, or "Hattie"), George 
and Rachel left Canada and moved to Iowa.  Their 15th child (Thomas Clarkson, or 
"T.C.") was born there.  All of their children lived into the 20th century except their 
third (Angeline, or "Angie"), who died in 1896.

            Edwin Hughes married Mary Sadler in October 1848, and they had six 
children, including two born in Canada and the other four in Iowa.  Born in 1829 in 
Yorkshire, England, Mary Sadler had migrated as a child to Canada in 1833 with her 
parents.  Edwin's and Mary's second child (William) died at 11 years of age in 1863.  
Their first three children were born during the same years, 1850 to 1854, as Edwin's 
parents' last three. (25) 

            During a summer 1997 trip, my brother, Lee, and I found and photographed 
the grave sites in Iowa and Kansas of George and Rachel and Edwin and Mary 
Hughes. By following the land descriptions in sales documents filed at the Mahaska 
County office of the Clerk and Recorder in Oskaloosa, Iowa, we also found and 
photographed the land in Mahaska County, Iowa where the two Hughes families had 
lived in the mid-nineteenth century.

            George was about 50 years old and Rachel about 44 when the two Hughes 
families moved to Iowa in 1853.  George and Rachel settled first in Cedar County in 
eastern Iowa, where their last child ("T.C.") was born either at West Branch or 
Springdale in October 1854.  Edwin and Mary settled probably 10 to 20 miles south 
in Muscatine County, where John Wesley was born in West Liberty in October 
1853. (26) These counties are roughly 60 miles west of what is now the "quad-cities" 
area (including Davenport, Moline, Rock Island, and Bettendorf) on the Mississippi 
River, which forms Iowa's eastern border.

            I have found no information on why the Hughes families pulled up stakes and 
moved after 50 years in Canada.  It is probably too rational to speculate that rich, 
cheap U.S. Great Plains land was the deciding lure.  A passage in a much later (1895) 
letter by T.C. to a brother in Idaho perhaps captures a telling inducement.  After 
complaining about crop failures in Kansas where he lived, T.C. asks, "Is there any 
good country opening up in Wyo. or Idaho?  In case I bust here, I am going to strike 
west."  Vast open lands in the 19th century American West tended to lend an aura of 
reality, whether justified or not, to a common human dream of shucking one's 
problems and troubles and starting anew someplace else.

            I don't know why the Hugheses chose 1853 as the year to move, why they 
chose to settle in Iowa (See map.), what routes they traveled, or their modes of transportation.  
They must have ferried across the Mississippi, as it was not bridged until 1856, when 
a span was built to connect Rock Island, Illinois to Davenport, Iowa. Iowa had 
become a state in December 1846.  The 1820 U.S. "Land Act" made land available in 
80 acre tracts at $1.25 an acre, but the Homestead Act passed in 1862 was not yet law 
when the Hughes families moved.  In 1850, Chicago was a large and rapidly 
developing U.S. railroad center, but no rail lines extended west of the Mississippi 
River. Riverboat shipping on the Mississippi was well established.

______________________________________________________________________

 The nation's central railroad system, east of the Mississippi, was connected to the 
east coast rail system during the 1850s.  The transcontinental railroad was completed 
in May 1869. 
______________________________________________________________________


            George and Rachel lived in Cedar County at least through 1860, when the 
U.S. census for Springdale Township, West Branch Post Office, Cedar County, 
Iowa lists George as being a farmer with real estate valued at $2,000 and personal 
property worth $350.  At that time, eleven of their 15 children were living at home, 
ranging from T.C., age five (or six), to 29 year old Angie.  Of the four not at home in 
1860, Edwin, Lavina, and Elma were married, and the second oldest boy, 21 year old 
Jarad, might have been in the army.  He served in Company D, 33rd Iowa Regiment 
in the Union army during the Civil War. 

______________________________________________________________________

 Confederate batteries firing on Fort Sumpter in April 1861 signaled the beginning 
of the Civil War.
______________________________________________________________________


            Land sales records suggest that in 1860 the Hugheses probably already were 
planning to move further west.  In that year, county records show that Rachel Hughes 
of Cedar County bought from a neighboring family 80 acres in Mahaska County for 
$1,000. (27)  Mahaska County is roughly 75 miles west of Cedar County, about 
midway to Des Moines.  Two land transactions in May 1865 and June 1866, in which 
Edwin Hughes purchased an unspecified amount of Mahaska County land for $760, 
indicated that by then Edwin already was living in Mahaska County. 


Rachel Hughes' 1860 Land Purchase: Photographed in 1997, the land 
purchased by Rachel Hughes is now beautiful, productive, valuable farmland.

            That the two Hughes families moved is confirmed by the 1870 U.S. census, 
which lists both as living at Prairie Township, New Sharon Post Office, Mahaska 
County, Iowa.  George Hughes, then 67 years old, may have been slowing down 
into retirement, as the census lists him as being "without occupation," and as owning 
real estate worth $600, down from $2,000 a decade earlier, and personal property of 
$192.  Only three children, Mary, Hattie, and T.C., were still living at home in 1870.  
The same census lists Edwin Hughes as a farmer with real estate valued at $3,000 and 
personal property of $650.  Four of Edwin's and Mary's children lived at home, 
including John Wesley, Charlotte ("Lottie"), Edgar, and Charles.  The oldest, Martha 
Ann (the second "Mattie" among our Hughes ancestors), was by then married, and 
the second child, William Milton, had died. 


Edwin Hughes' 1860-65 Land Purchase: A photograph taken in 1997 
shows the rolling hills and fertile soil that attracted our pioneer settlers.
______________________________________________________________________

 Mark Twain published The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in 1876.
______________________________________________________________________


            George and Rachel stay in Iowa: In about 1881, George and Rachel Hughes 
left Mahaska County to move  to the Quaker community of Salem in Henry County in 
southeast Iowa to live out their days.  Daughter Angie, age 50 and unmarried, went 
with them.  George died in 1885, followed in 1896 by Angie.  Angie, according to 
her obituary, died of stomach cancer.

            To farmers, the weather was of paramount importance then as it is now.  
Angie wrote from Salem to her brother John Alfred in the year before she died that, 
"We had but little snow last winter and it was so dry last year that crops were short.  
Farmers have their oats in and are plowing but the ground is cool yet."  On 18 June 
1899, Mattie wrote to John Alfred that, "We have had a very rainy and cold Spring.  
Just now (today) it is quite warm.  There are thousands of acres of corn land not 
plowed yet.  And a good deal that was plowed and planted will have to be plowed 
over.  So wet it could not be cultivated." 

George Hughes   1803 - 1885



______________________________________________________________________

 The Spanish-American War took place during April - December 1898, and in 
May 1898, Jarad Hughes (the Civil War veteran) wrote to his brother, John, that he 
was, "...just as much of a Yank yet as ever.  I would like to see the whole Spanish 
nation sunk.  They are not fit to live any longer."
______________________________________________________________________


            Until Angie's death in 1896, she apparently was mother Rachel's chief source 
of care.  In her 1895 letter to John, Angie wrote, "Mother says she would write if she 
could but she can't write.  I think she is as well as we could expect for one in her 86th 
year.  She can see to read yet, but is quite hard of hearing so gets lonesome as she 
don't hear what we say only as we speak quite loud and are near her."  Angie's 
Brother T.C. ("Clark") wrote in the same year, "It is remarkable how mother lasts.  It 
seems to me that she is most as able to get around as when we lived at New Sharon."  
In May 1898, Jarad wrote, "Mama would write but she was home sick all winter .... 
not able to sit up.  We thought she would lose her sight but she is some better now 
but cannot see to write or read a word.  She is discouraged at times .....but enjoys fun 
and nonsense as well as ever."  By June 1899 (after Angie died), Mattie apparently 
had taken over caring for Rachel.  She wrote, "Mother has not been as well this 
summer as through the winter.  She don't go off the porch."

Rachel (Taylor) Hughes   1809 - 1906




            Rachel lived into the 20th century, dying in May 1906 in the middle of her 
96th year.  Rachel's advanced age, large family, and longevity as a Quaker elicited a 
front page obituary in the "Salem Weekly News." (28)  My information on the 
whereabouts, activities, and families of George's and Rachel's 14 living children in 
1906 is incomplete, but what I have indicates that ten probably were living in Iowa 
and Kansas.  Of the other four, one was in Idaho, one in Florida, one in Michigan, 
and one in Canada.  Rachel had about 55 grandchildren, although all were not still 
alive in 1906. George, Rachel, and Angie are buried side by side in Salem, Iowa's 
"South Cemetery."


______________________________________________________________________


The George and Rachel Hughes Family in 1906

-- 1826-1908: Edwin was a retired farmer in Kansas (see map).  See below.
-- 1829-1913: Lavina, widowed in 1889, had nine children and lived in 
Marshalltown, Iowa, where she and husband, William Boggie, are buried.
-- 1831-1896: Angie, dead since 1896, had been a post mistress at the New Sharon 
post office in Mahaska County, and her obituary lauded her school teaching.
-- 1833-1917: Elma, widowed in 1882, had six children and lived in Detroit, 
Michigan.  She and husband, William Sadler, are buried in Canada.
-- 1835-1925: Martha J. (the first "Mattie" among our Hughes ancestors) never 
married, and instead cared for her mother in Salem. After Rachel died, Mattie moved 
to Pasadena, California, where she died at age 90 and is buried.
-- 1837-1912: Elizabeth and husband, Josiah Mahoney, lived their lives in Toronto, 
where they are buried.  They had two children.
-- 1839-1921: Jarad and wife, Mary Williams, spent their lives in Iowa, and had six 
children.  A carpenter, farmer, and postal worker, he died in Des Moines in his 80s.
-- 1841-1927: Charles had one child each by two wives, Rebecca Michner and Sarah 
Hartley.  He worked as a store clerk in Iowa, and was later self employed in 
Pasadena, California.  He is buried there, after living into his 80s.
-- 1843-1920: Joseph and wife, Ella Roberts, had eight children before separating in 
1889.  They had lived in Iowa, Kansas, and Indiana, where he is buried.
-- 1845-1923: Mary ("Mollie") was a doctor in Independence, Iowa in 1901, and later 
in Indiana.  Mary never married, and died at age 78.
-- 1847-1926: Sarah and husband Greenberry Peter Quaintance had six children, and 
owned a dairy and fruit farm in Florida, where they are buried.
-- 1848-1925: Agnes and husband William Nash had one child (or two).  He was a 
minister in Kansas. In 1910, Agnes was a widow living with Mattie in Pasadena, 
where she is buried.
-- 1850-1932: John Alfred and wife Florence Edmonia Adams had eight children.  
They ranched in Menan, Idaho, after a tumultuous courtship that apparently included 
his killing a man in competition for Florence.  He lived into his 80s and, with 
Florence, is buried in Menan.
-- 1852-1912: Hattie and husband Howard Hillis had one child.  He was an attorney 
in Topeka, Kansas, but they probably are buried in New York.
-- 1854-1912: Thomas Clarkson and wife Elizabeth Wilson had no children.  He was 
a druggist in Kansas, where they probably are buried.
______________________________________________________________________


Bits and Pieces About the Rest of the Family

            Family members not in our direct ancestral line are mentioned in copies of 
letters that I have to John Alfred in Idaho from two of his sisters, Angie and Mattie, 
and from his youngest brother, T.C.

            In an April 1895 letter, Angie wrote of their sister, Sarah's family.  She said, 
"Sarah writes that they feel the hard times, but Greenbury gets a pension that helps. 
(29) Jessie has been married five years.  Elsie teaches and Altus is teaching in some 
college.  He is a fine scholar and a graduate of a college.  I think Elsie will marry soon 
and Altus too.  They (Sarah and Greenbury) have three children at home."  At home 
were Charles, Ethyl, and Vera, ages fifteen, nine, and five, respectively.

            Then of their sister, Lavina, Angie wrote, "Lavina lives in Marshalltown yet & 
George and Arthur are still single.  The rest are scattered.  Henry lives in 
Marshalltown but is on the railroad.  John was working in Illinois.  Ella and husband 
board with Lavina.  Libbie just moved to Chicago -- her husband is a newspaper man.  
Hattie is in Missouri and Maggie in Sioux City Iowa."

            Of other siblings, Angie wrote, "There are so many of us I can't write of all in 
one letter, but Elma lives in Detroit Michigan.  Agnes, or Anna as she goes by, is at 
Gypsum City Kansas.  (Agnes's husband) Wm is a Rev. Wm Nash has been 
preaching for some years.  Edwin's address is Seneca Kansas.  Clark lives in 
Washington Kansas now - a nice little town."

            Also in 1895, T.C. wrote, "Joseph is somewhere in Indiana.  He and Ella are 
not living together."

            In a June 1899 letter, Mattie scolded John for not providing an education for 
his then 18 year old oldest daughter, Mina Elma.  Mattie said, "I think it is too bad 
that thy daughter has had no opportunity to get an education.  That is something that 
every parent owes their children.  Why was it that she was not sent to school?  I was 
so hurt over it, I did not dare to answer thy letter right away.  It will cause an 
embarrassment as long as she lives."

            Edwin and Mary move to Kansas:  Edwin and Mary moved to the area of 
Seneca, Kansas, in that state's northeast corner, sometime in the mid-1870s.  Seneca 
is roughly 50 miles west of the Missouri River border between Kansas and Missouri, 
and about 225 miles southwest of Des Moines, Iowa.  The 1880 U.S. census lists 
Mary and two of her sons, Edgar and Charles, at the farm of her son-in-law, Edson 
Kibbe in Kansas.  Edwin was about 50 years old and Mary about 46 when they 
moved.  In Kansas,
____________________________________________________________________

            As Edwin and Mary approached the end of their lives, one of their grandsons, 
21 year old Thomas Sievers ("T.S.") Hughes (my grand father) and a friend 
embarked via horseback in 1904 on a seven month trip from their home in Montana to 
California, Arizona, and back. (30)
____________________________________________________________________


Edwin and Mary farmed near Seneca.  Edwin died in 1908 (two years after his 
mother) and Mary in 1910, and both are buried in the Kibbe plot in the Seneca, 
Kansas cemetery. They had 17 grand children, all but two of which were living at the 
time of Edwin's death.







Mary (Sadler) Hughes - 1829-1910
 
 
            Based on sketchy evidence, I speculate with the support of others in the family 
that Edwin and Mary were responsible for the momentous break from the Society of 
Friends of our line of the Hughes family, after more than 200 years as Quakers.  
Mary almost certainly was a Wesleyan Methodist.  Her third child, John Wesley 
("J.W."), was named for the founder of that church, according to an account by 
J.W.'s sister, Martha Ann.   Mary's fifth child, Edgar Pearson, was a Methodist 
minister.  Edwin was buried by the Masons, and his obituary noted that he had been a 
member in good standing for more than fifty years.  Neither obituary mentions any 
Quaker affiliation.
______________________________________________________________________


Methodism grew out of 18th century efforts to reform the Church of England.  John 
Wesley taught that people could become free of sin in this life, and, in general, 
opposed Calvin's ideas of total depravity and of an elect.  In the U.S., Methodist 
circuit preachers sponsored popular outdoor "camp meetings" for preaching and 
singing.
______________________________________________________________________



            Edwin's and Mary's grand daughter, Martha Almira (the third "Mattie" among 
our Hughes ancestors) wrote in 1942 that her grandmother, Mary Sadler Hughes, 
was tall and slender with "snapping brown eyes, and unlimited energy and executive 
ability."  Mattie wrote further that Mary "...also was so very clean and such a good 
cook.  Her roast beef, with Yorkshire pudding, was something never to be forgotten.  
She had a very British accent, dropping some "h's" and put on some where they 
didn't belong."

The Edwin and Mary Hughes Family  in 1908 - 1910

-- 1850-1933: Mattie (Martha Ann) and husband George Guilford Lawrence had two 
children.  George had been an Infantry Sergeant Major (Co. F, Regiment 10) in the 
Civil War.  George worked as a real estate agent in Jefferson, Iowa through 1900, but 
he and Mattie lived the last 20 to 30 years of their lives in Los Angeles, California, 
where they are buried.

-- 1852-1863: William Milton Hughes died at age 11 in Iowa.

-- 1853-1912: John Wesley Hughes moved to the west coast.  See below.

-- 1857-????: Charlotte ("Lottie") and husband Edson Kibbe had one child.  A picture 
showing a peg leg leads me to speculate that Edson was wounded in the Civil War.  
Charlotte and Edson had a farm in Kansas, and he later worked as a millwright in a 
Kansas City flour mill.

-- 1858-1935: Edgar Pearson and wife Eliza Josephine "Josie" (Jay) Hughes had six 
children.  Edgar was a Methodist minister (though perhaps unordained), and spent an 
unknown period of his life in Wyoming.  He and Josie divorced and he remarried, but 
they are buried side by side in Lakeland, Florida at the behest of their daughter, 
Bertha McMullen.

-- 1865-1939: Charles Arthur and wife Ina (Heliker) Hughes had no children. He 
probably moved to the west coast before 1900, the first in the family to do so.  In 
1900, he was a newspaper proprietor in Seattle.  He died in Los Angeles.

______________________________________________________________________



25        This created unusual relationships whereby Edwin's and Mary's daughter 
Martha Ann (Mattie #2) was older than her uncles John Alfred and T.C. Hughes and 
her aunt Hattie; William was older than Hattie and T.C.; and John Wesley was older 
than T.C.
26        These births actually probably took place at home on their farms, but are listed 
in census records as having occurred at their post office addresses.
27        I have no explanation as to why Rachel, and not George or the two of them 
together, took this action.
28        The Salem newspaper was not yet in publication when George died, and we 
were unable to find an obituary for him during our 1997 visit to the area.
29        Greenbury would have been 16 when the Civil War started.  He and Sarah 
were married in 1867, after the war ended.  The pension may well have been from 
Civil War service.
30        T.S. kept a trip diary, which Bob Hughes has transcribed onto his computer.
Click Here To Continue Reading