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From: "Cathy Joynt Labath" <>
Subject: [IA-IRISH] Bio of Richard Hughes
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2002 10:32:21 -0500

Surnames: Hughes, O'Brien, Spain, Quigley, Sullivan

Wolfe's History of Clinton County, Iowa; Vol 2; B.F. Bowen & Co;
Indianapolis, Indiana: 1911

To be an efficient and honorable agriculturist in the highly favored
section of eastern Iowa, where the soil responds generously to the hand
which cultivates it, is to be assured of a comfortable home and favorable
surroundings. Among the successful farmers of Clinton county is Richard
Hughes, of Berlin township, who was born on the farm where he now lives,
April 9, 1857. His father was Richard Hughes, and his mother, prior to her
marriage, bore the name of Esther O'Brien, both natives of Ireland. These
parents came to the United States in the late forties, and after spending a
year or two in La Salle county, Illinois, moved to Clinton county, Iowa, and
settled on sixty acres of land in Berlin township, which Mr. Hughes
purchased of the government. He bought other land at intervals, until in due
time he became one of the largest owners of real estate in the county, his
holdings at one time amounting to over six hundred acres, all in the
township of Berlin. He was one of the leading farmers in his part of the
country, manifested an active interest in public affairs, and enjoyed the
esteem and the confidence of the people of his community, besides holding
worthy prestige as a public-spirited citizen. He lived an honorable life,
which terminated on September 20, 1901, his wife dying on the 4th day of
October, 1907. Richard and Esther Hughes reared a family of ten children;
namely: Michael, of Lyon county, Iowa; Richard, of this review; Anna, who
lives in Plymouth county, this state; Katie, of Berlin township; Patrick,
whose home is in the county of Plymouth; Thomas, who resides in Berlin
township, near the family homestead; William, who lives on the old
homestead; James, a resident of Lost Nation, this county; Mary and Ellen,
deceased.
Richard Hughes was reared on the home place in Berling township and
enjoyed such educational advantages as the common schools afforded. He early
decided to be a tiller of the soil, and in 1901 bought eighty acres of land
belonging to the homestead, to which he has added other places from time to
time until he now owns two hundred acres of the farm, on which he has made a
number of valuable improvements. He devotes his attention to general
agriculture and the breeding of fine live stock, his specialties being
Norman horses, Shorthorn cattle, and Poland-China hogs, in the raising of
which he has been remarkably successful, his reputation as a stockman being
second to that of no other man in this part of the state. Financially, he
has been exceedingly fortunate, being among the wealthy and influential
farmers of his township, with a sufficiency of this world's goods at his
command to insure an easy and prosperous future. Like all men with interests
of the community at heart, he takes an active part in public affairs, and
has well-grounded convictions concerning the question of the day, being an
uncompromising Democrat in politics and a leader of his party in the
township of Berlin. While zealous in the defense of his principles, he has
never sought or desired office, notwithstanding which he has served his
fellow citizens in various public capacities and proved true to every trust
which they reposed in him. Religiously, he was reared under the influence of
the Roman Catholic church and has ever remained true to the teachings of the
same, belonging at this time to the congregation of worshipping at Hughes
Settlement, of which his wife and children are members also.
On the 23d day of January, 1883, Mr. Hughes was united in marriage with
Margaret Spain, whose parents, John and Bridget (Quigley) Spain, natives of
Canada, came to Iowa in 1851, and were among the early residents and
well-known families of Clinton county. The following are the names of the
children born to Mr and Mrs Hughes: Esther, wife of Joseph Sullivan;
Catherine, Joseph, Ellen, Ignatius, Marguerite, John and Ligora. Mr. Hughes
and his estimable wife have been zealous in religious and charitable work
and their neighbors and friends speak in high terms of their many sterling
qualities of mind and heart. They have a pleasant home, in which hospitality
abounds, and all who cross their threshold are greeted with a welcome, which
delays as long as possible their departure. Possessing a pleasing
personality, with a manner which inspires confidence, Mr. Hughes is one of
the most popular citizens of his community, a fact made apparent by his
faculty of winning and retaining warm personal relationships.

Cathy Joynt Labath
The Irish in Iowa
http://www.celticcousins.net/irishiniowa/index.htm

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