Hughes Family Papers, 1790-1910.

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Summary

Creator:
Hughes (Family : Edgefield, S.C.)
Abstract:

Principal member of the Hughes family of Edgefield, S.C., are Dr. John Hughes (d. 1835) and his son, John H. Hughes (d. 1871), who were both cotton planters; John Hughes's sister, Sophia Hughes Hunt (fl. 1825- 1864); his daughter, Jennie H. Hughes (fl. 1858-1879); his father-in-law, James Bones (fl. 1819-1836); his cousin, Lucy T. Butler Moore (d. 1857); his son-in-law, Cicero Adams (d. 1868); and wagon maker John Christie (fl. 1851).

The collection includes family correspondence, legal, and financial Papers, and miscellaneous items, dated chiefly between 1820 and 1898, and relating to Hughes family members and their Bones, Hunt, Christie, and Nicholson relatives. Papers relate primarily to plantation life, especially the daily routines and social and religious lives of plantation women. Other topics include army life during the Civil War and postwar antagonisms. South Carolina politics are also discussed in the early papers. Locations besides Edgefield for which considerable information appears are Augusta, Ga.; Grande Cane, La.; Woodville, Miss.; and various locations in Ireland. Financial and legal items of interest include wills, deeds, personal accounts, estate Papers, and slave bills of sale. A few miscellaneous items include sermons, clippings, advertisements, and recipes.

Extent:
500 items (1.5 linear feet)
Language:
Materials in English
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

John H. Hughes (d. 1871), a South Carolina cotton planter and dry goods merchant, was the son of Dr. John Hughes (d. 1835) of Edgefield. The elder Hughes married Sarah Winn in 1792, and married again soon after Sarah's death in 1807 to Elizabeth Galhagar. It is unclear whether John H. Hughes was the son of Sarah or Elizabeth.

Hughes had at least four siblings: a sister named Sophia, who married Charles Hunt in 1820; a brother named Brothers, who was a teacher in Washington Parish, Louisiana; a sister named Elizabeth, who married Rev. Nicholas Ware Hodges in 1820; and a sister named Margaret, who married James Hunt in 1824.

Sophia Hughes Hunt (fl. 1825-1864) lived most of her life in Woodville, Mississippi. She also spent some time in Greenville and Columbia, South Carolina, and Grand Cane, Louisiana.

John H. Hughes married Martha Bones in 1831, and the two lived at Cedar Grove outside Edgefield. They had eight children: Jennie, who remained unmarried and lived at Cedar Grove; Lizzie, who married Col. Ben Nicholson in 1865; Sophy, who married Lovick S. Hill; Mary, who married Cicero Adams and lived with him in Bamberg; Robert B., a planter who served as a captain in the Civil War; Willie B., who died at Boonesboro during the war; and Samuel Bones Hughes, who was a cadet during the war at Arsenal Academy.

James Bones (fl. 1819-1836) of Edgefield was the father of Martha Bones Hughes. He had five children besides Martha--James Jr., John, Robert, Samuel, and William--most of whom were planters in Augusta, Georgia.

Cicero Adams, Lovick S. Hill, and Ben Nicholson all served together, along with Robert and Willie Hughes, in the 22nd Regiment of the South Carolina Volunteers during the Civil War.

Lucy T. Butler Moore (Mrs. Joseph Moore) was a cousin to John H. Hughes. John Christie, who lived in New Cambridge outside Edgefield, South Carolina, was a wagon maker. His connection to the Hughes family in unclear.

Scope and content:

This collection consists of the personal correspondence and financial and legal papers of three generations of the Hughes family and relatives in South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Ireland. The bulk of the collection, 1820-1898, revolves around the family of John H. Hughes of Cedar Grove, located outside Edgefield, South Carolina. Papers appear for Hughes's father, Dr. John Hughes; for his sister, Sophia Hughes Hunt; for himself and his wife Martha Bones Hughes; for his children, Jennie Hughes, Lizzie Hughes Nicholson, Sophy Hughes Hill, Mary Hughes Adams, Robert B. Hughes, Willie B. Hughes, and Samuel Bones Hughes; and for his sons-in-law, Cicero Adams, Lovick S. Hill, and Ben Nicholson. Also represented in the collection are a cousin, Lucy T. Butler Moore, whose estate papers appear, and John Christie, of Williams & Christie, a wagon-making firm in Edgefield.

Many of the earlier papers relate to the parents and siblings of Martha Bones Hughes, most of whom lived in Augusta, Georgia, and to their relatives in Ireland.

The collection is arranged chronologically within two series, designated as Loose Papers and Volumes. Seven subseries, corresponding roughly to the following time periods, divide the Loose Papers:

None of these divisions is exact; for example, a small amount of Hughes family correspondence appears in the subseries designated as Bones family correspondence, and the estate papers of Lucy T. Butler Moore are scattered across several of the subseries.

The twelve volumes in the collection are separated into two subseries--account books and personal notebooks. The nine account books document primarily hardware and dry goods business activities in Pottersville, Charleston, Columbia, and Edgefield, South Carolina. Only a few of these accounts belong to John H. Hughes; most are unidentified. The personal notebooks include diaries and law office memoranda.

The collection, made up primarily of personal correspondence, is most useful for the study of plantation families, especially the daily routines and social and religious lives of plantation women. Other topics about which detailed information appears are army life during the Civil War and postwar antagonisms. South Carolina politics also receive attention in the early papers. Locations besides Edgefield for which considerable information appears are Augusta, Georgia; Grand Cane, Louisiana; and Woodville, Mississippi. Financial and legal items of interest include wills, deeds, personal accounts, and slave bills of sale. A few miscellaneous items include sermons, clippings, advertisements, and recipes.

Acquisition information:

Purchased from Sallie May Nicholson of Edgefield, South Carolina, in 1944.

Processing information:

Processed by: Jill Snider, June 1991

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Amelia W. Holmes, August 2016; Dawne Howard Lucas, April 2021

Sensitive materials statement:

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Access and use

Restrictions to access:

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to use:

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

No usage restrictions.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], in the Hughes Family Papers #2779, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of this collection:
Louis Round Wilson Library
200 South Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Contact:
(919) 962-3765
wilsonlibrary@unc.edu