The Hughes Family

The Hughes families had considerable wealth when they arrived in Missouri in 1821. They became the leading doctors, lawyers, bankers and professional people in the counties where they settled. After some of the family moved to Richmond in the 1830s, they built the only large brick homes in town.

They could trace their family back to a William Hughes II, born about 1600 in Wales, near Glamorganshire, east of Cardiff. William’s grandson, John Hughes, came to America with a Baptist colony and settled on the eastern shores of Maryland. He was listed a Captain of the Foot Regiment, PA in 1747, Commissioner for treaties with Indians in 1758, and a Member of the Assembly in 1755, 1763 and 1764.

Two of John’s sons, Joseph and William are listed a participants in the Revolutionary War. Since Joseph is connected to our family we have more information about his life. While Joseph was stationed at Fort Pitt, PA he married Sarah Swan, born in 1753, the daughter of Major John Swan. Sarah and the Swan family were probably living in the Fort with the Hughes family during the War.

In 1776 Joseph was stationed at the old Red Stone Fort in Brownsville on the Monongahela River in Pennsylvania. It was there when their first two children were born, Elizabeth in 1776 and John Swan in 1777. After the War subsided, members in the Hughes family were free to begin their civilian lives. In 1779 Joseph, Sarah, and their two children took a flat boat down the Ohio River to Maysville, Kentucky. Elizabeth was 3 years old and John Swan 2 years old. In 1786 they moved to a farm in Jessamine County near Nicolasville, Kentucky. They would have 12 children in Kentucky.

The children grew up on the farm in Jessamine County. When John Swan Hughes was 24 years old he married a neighbor girl, Elizabeth (Betsy) Berry, daughter of Samuel Berry and Mary Allen. They were married July 30, 1801 in Versailles, Kentucky. The Berry family traces their origins from Ireland.

Soon after John and Betsy were married they began to have children, Allen in 1802, John in 1804, Berry [our connection] in 1806, Willis in 1809, Lavina in 1811, James in 1814, & Joseph in 1820.

When the War of 1812 broke out John Swan Hughes, who was 35, his brother Joseph and brother-in-law, Samuel Berry, joined in the American forces and were under the leadership of General Martin Harrison.

In 1821, John Hughes' parents, Joseph and Sarah, who were 68 years old, the Berry families, as well as those of his brothers, William and Samuel Hughes, migrated to Missouri. Soon after they arrived in Missouri, various Hughes families purchased land in Boone, Howard, Clay and Ray Counties. Joseph and his family lived on a farm on the road between Columbia and Jefferson City in an area known as the Two Mile Prairie. Joseph Hughes died in 1837 and is buried in New Franklin Missouri. His wife Sarah died a year later. John Swan died January 7, 1865 and is buried on his farm called “Brookville,” 5 miles from Shelbyville Missouri. His will showed he had $18,000 and 586 acres of farmland.

There is a story about two other of John and Betsy Hughes’ children. James Hughes became a prominent banker in Richmond, Missouri, and had a farm with 882 acres. It is said that the Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham visited their farm and painted a portrait of James’ sister Lavina before she died. The legend is that slaves poisoned her.

John and Betsy’s third child, Berry Hughes [our family connection] left Missouri in 1830 for a short visit to Kentucky to marry Susan E. Campbell on October 26. Susan was 16 years old. There is no information about her family or why they were married in Kentucky. They returned to their farm in Fayette, Missouri and had 6 children: Mary Elizabeth in 1831, William Berry in 1833, Anne Maria [our connection] in 1836, Susan Margaret in 1838, Laura in 1840, and Catherine Sheldon in 1844.

Like many in Missouri, Berry owned African-American slaves. The bill of sale for a female slave, dated January 3, 1835, has this information: “Know all men that I have this day bargained and sold unto Berry Hughes, a certain Negro woman named Lucy, age about twenty-two years old, for the consideration of four hundred dollars, to me paid in hand. Both of the County of Ray and State of Missouri, I do warrant and defend all claim or claims and warrant said Negro to be sound of the best of my knowledge.”

Sometime between the time of migration across the states and fighting in the War of 1812 Berry Hughes managed to attend medical school and become a licensed physician. He became well known and respected and called “Dr. Berry.” In 1841 he and his family moved from Fayette, Missouri to Ray County where his brothers already owned land. Dr. Berry bought a large acreage of land near Hardin and would soon own three homes in the area.

Dr. Berry’s wife Susan died on August 11, 1844 just 17 days after their daughter Catherine Sheldon was born. There is no information on her death but she was only 30 years old. Little Catherine lived only one more month. The remaining children’s ages ranged between 4 and 13 years. Two years later, the oldest child, Mary Elizabeth, died in 1846 when she was only 15 years old. These deaths would try the strength of Dr. Berry.

When the 1850 census for Ray County was taken it showed that the children, Wm., Anne, Margaret, and Laura were still living on the farm with their father Dr. Berry. Anne was 14 years old. Not listed in the Ray County 1850 census was a John Reynolds, but in the next three years, Anne would meet John Reynolds and they would be married. They are the connection with our family.

John P. Reynolds

When the census taker returned in 1860 he recorded that Dr. Berry was 53 years old, his occupation was farmer and he had $15,000 in property and $15,000 in personal value. Living with him were his daughters, Margaret 19 and Laura 17, and another family — John and Anne Reynolds and their children. Sometime between 1850 and 1860, Anne Hughes and John Reynolds were married and they moved in with her father in Hardin.

It is John Reynolds’s family who is the mystery. There was a note from Laura Hughes Boggess to our mother giving some details about John P. Reynolds. She gave his birth date as November 12, 1824. On February 10, 1853 he married Anne Maria Hughes. The 1860 census lists “John” with his wife, Anne, and children Mary and Edward. He is listed as living on his father-in-law’s farm and having $1,000 value in property and $100 in personal property. The census reported that his occupation was farmer and that he was originally from Virginia.

Their children were Mary Elizabeth born May 18, 1855, W.H.E. [Ed] born Jan 27, 1857, and Charles born March 1, 1862. My great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth, was most likely named after Anne’s oldest sister, who had died in 1846 at 15 years old.

Apparently Anne (Hughes) Reynolds was not a strong woman and died on December 22, 1864. She was just 28 years old and their children were 2, 7, and 11. It must have been very hard for members of the family to lose their mother, grandmother and aunt when they were very young.

When the 1870 census was taken, the children’s father, John Reynolds, is not mentioned. His three children are listed living with their grandfather, Dr. Berry Hughes. By this time, Dr. Berry’s children were married with children of their own. Did John abandon his children? Was he killed during the Civil War? Dr. Berry was 64 and living alone with his daughter’s children. Who took care of the Reynolds children? Since the War was over the slaves had been freed. This is another area of the family history that requires further research.

Mother has a small New Testament Bible that belonged to her grandmother. It was printed in 1862 and inside it says “Miss Mary E. Reynolds, Aug 1st, 1865. A present from Aunt Mag.” Mary was 10 years old when she received the Bible. "Aunt Mag" was most likely Susan Margaret Hughes Dickson who was 17 when Mary Elizabeth was born in their home.

By the time Mary Elizabeth was 18 she had met one of the neighbor boys in the Boggess family and fell in love. On November 27, 1873 Mary Elizabeth Reynolds and Warfield Boggess were married. It seemed appropriate that they were married in Dr. Berry’s home in Ray County. [Photo of Mary when she married Warfield Boggess.]

Warfield Boggess and Mary Elizabeth Reynolds

The association of Mary Elizabeth with the Hughes family remained close. Mary Elizabeth and Warfield Boggess’ first child was stillborn in 1875 but when their next child was born on October 10, 1876, they named her Laura Hughes Boggess for Mary Elizabeth’s aunt and to honor the Hughes family for their kindness. The original Laura must have been like a big sister when Mary Elizabeth Reynolds was growing up in the Hughes home. At the time her namesake was born, Laura Hughes was married to Dr. Alexander Buchanan, a cousin of President James Buchanan. The Buchanans were pioneer settlers in the area and had a farm nearby the Hughes farm. Mary and Warfield Boggess’ next child was named Lewis Edward, born in 1878.

Tragedy struck the Boggess household when Warfield died on January 5, 1881 at age 29. There is no information on how or why he died. How did Mary Elizabeth cope with his death and raising her two children? Her mother was dead, we don’t know the whereabouts of her father, her grandfather was 74 and alone, her father-in-law had been dead for 11 years, and her mother-in-law was 64 years old and in poor health. No doubt the wealth of the several Hughes families in Ray County contributed to caring for the Boggess children.

Because of the tragic deaths of his young son-in-law, his wife and three young daughters, Dr. Berry must have been preoccupied about his own death. The story circulated that he had his coffin made of walnut sawed from trees cut on his farm. He kept the coffin in his parlor for many years and it became quite a conversation piece. Taylor Boggess relates that when he visited the house, the Dr. was often found taking naps in the coffin. Dr. Berry died on February 27, 1883, at 76 years old.

Deaths continued to plague the household. Only four years after Warfield’s death and two years after her father died, Mary Elizabeth died on October 30, 1885 at age 30, leaving the children without parents and only one grandparent, Eva Boggess, who was 68 and in very poor health. She died December 4, 1888, at 71 years old.

When Mary Elizabeth died Laura was 9 and Lewis was 7. There is no information on the cause of death for either their mother or father. There is also no information on who raised the children. This would be the third generation of mothers who died young: Susan Campbell Hughes, age 30, in 1844; Anne Marie Hughes Reynolds, age 28, in 1864; Mary Elizabeth Reynolds Boggess, age 30, in 1885. Laura’s brother Louis had died in 1914 when he was 35.

Next page: Laura and Franklin Nelson