John HUGHES is one of the most prosperous farmers of Carter County, and was born and reared in said county. He was born February 14, 1820, and is the son of James and Susanor (Hines) HUGHES. The father was a native of Sullivan County, Tenn., and was born May 15, 1790. He was the son of David HUGHES. The latter was born in Ireland, immigrated to America, was among the early settlers of East Tennessee, and was one of the Revolutionary soldiers. He was a farmer by occupation. The father of our subject was a wagon-maker by trade, and followed farming and trading. He was a successful farmer and trader, and amassed considerable wealth. He had gone on a trading expedition South, and while in Alabama, a man by the name of Carter from the same county as himself, who had started out with him on the expedition, murdered him, it is supposed on April 15. 1834. The mother was born near Blountville, Sullivan County, Tenn. October 29, 1792; she was the daughter of George HINES, a native of Pennsylvania, and of German extraction. She died at our subject’s home February 10, 1868. She was the mother of five sons, viz.: David, George, John, James and Albert. It may be noticed that our subject is the eldest, but two; at the present (1887) only three of the sons are living. viz.: John, James and Albert.
Our subject was reared on the farm, and educated in the country schools, receiving a practical training. He has devoted his life principally to agricultural pursuits, but in the meantime he has conducted tanning and distilling. He operated a very large tannery for several years prior to the war, and has done considerable distilling. He is practical in business, and has been successful in amassing considerable wealth, having a very limited capital to begin with. He has had much misfortune in his time. but has been successful against many embarrassments, and at present is one of the most successful and prosperous farmers in Carter County, Tenn. In 1879 he married Nancy Ellen CARRAL, daughter of William CARRAL. Two children, Albert and Mary Anna, blessed this marriage. The mother died in 1880, and in 1885 he married Martha J. DUNCAN. One daughter, Della Cleveland, has come to this marriage.
Transcribed by Kris L. Martin
Source: Goodspeed Publishing Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of from Twenty-Five to Thirty Counties of East Tennessee. Chicago: Goodspeed, 1887.