VII.         Montana and Washington, 1900 to the Present  

              John Wesley: Generation Eight, Kansas and Iowa to Montana and Washington  


            Born in West Liberty, Iowa in 1853 (or in Canada in 1852), John Wesley 
Hughes ("J.W.") married Sarah Ellen Vincent in 1872 while his parents and 
grandparents still lived in the Mahaska County area of Iowa. (31)  J.W. and Sarah had 
eight children, all born in the Searsboro and New Sharon areas of Mahaska County, 
Iowa except for the youngest, Ina.  Ina was born in Seneca, Kansas, probably at the 
home of her Hughes grandparents.  J.W. carried out the final move west by our 
Hughes ancestors, traveling from Iowa (or Kansas) to the Sumas area of Washington 
in 1900.  They stopped briefly -- probably just a few months -- in Montana where 
Sarah's youngest brother, Tom Vincent, (32) lived, and are listed as residing there in the 
1900 U.S. census.  John Wesley and Sarah died in 1912 and 1922, respectively, and 
are buried in the cemetery at Sumas, Washington.

            J.W.'s death in 1912 followed that of his father and of his oldest son by only 
four years (both 1908) and of his grandmother by six years (1906).  Thus, members 
of four generations, three in our direct Hughes line, died within six years.  At their 
deaths, Rachel was 96 years old, Edwin was 82, J.W. was 59 (or 60), and the 
younger Edwin was 35. (33)

            J.W. may have farmed some in Iowa and Kansas, but I have no evidence that 
he ever owned a farm.  An 1895 letter from one of his uncles, (T.C.)  to another 
(John Alfred) said that "Edwin has a small farm four miles east of Seneca.  Wess is 
farming it for him."  I assume that "Wess" was John Wesley.  This would accord 
with Ina's 1893 birth in Seneca.  

            Construction was J.W.'s main occupation.  His oldest daughter (fifth child), 
Martha Almira (Mattie) wrote in 1942 that, when asked, she claimed that her father 
was a bridge builder.  She remembered playing as a child in Iowa on a "big pile 
driver" drawn up in their back yard.  J.W.'s second son, William Milton, often went 
along to help on construction jobs. (34)  He told of J.W. using the earnings from a 
lucrative 1890 or 1891 job constructing a flour mill in Arkansas to start a substantial 
bridge building and construction outfit in Iowa.

John Wesley Hughes  (09 Oct. 1853 - 30 July 1912) 
            Making a living at construction induced many moves, and Mattie mentions 
residing in six different states -- Iowa, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Montana, and 
California -- in addition to  Washington.  Mattie wrote that they "always" went by 
train.

 Sarah E. (Vincent) Hughes  (2 June 1855 - 16 Sept. 1922) 
            J.W. and Bill probably also traveled by train when they went to Seattle 
sometime in the second half of the 1890s to catch a boat to Skagway in Canada, when 
they apparently took part in the 1897 - 1899 Klondike Gold Rush.  The exact timing 
is obscure because family lore has it that, after participating in some portion of the 
gold rush, they had returned to Iowa (or Kansas) and moved with the rest of the 
family to Montana and Washington by 1900. (35)  J.W. was 47 (or 48) years old and 
Sarah was 45 when they came west in 1900. 

            That J.W. didn't settle in Montana is attributed, in part, to his disgust with the 
demonstrably rugged, hostile Montana weather.  One of his grandsons, my uncle 
Lewis, said that J.W., "...took a look at the rocks rolling in the Madison Valley wind, 
and soon took the female portion of the family to the west coast to smell the 
flowers." (36) J.W. stayed in Montana long enough, nevertheless, to help build a dam 
on South Meadow Creek high in the Tobacco Root mountain range, which forms the 
western border of the Madison Valley, to catch snow melt for summer irrigation in the 
valley.(37) In extremely rugged and beautiful country, the dam still stands in 1998 and 
serves its original purpose.

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The meadow creek area of the Tobacco Root mountains hosted numerous gold 
mines during the first part of the 20th century.  These "played out" with the impact of 
the Great Depression in the 1930s on gold prices, but while in operation provided 
employment opportunities for J.W.'s son, T.S. Hughes.  The mine ruins can still be 
reached with a good four wheel drive vehicle. 
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            J.W.'s grandson, Lewis Hughes, and his niece, Lois Bromley report that he 
continued in construction with sons Ira and Roy, after moving to Washington.  The 
three of them worked as carpenters and held jobs in shingle mills that were offshoots 
of Washington's booming lumber industry.  J.W. apparently continued in 
construction-related occupations until his death in 1912.

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Sarah (Vincent) Hughes's Obituary
"Bellingham Herald"
September 19, 1922

Sarah Ellen Hughes, aged 67 Years, passed away Saturday evening, Sept. 18, at the 
home of her daughter, Mrs. Ina Kirkman, 915 Liberty St., after an extended illness.  
Mrs. Hughes had resided in Bellingham about three years, and was previously a 
resident of Sumas for many years.  She is survived by four sons, William Hughes, of 
Basin , Wyo.; Ira Hughes, of Napavine, Wash.; Roy Hughes, of Kennewick, Wash.; 
Thomas Hughes, of   McAllister , Mont., and three daughters, Mrs. Mattie Rich and 
Mrs. Lora Lade, of Sumas, and Mrs. Ina Kirkman, of Bellingham.  The body is 
being cared for by John Gillies, at his Sumas parlors.  Funeral services will be held at 
2 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 19, at the Federated Church in Sumas.  Rev. Congdon 
officiating, after which interment will be made in the I.O.O.F. cemetery. (38)
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31        In opposition to other sources, J.W.'s gravestone gives his birthyear as 1852.  
This leads me to speculate that his birth may have been fudged a year in census 
reports to establish U.S., instead of British, citizenship.  On the other hand, incorrect 
gravestone markings are not unusual.
32        I knew Tom Vincent as "Uncle Tom," as he was generally known in the area 
of his McAllister, Montana home.   He was, in fact, the uncle of my grand father's 
(T.S.'s) generation of Hughes's.
33        Smoke damage to Edwin's lungs suffered while helping to save fellow 
workers in a mining accident in Montana led to his death.
34        I remember William as "Old Bill."
35        They are not thought to have actually reached the gold mining area around 
Dawson Creek in Canada, nor to have prospected for or worked a gold mining claim.
36        Having grown up in the Madison Valley, I can attest to Montana's ability to 
inflict day after day of unceasingly hard, cold wind, especially in the fall, winter, and 
spring.
37        There are two "Meadow Creeks," south and north, which after joining flow 
into the Madison River.
38        I have not yet located an obituary for John Wesley Hughes.