Oy, the ever-present brick wall. Who among the Genealogically Obsessed hasn't peered at a record for the eleventieth time in hopes said record would reveal something new? I have several private theories about what may have become of my 3rd great-grandfather, Illinois farmer William Alexander Hughes, none of them are likely to be true, but the facts remain elusive.
My first encounter with the man was decades ago when I received his daughter (and likely only child) Florence's death records, listing her father as "Elec Hughes" of Illinois, and her birthplace in Pulaski County, Illinois. It also lists her mother with correct info, and as I recall, my next "find" was "Elec" and Mary Jane Pearson's marriage record in the same locality, in December 1874. This gave me his full name, and I was then able to find him in 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 Federal Census. William Alexander Hughes was born presumably in Pulaski County, to William H and Martha (Echols) Hughes, and was about 10 years younger than his two brothers, John and Frank. He never moved from the above county, so very thankful for this small "favor."
Complicating matters is the number of William Hughes in this single county. A couple of men bearing the same name in a rural location would be bad enough, but there are 6 of them. WIlliam H. Hughes, my 4th great grandfather, was born about 1811, another William A Hughes born in 1818, William Alexandrer Hughes in 1845. William Hughes born to Nancy Staton Hughes (another relation of mine) in 1856, Willam E to the senior William A in 1882 (died at age 6), and at least two more born later in the 1800's. One of those was William Alexander's nephew.
William Alexander (was he called Alex?) may have served in the Civil War. I have since ordered and received the Civil War pension file for one of two William Hughes' from Pulaski County, and the one I received and had judged likely to be "mine" does not appear to fit. Two marriages, neither to Mary Jane Pearson, and several children with his second wife, all younger than Florence. I can order the other man's file, but he was an even worse match to the facts I have verified. The 2nd pension file also lists the 2nd William as William L.B. Hughes. I'm unsure what to make of those initials but will likely end up looking into that record.
As an adult, his widowed mother lived with him. Alas, no death record for his father has been found either. After 1880, William Alexander, Mary Jane (with one possible exception) and Martha disappear from all record. Pulaski County, Illinois has a fortunate recording of many area newspapers, rich with area detail, but no verifiable deaths are mentioned for this family. I have been to the area twice, once in 2006 and again with my daughter in 2018. No cemeteries we walked revealed their burials, and no records at the courthouse list them, and there was no will.
As mentioned in a previous entry on this blog, my great grandfather thought that his mother's maiden name was Ferrell. I don't know if Florence's parents and grandmother died when she was quite young and she was raised by a Farrell family, but it's certainly plausible. She had no known siblings to leave behind any further information, although a possible record exists in the 1900 census of "Mary Jane Hughes" with daughter Nancy in a similar location to where they had been living in 1880. No later record for Mary Jane or Nancy to confirm that this is the correct family has been found. Florence married at age 17 in 1894, and by 1900 was living in Arkansas, although had returned to Pulaski County before 1903, when Gramps was born there.
There are several reasons for the lack of records in this area. The courthouse was damaged by both fire in the 1870s and later by multiple severe floods, including the very famous floods of 1937. The community has been very poor for a very long time, and many cemeteries are in poor repair and/or inaccessible. Someday, I hope to find just a morsel that will tell me something, anything at all about William's fate, or Civil War service. Someday, time travel to circa 1885-90 would be tremendous!
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