BIOGRAPHY: Thomas J. HUGHES, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 72-3
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THOMAS J. HUGHES, superintendent of the Cambria county almshouse, and a business 
man of recognized ability, is a son of John T. and Anna (Williams) Hughes, and 
was born in North Wales, December 27, 1844.
     His father was also a native of North Wales, born in 1820, and came to 
America in 1848, his family, which then consisted of his wife and one son, 
accompanying him. He located in Cambria township, Cambria county, where he 
purchased two hundred and fifty acres of woodland, which he proceeded to clear 
up and convert into a tillable farm. He cleared up about two hundred acres of 
this land, put it in a good state of cultivation, and further improved it by the 
erection of a substantial and commodious building. He was a careful and neat 
farmer, and raised good stock, making a specialty of breeding fine horses. He 
was a true Christian and for many years was deacon of the Congressional church. 
He was a member of Rheyoma Lodge, No. 537, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at 
Wilmore, this county. His marriage with Anna Williams, of North Wales, resulted 
in the birth of five sons and four daughters: Thomas J., subject; Margaret, the 
wife of William Howell, of Cambria township; Lemuel J., a farmer, residing on 
the old homestead; Mary Ann, the wife of Thomas D. Jones, a farmer of Munster 
township, this county; Jane, the wife of Reese Roberts, of Summerhill township, 
this county; Elias J., a farmer, of Johnson county, Iowa; Isaac J., a farmer in 
Summerhill township, Cambria county; Rebecca, the wife of David T. Edwards, of 
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and Ezekiel J., who died March 6, 1887, at the age of 
twenty-two years.
     Thomas J. Hughes was brought up on a farm, educated in the public schools 
of his neighborhood and in the Ebensburg public school. He remained with his 
father upon the farm until 1864, when he entered the Civil War. He enlisted 
August 13th of that year in company D, Fifth Pennsylvania heavy artillery, at 
Pittsburg, and was honorably discharged from the Federal service at Vienna, 
Virginia, June 30, 1865, after the close of that terrible conflict. He 
participated in a number of skirmishes in the Shenandoah valley, against Colonel 
Mosby, the noted guerrilla warrior, and on November 5, 1864, was captured by his 
men and incarcerated in Libby prison, where he was confined until February 5, 
1865, suffering such privations and miseries as were only known to southern army 
prisoners. Returning from the war, he engaged in farming and lumbering, near 
Wilmore, this county, for a period of four years, and then engaged in the saw-
milling business, in which he continued until 1876. Returning to his farm that 
year, he continued the tranquil but remunerative pursuits of husbandry until 
1895, when he was elected superintendent of the Cambria county almshouse, which 
position he is now acceptably filling. Mr. Hughes was made first lieutenant in 
command of company H, Fifth regiment Pennsylvania State militia, and rendered 
valuable service in the suppression of the great railroad strike of 1877, which 
completely tied up, as it were, the railroads and paralyzed business throughout 
the country. He was stationed at Pittsburg during the riots   in that city, and 
was subsequently transferred to Altoona to prevent the destructive invasions of 
the rioters. Lieutenant Hughes is a member of Summit Lodge, No. 312, F. and A. 
M., and John M. Jones Post, No. 556, G. A. R. In politics he is a republican and 
in religion a Congregationalist.
     He has been thrice married. August, 1873, he married Eliza Ellis, of 
Wilmore, by whom he had six children: John T., May, Edna, Leah, Martha and Mary. 
His first wife died September 9, 1882, and he wedded as his second wife Miriam 
Roberts, of Pittsburg. They were married December 28, 1884, and became the 
parents of one child, Miriam, deceased. Mrs. Hughes died May 2, 1889, and Mr. 
Hughes took for his third and last wife Wilhelmina Young, of Clearfield county, 
Pennsylvania. The nuptials which made them husband and wife were celebrated on 
December 18, 1890.