Hughes Cemetery, Harrison County, Missouri.

Updated May 16, 2006

The Hughes Cemetery is a roughly one-acre plot set aside formally by Hiram "High" Hughes from what was at the time his farm, to be a cemetery open to all. Certainly, the spot was used as a de facto cemetery before that, though; the first burial noted to date was in 1859, before Hiram had migrated to the area and certainly before he first bought land in this area in 1886. The cemetery is located in Section 12, Township 66, Range 26 of Harrison County, one-half mile west of the Mercer-Harrison county line, about 8 miles north of Cainsville, Missouri. Although the cemetery is located within Harrison County, it can no longer be reached directly from there, as the old road has not been used in far too many years. It can now only be reached from Mercer county, via the road that goes past the old Hiram Hughes farm (now owned by Mike Campbell, a close friend of the family). Despite the "Hughes Cemetery" name, only three Hughes' are buried there. Hiram and his wife, Sarah Ann (McDonald), are buried with the only "Hughes" headstone; their daughter, Mary, is buried their with her husband, James Seymour. Hiram and Sarah's son and only other child, John Wesley Hughes, is buried with his wife, Etta, in Freedom Cemetery, near Saline, Missouri. Some of the ashes of a fourth Hughes, Wayne Walton Hughes (great-grandson of Hiram and Sarah, and father of this writer, amongst others), were scattered at the Hughes cemetery at Wayne's request; a stone has been raised in his memory where the rest were buried.

The current trustee of the cemetery is Mr. Victor Seymour (RR 1, Cainsville, Missouri 64632). He has explained that there is no official listing of the people buried in the cemetery; when his uncle, the previous trustee, asked him to take over, he had no such information to provide. The cemetery is still in active, if infrequent, use. Burials are made where there is room; there are no assigned plots and the graves are laid out in rough, rather than strict, lines. Nevertheless, the cemetery is well maintained, and readily accessed.

A partial (somewhat more than 1/3 and less than 1/2) "photographic census" was taken on August 15, 2000. The results of this have been used to supplement the information previously on hand from a fragment of a previous survey. Unfortunately, many of the very old stones are marble, rather than granite, and have become difficult to read as lichen and acidic rain have taken their toll. In at least one case, the stone was entirely unreadable at the time the photo was taken; in another the top portion of the stone was broken off, and the name, date of death, and part of the age at death is missing. In addition, Victor Seymour pointed out that a number of stones and fragments have been moved to a pile at the edge of the cemetery. Clearly, a more thorough census is still needed.

At least the following family names are represented at the Hughes Cemetery. Other names likely appear in this cemetery as well.

The list below was compiled from multiple sources:

• A partial list from a survey made around 1975
• A small number of internet postings made about some burials at the cemetery
• The partial photographic survey mentioned above, combined with notes taken at the time about some of the more difficult-to-read stones.

Photos are available for many of these stones. Listings are alphabetical by family names, with the exception that wives' records are generally kept together with their husband and children. Family names in italics are not listed on the stones, but are known from other records.