Ira Hughes (Huse; Hues) Narrative

b. February 22, 1796 at Durham, Greene County, New York
Father: Israel Hues
Mother: Abigail [nee ??]

m. October 13, 1822
Wife: Sally Serrin; children:

d. January 18, 1878, Huntsburg, Geauga County, Ohio

Ira Hughes (or Huse or Hues) was born on February 22, 1796 in Durham (then Freehold), Greene County (then Ulster County), New York. He married Sally Serrin (b. January 6, 1799, in Greene County, New York; d. September 15, 1863, in Huntsburg, Ohio) on October 13, 1822. The 1830 Census for Greene County, Durham Township, New York, lists the following record: Ira Hughes [note the spelling], head of family, aged 34, wife, aged 30, 4 children, under 10 years, 1 female, aged 70 years.

Ira Hughes was a cooper by trade. In January 1832, at the age of 36, Ira Hues received a land grant to a piece of property in Arkansas, as a result of his (late) father's service in the Army of the United States of America. There is, as yet, no record of Ira having spent any time in Arkansas, however.

Two years later, in 1834, he and his family removed to the West, making the journey by the Erie canal and overland by team. From Buffalo they traveled by the lake to Cleveland, reaching that city in its infancy. In Huntsburg township he bought land, only ten acres being cleared at that time, and the only improvement being a log house. With the aid of his sons he placed the land under cultivation. Ira's wife, Sally, worked hard, as well; she spun and wove all the clothing of the family, and reared eleven of the thirteen children born to her and Ira (the twins, Edward and Edwin, died at the age of 19 days.)

Three of Ira's sons -- Harrison, Ira and Howard -- took an active part in the Civil War, Ira enlisting September 10, 1861 and Howard and Harrison enlisting November 4, 1861, all in Company G of the Forty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Harrison was killed by a shell while guarding a battery at Murfreesborough, and was buried on the battle-field; Ira was killed May 27, 1864, at Pickett's Mills, at the beginning of the Atlanta campaign, and his body was transferred to Chattanooga amongst the unknown; Howard survived the war. A fourth son, Hiram, served as a teamster; a hernia prevented him from active duty.

Ira's ancestors were Democrats, and in early life he supported that party; but, changing his ideas of government, he joined the Free-soil party, and later gave his vote to the Whigs and then to the Republican party.

Ira lived to the age of nearly eighty-two years, departing this life in January, 1878. According to the Deaths in Geauga County, Ohio 1867 - 1907 (Volume 1, page 066, number 1346), he died a widower on 18 Jan 1878, aged 81y 10m 26d, of "heart disease"; his occupation was listed as "farmer", and his residence as "Bainbridge". He is buried in Huntsburg Cemetery.

* See Hughes Family History for an explanation of the three different spellings of "Hughes"


Updated 01 November 2007
Some information from "Biographical History of Northeastern Ohio, 1893"
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