MCHUGH, James B., b 1857 1905 Bio, Delta County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/delta/bios/mchughjb.txt --------------------------------------- Donated September 11, 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- James B. McHugh Leaving home at the age of eighteen and since then making his own way with steady progress and his own unaided efforts to a worldly competence and general public esteem, James B. McHugh, of Delta, who lives and conducts a flourishing general farming and cattle industry two miles and a half northeast of Eckert, has found in Colorado a suitable field for the employment of his native abilities and business capacity, and has been quick to see and alert to seize the opportunities here presented for his advancement. He is a native of Pennsylvania, born on September 3, 1857. His father, John McHugh, was born in Ireland in 1816 and emigrated to the United States when young. He located in Pennsylvania, and there married with Miss Mary Carlin, a native of Ireland born in 1834, and she is still living in her old home, where her husband died in 1880. He was a miner from boyhood, and after spending his earlier years in the mines of his native land followed the same pursuit in those of his adopted country to the end of his days. The son, whose life opened on the unpromising outlook of a miner's offspring, remained at home until he reached the age of eighteen, and received such educational training as was available to a boy of his station at the district schools. In the spring of 1875 he left home and came to Colorado by easy stages, reaching Denver in the ensuing fall. From there he proceeded to Georgetown and went to work in the mines. He was occupied in mining until 1886, when he bought the ranch of two hundred and fifty acres which has been his home since 1888, in which year he settled on the property and took personal charge of the improvements and cultivation already in progress there. He has mined at intervals since then, and still owns valuable mining claims, but he does not now work them himself. Having turned his attention to ranching and the acquisition of real estate as his permanent occupation and business, he also bought a five hundred-acre ranch in New Mexico, which he still owns. On the home place he has one hundred and fifty acres in alfalfa and timothy, and on this he produces five to eight tons of excellent hay per annum, all of which he feeds to cattle on the place, buying the stock in the fall and fattening them in the winter for the market. He winters on an average one hundred and seventy head, and finds the undertaking very profitable. He also has a prolific orchard of two acres, in which he raises an abundance of choice fruit of several kinds. In every line of enterprise on this and the other place he is prosperous and successful because he deserves to be, giving all details of his work his close personal attention, and applying to it the lessons learned by intelligent study and close observation of its needs. On March 7, 1886, he was married to Miss Lola Beckley, who was born in Indiana, the daughter of George and Martha (Hurt) Beckley, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. McHugh have had ten children, Mary E., Florence F., Lola A., John B., Walter A., James J., Hannah L., Regina F., Lawrence and an infant who is dead. Mr. McHugh is a Democrat politically and fraternally he belongs to the order of Washington. There were seventeen children in his father's family, of whom he was the fifth born. Eleven are living and four are residents of Colorado. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.