Patrick County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Cemeteries.....Archelaus Hughes Cemetery History and Info.
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Larry D. Christiansen <LCandBC@aol.com Nov 2001

Archelaus Hughes Cemetery Probably Burials, History and More Info

Location - in southeastern Patrick County just north of Road #631 and 1.1 mile west of the Henry 
County line and 4.6 miles east of the Moorefield Store area.
The cemetery is almost a mile southwest from the Hughesville home as the crow flies.

Probable Burials:  Graves marked by primitive stones with no inscriptions with four definite graves 
with the possibility of one or two more in this cemetery.

  	1). William Martin (1742-1809) -He was the son of Joseph Martin and his wife Susanna Chiles 
born inAlbemarle County, Va. and died in Stokes County, N.C.  He married Rachel Dalton, the sister 
of Mary Dalton Hughes, in 1798.  Additional connections tothe Hughes family came when a daughter, 
Nancy, married Archelaus Hughes,Jr., and when another daughter, Sally, married Capt. John Hughes 
in Februaryof 1798.  William Martin served in the Revolutionary War first as a county lieutenant 
and later as a captain.   As part of his war service he received a grant of land from North Carolina 
in the area that became Tennessee.  He moved to N.C. upon inheriting land to be near his brother 
Col. Jack Martin.  He and his wife had nine children.
 Lucy Henderson Horton in her Family History printed in 1922 on page153 wrote: "Captain Martin is 
buried at Hughesville' in the old familyburying grounds in Patrick County, Virginia."

	2). Leander Hughes (abt, 1770 to 1867) - probably the oldest child of Archelaus and Mary 
Dalton Hughes.   He was born and reared at Hughesville.  Upon the death of his mother and later 
his brother Samuel, he inherited Hughesville where he lived until he passed away at the age of 97.  
He is found on the 1850 and 1860 Patrick Co. Census South District, but he is not found on the 1870 
Mayo District.   On the 1850 census Thomas McCabe and his wife Mary Martin McCabe, plus children 
from Mary's two marriages, are living at Hughesville with Leander.  In 1860 only Mary and three 
children from the Staples marriage and three from the McCabe marriage are living at Hughesville.  
On this census Leander is listed as a "gentlemen" at age 92, while his niece Mary Martin McCabe 
not only heads the list of family members but shows an income of $8,000 an extremely high figure 
for Patrick County where the next highest figures were $7,000, $6,100, $5,880, $5,700 and $4,500 
also being uncommon.    As he never married, at his death Hughesville passed    to his niece 
(his sister's daughter), Mary Martin McCabe, who had lived at Hughesville with her uncle in his 
old age there.
	   After spending his whole life living there and the last 15 plus years managing the Hughes 
property in and about Hughesville, it is almost  inconceivable that he would have been buried 
anywhere but the family burial grounds.
	
3).   Gabriel Hughes - the son of Archelaus and Mary Hughes who died in an accident as a youth.
		  The number of known children of Archelaus and Mary Hughes varies from nine, ten or 
eleven in most histories of the family with only a few of the children with reliable birth dates.
Family accounts have many discrepancies with much omitted and numerous questions unanswered. From 
a second great granddaughter Hallie McCabe Price (Mrs. Robert B.
    Price) comes the story of a son in the Archelaus Hughes family who
   died young in an accident.   She submitted papers to the National Society of
		   the DAR as a descendant of Archelaus Hughes.   These papers also included
		 Mrs. Price's lineage as follows: -   ". . .Col. Archelaus Hughes and wife Mary Dalton.  
Their daughter,   Sallie, married Col. Joseph Martin.  Their daughter, Mary Martin, married 
Col. Thomas McCabe.   Their son, Thomas   F., married Rachel Tatum.  Their daughter,  Hallie McCabe, 
married Robert   B. Price." Mrs. Price belonged to the DAR as  Serial # 416710.  Her   verbatim 
account included this story:
"Col. Hughes had a son who was thrown from a horse and his neck was broken.  The slaves claimed that in 
late evening after sunset they would see a man sitting by the road side about where young Hughes met his 
death and he had no head, but would be crying." None of the known sons can be connected to this story.  
Either this    descendant's story was incorrect or there was another son in the family.
    Confirmation of this son with a name and an additional  family member    comes from an even closer 
source.

 Archelaus M. Hughes III (1800-1838), son of Archelaus Hughes, Jr., and grandson of Archelaus Hughes, 
in an account he wrote in 1827 from Weakly County in Tennessee cited several of the brothers and sister 
of his father Archelaus  Hughes, Jr. [or II].  He made two additions to his grandparents' family in 
this fashion:
"Gabriel Hughes, the other brother, and Mary Hughes, the other sister,
died when quite young." The "other" brother and sister that died while very young are not listed by most 
researchers and family historians, but they are believed by us to be buried in this cemetery.   
["Archelaus Madison Hughes, by his own hand-C. 1827 Weakly County, TN" in the Newsletter of 
Hughes & Related Families for  June  1999]

	4.  Mary Hughes -  the young daughter of Archelaus and Mary Hughes, who died while "quite young."
This makes the number of children in the Hughes family as thirteen.
*  * * *

History of the Archelaus Hughes Cemetery:
	First burial - either the young son who died after being thrown from a horse, or his young 
sister  or  their father and namesake of the cemetery. Last burial -  probably Leander Hughes in 
about 1867.

	The stone wall that is two feet thick and from three to three and one half feet in height 
completely surrounds the cemetery was constructed about 1850. In the settlement of Samuel Hughes' 
estate, the account current of the Administrator Joseph Martin included the notation dated October 3, 1850 -
 (paid to)   "Geo. Gatewood balance due him for building wall around grave yard 15.46"
    In 1850 or shortly before, a major improvement of the cemetery took place with the erection of 
the stone wall and inscribed marble headstones for some of the previous burials.  Prior to the death 
of Mary Hughes in December of 1841, this burial ground contained only four graves-the young Hughes 
son and daughter that died young, the father Archelaus who passed away in 1796 and Captain William 
Martin who died in 1809.  None of these graves were marked with inscribed headstones.  Then beginning 
with Mary Hughes' death the next nine years saw a daughter Nancy and a son Samuel buried in the cemetery.   
When Nancy  Stovall died in June of 1845,  her grave was marked with an inscribed headstone.  Then in 
the period between Mary Hughes' death in 1841 and the burial of Samuel Hughes in 1850 the family burial 
ground was improved with the stone wall and permanent marble headstones for three of the Hughes.    
Although we do not know the exact dates, we can make inferences from the fact that the inscribed 
headstones of Archelaus Hughes, Mary Hughes and Samuel Hughes were identical in style and material.
Apparently the three were erected at the same time or within a short time of each other, and not 
the five decades and four years of their death dates.


    With the death of Mary Hughes in 1841 she passed "the tract of land and premise" on which 
she resided to her son Samuel.  He now had the Hughesville home and adjacent land plus acreage 
of his own that included 300 acres surrounding the cemetery.  In January of 1850 Samuel, a bachelor, 
passed this 300 acres down to a nephew with the following stipulation in the deed:  "Samuel Hughes 
for and in consideration of  the natural love and affection to his nephew the said Joseph Martin, Jr. 
and being desirous that the burying place of his ancestors should be in the possession of a relative 
in whom he has confidence and for the further consideration of one dollar . . . ."   Possibly the 
stone wall around the cemetery was a factor in  this gift by Samuel to his nephew.   However in 1878 
the Martins sold the land to people not related to the family buried in the cemetery.   The only 
burials in the cemetery after the land was given to Joseph Martin were Samuel Hughes in March of 
1850, Samuel McCabe in January of 1863 and Leander Hughes in 1867.   Two months after Mary Martin 
Staples McCabe buried her son Samuel Hughes McCabe in January of 1863 in this cemetery; she started 
a burial ground adjacent to the home place of Hughesville.  Here she and two of her Staples children 
and three of her McCabe children were buried between March of 1863 and 1923.   The Cemetery from 
Old Photographs    1935 - four pictures-two close ups of the Archelaus and Mary Hughes headstones 
individually.  Then a picture of both headstones taken some distance back and behind a small tree.  
Behind each headstone can be seen the trunk of a large tree with the one behind Archelaus' the 
larger, but both trees were as wide or wider than the headstones.  The fourth picture taken outside 
the cemetery at a corner of the stone wall and shows several trees inside the stone wall. 1966 
(October) - an old photograph of the cemetery with the date on the picture's outer edge and taken  
from outside looking at the southeastern corner of the stone wall with the outer stone steps on 
the right side.  The view reveals a number of large trees dominated the cemetery interior.  It 
shows two trees outside the stone wall with the one on the left side still living and a dead tree 
near the southeastern corner of the wall.   The sparse vegetation outside the walls indicates the 
surrounding land may have served as a pasture. 1967 (May) - there are two photographs with this 
date on them.  The first shows "Mr. T. F. McCabe  (`Fleet') and Mrs. Galen Andrews (`Marje')" 
standing outside the eastern wall (stone steps visible).  It shows a minimum of vegetation outside 
the wall with one tree near the northeastern corner.  Inside the walls there were three large trees 
standing in the southeastern quadrant with another large tree fallen and leaning against the standing 
trees.  Just right of the center of the pictures there was shown another very large tree standing 
with several smaller trees with vegetation so thick as to defy delineation.  In this section with 
the thickest vegetation, there are no known burials.
    The second picture shows a close up of the Archelaus Hughes headstone.  Behind the headstone 
is revealed a very large tree that was broader than the headstone with a small glimpse of the 
western stone wall in back of the tree. 1974 (spring) - Newspaper picture of the Hughes Cemetery 
with an article on Hughesville in The Bull Mountain Bugle, Stuart, Virginia of April 24, 1974, 
reveals the following about the cemetery.  The view was from the southeast looking northwest 
with a clear view of the south wall and eastern side including the steps.  Outside the eastern 
wall there was a small tree or large broken limb laying just south of the stone steps with a 
small tree growing outside the wall just north of the steps.   Otherwise, the area outside the 
walls was free of any vegetation other than grass, possibly revealing the area was a pasture 
for cattle.  Inside the walls of the cemetery were several large trees with many smaller trees.  
One of the large trees is laying at an angle, apparently propped against a couple of other large 
tree to prevent it from falling to the ground.   There appears to be fewer of the large trees 
than were shown on the May 1967 pictures.  The two large cedar trees behind the headstones of 
Archelaus and Mary Hughes were no longer there.
  From a descendant an identical photograph was obtained with the date of September of 1974.  
Most likely the newspaper furnished a copy of this picture to the family after the article in 
the newspaper.
1981 (spring) - picture of Mrs. Hattie Stovall Spencer standing on the cemetery wall during the 
cleanup and  restoration undertaken during that time.  The Stuart newspaper The Enterprise for 
April 1, 1981 noted that Mrs. Spencer and others had - "Just completed restoration of one of 
Patrick County's oldest and most historically valuable cemeteries during the past year."   The 
newspaper stated that the stone wall surrounding the cemetery had been completely rebuilt.   
From a couple of people living nearby and one former owner of the property, we learned the following.  
There were some large trees and a few smaller trees within the enclosed cemetery.  Some of the 
largest trees fell and damaged the wall.  In the winter and spring of 1981, the fallen trees and 
the thicket of small trees, brush and vines were removed
 There appears to be no trees remaining inside the walls in the picture where Mrs. Spencer was 
standing on the wall.  Apparently the storm damage extended beyond damaging the wall to some of 
the headstones with evidence that the Archelaus, Mary Hughes and Samuel Hughes headstone had been 
knocked over causing physical damage to the markers.   The Nancy Stovall headstone was discovered 
knocked over and buried.  It was found that the original headstone was broken.  It was replaced 
in 1981 by the headstone now at the site with the inscription being the same as on the original.  
Nancy Stovall's old broken headstone is now in the Patrick County Historical Museum.  A headstone 
for Brett Stovall of the same design as his wife's was also set up.  Mrs. Spencer, who headed this 
cleanup, died at Martinsville in early May of 2001.
Later Observations:
1984 --Mr. O. E. Pilson work Tombstone Inscriptions of the Cemeteries of Patrick County, Virginia 
was published.  On page 2 and his number seven cemetery listed Mr. Pilson wrote the following:
 	  "COL. ARCHELAUS HUGHES CEMETERY, Located on the north side of Road # 631, about 1.1 mile 
west of Henry County line, near Buddy Hylton home.  Cemetery is enclosed by stone wall.  It was 
unattended for many years, and was in bad condition, but has been restored recently, and is now 
in good condition."
After listing the tombstone inscriptions for six graves he concluded:
   "There are 4 graves marked with field stones with no inscriptions."

1999-2001 - We (Becky and Larry Christiansen) found the cemetery in the summer of 1999 while 
we were  negotiating with a property owner in northern Patrick County concerning another old 
family cemetery located in a cow pasture with cattle grazing among the graves.  The Hughes 
Cemetery was an absolute thicket of small trees (18 to 22 feet tall and up to five inches in 
diameter), brush, poison oak and vines both inside the walled cemetery and outside each wall.  
A view of the cemetery itself from the eastern wall showed vegetation so thick that only the 
graves adjacent to the inside steps (Samuel Hughes and Samuel McCabe) could be seen.   The 
first summer we cleared away the growth from outside the eastern wall, and then moved inside 
the wall and cleared away the southeastern corner from the inside steps over to Nancy Stovall's 
footstone and south to the southern wall (an area less than one-sixth of the cemetery).  At 
this juncture the burial ground in the cow pasture was resolved, and we turned our attention 
to fencing out the cattle and restoring it.  Once this was done, our attention returned to 
the Archelaus Hughes Cemetery.  Becky Christiansen is the fourth great granddaughter of Archelaus 
and Mary Hughes, and the third great granddaughter of Bret and Nancy Stovall.
   	In the late summer of 2000 we solicited the help of David Sloop of the Ararat community 
to undertake the cleanup of the cemetery as his Boy Scout Eagle project.  He began spraying 
the poison oak, which was prominent in and about the cemetery.   After the vines lost their 
leaves, the work of cleanup was to commence with the assistance of members of his Scout 
Troop 551, sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Mt. Airy, N.C.
	In the meantime the Roy and Dottie Via family had found the grave of an ancestor at 
the cemetery in the cow pasture and were also connected to the Stovalls and Hughes in this 
cemetery.  At Thanksgiving time of 2000 the Via family, living in the area or back home for 
the holiday (Roy and Dottie Via and their three daughters and their husbands-Leon and 
Cynthia Towamicki, David and Diana Nixon and Brian and Julia Nester), spent a day cutting 
most of the small trees and brush from the cemetery and along the outside of the northern 
wall using chainsaws.   They piled the cutoff trees, brush and vines opposite the eastern 
wall and northern wall.   Then David Sloop with his fellow scouts and their leaders came in 
and finished cutting down any remaining trees inside the cemetery and outside the western 
and southern wall.   Then they brought in a chipper and reduced it all to chips and mulch.  
They worked at the massive mat and tangle of vines (honeysuckle, Virginia Creeper and poison 
oak) and greatly reduced its presence.   They reset the large stone steps leading into the 
cemetery and placed a sign at the junction of the small lane and Road #63l that reads 
"A. Hughes Cemetery."
	We did a little repair work on the walls and cleaned all of the inscribed headstones.  
One headstone required extensive repair work, two some restoration and the McCabe headstone 
was placed back upright. 
Surprises in the Latest Cleanup:
   1).  A mystery stone was observed early in the cleaning of the cemetery.  It was located 
halfway between   the inside stone steps and Nancy Stovall's headstone.  In the thick 
overgrowth it was seen as a manufactured stone with a round or circle top.  Mr. O.E. Pilson 
had stated nothing concerning it, and so it became known as the "mystery stone" as we 
wondered why it was there.  After all the trees were removed and the   tangle of vines 
was reduced, it was  discovered the top of this round stone had a base a few inches more 
than we first thought.  On this base below the circle portion was inscribed the following: 
"N.S.    AE [formed together back to back]  73."  Research revealed the two letters back 
to back formed a Latin symbol for age of human.   Now the mystery stone was seen as Nancy 
Stovall's  footstone.  A quick trip to the  Patrick County Historical Museum the very  
day we found the inscription confirmed our belief.  This footstone and Nancy Stovall's 
original headstone were made of the same material and similar in design.
   2).  A marble slab covered the entire grave of Samuel Hughes McCabe.   The growth of 
vines was so extensive as to preclude seeing this marble slab until the overgrowth was cut and removed.
   3).  Behind the graves of Archelaus Hughes and Mary Hughes were large stumps whose centers 
had  decayed away leaving only the outer circumferences still standing some 10 to 11 inches 
above the ground.  The tree roots had forced the two nearby headstones out of alignment and 
had caused each to be tilted.  Between the two headstones a root had a large knurl or knot 
on it exposed above ground,
   and both decayed stumps were unsightly eyesores.   From existing dated pictures, it can 
be determined that  the two trees were cut down sometime between 1967 and 1974.  The stump 
behind (west)  Archelaus Hughes' grave was the largest and measured 26 inches at its 
narrowest point and 33 inches at the widest  diameter at the cutoff point.  The stump 
behind Mary Hughes' grave was smaller but still measured 20 inches at the narrowest point 
and 23 inches at the widest diameter at the cutoff point.
Because of their condition and being right up against the bases of the grave markers, 
it was  thought best to remove these stumps so the two headstones could be realigned 
with one another and leveled.   To our amazement the outer ring of these stumps was 
extremely hard notwithstanding the complete decay of the inner two-thirds.   When 
the outer layer was cut away the old wood of the stump was colored reddish  and 
possessed the strong aromatic smell of cedar. The two trees that sat behind these 
two graves were Eastern Red Cedars (Juniperus virginiana)-actually a variety of 
juniper rather than true cedars..   A professor of Tree Physiology and Silviculture 
at the Department of  Forestry at Virginia Tech stated there was no  reliable way 
of determining the age of these trees when cut off since the inner two-thirds had 
decayed away.  However, he noted that the Eastern Red Cedar was slow growing and 
that trees of the size we gave stump diameters for  were "likely several hundred 
years old at least."  Making it feasible that  the large cedar tree behind Archelaus's 
headstone could have dated from or near the time Archelaus's interment in 1796.  
The same could also be said for the tree behind Mary's headstone.
* * * *
On June 16, 2001, a commemorative service was held adjacent to the cemetery and attended 
by over 33 relatives and interested persons.   After a program, a SAR marker was unveiled 
next to the Archelaus Hughes headstone.  Robert L. Hughes, a fourth great grandson of 
Archelaus Hughes, President of Hughes Families, President of  the James Madison Chapter 
of the SAR, and President Elect of the Tennessee Society of the SAR donated the bronze 
marker and dedicated it at this time. 19