Biography of Charles Edward Hughes - Mercer Co. WV


The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II,
pg. 547


CHARLES EDWARD HUGHES. The business interests of
Charles Edward Hughes, whose home is at Rock in Mercer
County, have been chiefly identified with contracting in the
building of houses and other construction work in the coal
districts. His interests have extended to banking and other
lines of business, and at all times he has played an effective
and public spirited part in his home community.

Mr. Hughes was born in Campbell County, Virginia,
twenty miles south of Lynchburg, October 7, 1873, son of
Charles H. and Katharine (Woods) Hughes, the former a
native of Pittsylvania County and the latter of Campbell
County, Virginia. The father moved to Campbell County
as a young man. He served four years in the Confederate
Army, and while doing picket duty at Gettysburg one of
his toes was shot off. His regular occupation was that of
a farmer. He was a democrat and for many years a mem-
ber of the board of stewards of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. He died in 1918, at the age of seventy-eight, and
the mother is now eighty-one and living at Alta Vista.

Charles Edward Hughes was the sixth in a family of ten
children. His brother Samuel is inspector for the Poca-
hontas Fuel Company. At the age of sixteen Mr. Hughes
left school and the home farm, and for two years following
was a brakeman in the service of the Southern Railway
Company between Charlottesville and Danville. He came
to Keystone, West Virginia, as a carpenter on contract work,
and after six months removed to Arlington, where he re-
mained two years engaged in similar work. For about five
years his headquarters were at Stone Eagle, Virginia,
where he did an extensive business building houses over the
Pocahontas coal field. For another four years he was at
Sagamore on Crane Creek in Mercer County, and since then
his home has been at Rock. Mr. Hughes has built by con-
tract probably more houses in this coal field than any other
contractor. For a time he was associated with John Doss.
Mr. Hughes was one of the organizers of the First Na-
tional Bank of Matoaka and is one of its directors and is a
director in the Matoaka Wholesale Grocery Company.

In 1900 he married Miss Alice Nuckels, daughter of
John B. Nuckels, of Graham, Virginia. They have a fam-
ily of five sons and three daughters. Mr. Hughes is a stew-
art in the Methodist Episcopal Church, for ten years has
been master of the Lodge of Masons at Rock, is affiliated
with Athens Chapter, R. A. M., Bramwell Commandery,
K. T., the Mystic Shrine at Charleston, has served as chan-
cellor commander of Montcalm Lodge, Knights of Pythias,
and is a member of the board of school trustees at Rock.


Submitted by Valerie Crook <vfcrook@earthlink.net> 

****************************************************************

USGENWEB NOTICE:  These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in
any format for profit or presentation by any 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. Files may be printed or copied
for personal use only.

****************************************************************