Preston County, West Virginia         Biography of A. G. HUGHES

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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 600


A. G. HUGHES, judge of the Circuit Court of the Eight-
eenth West Virginia Circuit, has spent all the years of his
professional life in Preston County, but prior to that had
represented his native county of Jackson in the State Sen-
ate.

Judge Hughes was born on a farm near Ravenswood in
Jackson County November 2, 1869. His ancestors came
from Pennsylvania and old Virginia, and several of these
ancestors were Patriot soldiers in the Revolution.  An-
other member of the family was the well-known Indian
fighter Jesse Hughes. Grandfather Hughes spent his life
as a farmer in Jackson County, and married Elizabeth Kile,
of old American and Revolutionary stock. They had two
song and three daughters, the sons being Lewis H. and
James.

Lewis H. Hughes, father of Judge Hughes, was born
in 1844, and as a youth during the second year of the Civil
war enlisted in the Union Army of Company K, Eleventh
West Virginia Infantry. He saw service in his own state
and also in old Virginia, and was in the final campaigns
of the great war, including Appomattox. He served as a
private soldier three and a half years, and was never in
hospital and never wounded. When he returned home he
became a farmer, and continued that occupation in the
locality of his birth until his death in 1890. He was a
republican, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic
and a Methodist. His wife, Mary A. Lane, was a native of
Jackson County and died in 1917. Of their family of
three sons and two daughters, Judge Hughes is the oldest
son.

Alvaroe Glenn Hughes lived in boyhood on the farm, at-
tended country schools, the Wesleyan College at Buckhan-
non, and received his A. B. and LL. B. degrees from West
Virginia University at Morgantown. He graduated from
the law school in 1902, and in January of the following year
located at Kingwood and formed a partnership with Hon.
William G. Conley in the firm Hughes & Conley. He tried
his first court case before Judge Holt. The firm continued
In general practice until Mr. Conley's election as attorney
general and removal to Charleston, and after that Judge
Hughes practiced alone until he was chosen circuit judge.

He was brought up a republican, casting his first presi-
dential vote for Benjamin Harrison, and has voted at every
general election since then. He was quite a young man
when his party nominated him for the Senate in Jackson
County, for the district including Jackson, Mason and
Roane counties. He was elected and began his four year
term in the Senate January 1, 1897. The presidents of the
Senate during his two sessions were N. P. Whitaker and
Oliver Marshall. Judge Hughes was chairman of the com-
mittee on education and of several other committees. He
voted for N. B. Scott for United States Senator.

Five years after coming to Preston County he was ap-
pointed prosecuting attorney to fill an unexpired term, and
was then twice elected, serving altogether nine years.
Among the many criminal cases he tried, the most note-
worthy was the Mattingly prosecution, standing out as one
of the most remarkable in the criminal records in the
county. Judge Hughes after retiring from the office of
prosecuting attorney in 1917 devoted himself to general
practice. In August, 1920, he received the nomination in
convention for circuit judge, and was elected in November
as the successor of Judge Neil J. Fortney. Prior to going
on the bench Judge Hughes took an active part in repub-
lican party politics, served on local committees, and has
many times been a speaker in behalf of good and honest
government.

Judge Hughes took his first degrees in Masonry at Terra
Alta, is a member of DeMolay Oommandery of Knights
Templar at Grafton and the Scottish Rite bodies and Shrine
at Wheeling. He is a past chancellor of Kingwood Lodge,
Knights of Pythias, and a member of Morgantown Lodge
of Elks.

In Preston County September 1, 1909, he married Miss
Nellie Jackson, who was born, reared and educated in
Kingwood. She is a daughter of Grove and Virginia
(Menear) Jackson. Her mother is still living at King-
wood. Mrs. Hughes was one of a family of two daughters
and two sons, and was a popular teacher of Kingwood
prior to her marriage. Judge and Mrs. Hughes have one
daughter, Helen Louise, born in 1913. Judge Hughes has
been a member of the Official Board of the Methodist
Church at Kingwood.