Tarlton Hughes' Will

Since the photo of Tarlton's will in the last post was a small file and therefore would not enlarge when clicked, I am posting the transcription below.

TARLTON HUGHES’ WILL
Smith County, Tennessee

In the name of God Amen. I Tarlton Hughes of the State of Tennessee and the County of Smith, being ill in health, but possessed of a sound & disposing mind, do make this my last will and testament in the manner and form following,, 1st. It is my desire that all my just debts shall be paid out of such property as my Executors see proper to sell, 2nd. I lend to my wife Lydia Hughes the whole of my estate both real and personal during her natural life or widowhood.. That she may aid my children in all things she may be able to do. 3rd. It is my will and desire that after the death of my wife, an equal division be made of my estate, between the whole of my children, To wit: Wm F Hughes, Sarah Rucks, John Hughes, David Hughes, and Mary Hughes, and I hereby constitute, ordain and appoint my wife, Lydia Hughes, Howell T. Rucks, William F Hughes Executors of this my last will and testament,, Disannuling [sic] Revoking & Rejecting any and all others, heretofore made by me, as witnefs my hand and seal, this 29th day of June 1849.

his

Tarlton X Hughes {seal)

mark

Witnefes

James Hibbitt
James B. Jeffreys

Smith County, Tennessee
Recorded 12 July 1850
C 133

transcribed by Barry Mahorney
July 1, 2008

It's All In A Name

If I have learned anything in doing family history, it is to be very careful with assumptions. Don't be too quick to accept all family traditions as fact. In seeking David G. Hughes' parents, we began with a family tradition which actually delayed our finding the right answer. What was the tradition? Early Hughes research on this line said that David's father had settled in or near Nashville, Tennessee and that his name was William. In fact, he did settle just to the east of Nashville in Smith County, but his name was not William, unless it was a part of his name.

Joy discovered some information that caused us to wonder. She found there was Lydia Hughes buried in Smith County, Tennessee though her grave stone said she was the wife of Tarlton Hughes. Since Joy's great-grandmother's middle name was Lydia, we wondered. However, the name Tarlton was troubling. That is, it was until a phone call gave us another clue.

I had been given the name and phone number of Louis T. Hughes, grandson of Warner T. Hughes. In a phone conversation, I asked if he knew what Warner's middle name was. He knew because it was his middle name and his father, Guy T. Hughes', middle name - Tarlton. The name wasn't William, but was it possible that Tarlton was actually David G.'s father and Lydia, his mother?

Joy made contact with a gentleman in Smith County who had taken pictures of the Rucks Family Cemetery, where Lydia is buried. Did he know anything about the Hughes family in Smith County? It turned out that John is a volunteer who assists in the preservation of old documents of Smith County. He found and photographed a will for Tarlton Hughes who had died in 1850. The will lists Lydia, his wife, and children: William F., Sarah, John, David, and Mary.



Is this "our" David? A search for the names of the children in Smith County, beginning with 1850, found William and Mary, but no Sarah, David, or John. Where did they go? We knew that David G. was in Hot Spring County, Arkansas in 1850. We had begun to suspicion that Sarah had married Edmund Rucks. The Rucks family, including Edmund, had lived in Smith County, but in 1850, Edmund Rucks was living in Dallas County, Arkansas. His wife was Sarah. And there is more. They had a boarder whose name was John Hughes (1850 census has it Jno Huse - in 1860, John S Hughes). Sometime in the early 1850s, David and Cynthia purchased land in Dallas County and even in the same township as Edmund. Were these three siblings, David, John and Sarah, now neighbors? (There were some land transactions which also led to this suspicion.)

The weight of evidence was rather compelling, but this was not yet proof. We were convinced we had the right family, but needed that one last piece of evidence to seal the deal. Where was it? How could we find it?

On Monday, June 30, Sharryn and I made a brief stop in Smith County, Tennessee. Our first visit was to the Rucks Cemetery, made possible by our new friend, John. There, we were able to photograph Lydia Hughes' grave stone. After our visit there and a few other stops, John led us to the Carthage Library where there is a small genealogy room. Here, Sharryn and I began combing the Smith County books, not quite sure we would or could find that missing piece. But we did! I could have shouted, but was afraid I would be kicked out the shhh! zone. The index led us to the court couse annex and the Register of Deeds for Smith County. Below is a transcription of what we found.

Know all men by these presents that I David G Hughes of Hot Spring County of state of Arkansas do by these presents constitute ordain and appoint my Brotherinlaw Edmund T Rucks of Dallas County in said state to be my [?] and lawful attorney to act for me and in my behalf to draw or receive that portion of the estate of Tarlton Hughes decd that lawfully belongs to me as an heir of said Tarlton Hughes decd, and to receive and receipt for or give such other discharges or acquaintances for all moneys of other property which he may draw in my name from said estate as may be lawfully required and I hearby [sic] further give said Edmund T Rucks generally all such other powers as may be nessary [sic] in the transaction of any and all other businefs wherein my name may be [?] and the acts and doings of the said Edmund T Rucks touching the businefs of said estate the receiving and receipting for money or other property and any and all other matters and things specifically or generally set forth hearin [sic] shall have the same force, [virtue ?] and effect and be as binding upon me and my heirs [?tho] I were personally present and doing the same in my own right and behalf and testimony whereof I have hearunto [sic] set my hand and affixed my seal this 17th day of September AD 1851 signed and sealed in the presents of

Samuel Bender DG Hughes {seal}
Rufus Mc?

Deed Book U, p 262
Smith County, Tennessee

Another wall comes crashing down!

Sharryn's Hughes Family Line

Since this blog began as a journal for our Hughes research trip to Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma, the emphasis was on the daily progression of the trip rather than the chronology of the Hughes family line, therefore the ancestral lines may be somewhat confusing. So, before I go any further with more family information, I want to list the Hughes line we are tracking, beginning with David G and continuing through Alton Eugene Hughes, the subject of the very first entry.

David G. (Garland) Hughes 1826 - 1858
John Linnaeus Hughes 1851 - 1919
William David Hughes 1871 - 1948
Alton Eugene Hughes 1898 - 1991

Our second trip to Arkansas (see the last entry) yielded a few small bits of interesting family information, but gave no clues to the next big question - Who were David G. Hughes' parents? The only information we had was what we found in the brief biographical sketch of John L. Hughes. David's father came from Virginia and settled in Tennessee. Where did he settle and what was his name?

In our search for the answers to these questions, Sharryn and I have been greatly assisted by Joy, a great granddaughter of Catherine Lydia Hughes Hancock Eades. Catherine was a daughter of David G. and Cynthia and a twin to James Edwin Hughes. The other siblings were Warner Tarlton Hughes and an adopted son, William Callison. Joy has been a great help and encourager in this process. It turned out to be information regarding Warner that led us to the right location and the proof we needed to answer the big question. And what is the answer?

That will be the subject of my next blog entry.

Back to Arkansas

Sharryn and I made a decision to go back to Arkansas to see if we could uncover any more information regarding David G. and Cynthia Henson Hughes. While the two-day search didn't yield much new information, we did have some great experiences. Once again, we found the workers in the County Clerk's office, both in Hot Spring County and Dallas County, willing to assist and give directions. We did ferret out some information on Cynthia's family, John C. and Catherine Murray Henson. Cynthia had several siblings living in the area and it seems they all named their children the same names: William, George, Mary, Catherine, Abner, etc., so keeping these families separated is a trick.

According to the 1850 Mortality Schedule (part of the US Census), John Henson died in April of that same year of ague and fever. He was 69 years old. Webster's first definition for ague is: a fever, usually malarial, marked by regularly recurring chills. Catherine died June 3, 1863.

This time, using a land description website, MapQuest and our GPS, we were able to drive to the sites of land once owned by David and Cynthia. Our first stop was in Hot Spring County, where I was able to talk with the present owner of a significant portion of what David owned and sold to Edwin C. Jones (Cynthia's brother-in-law) in 1855. The most interesting, however, was our stop at Section 24, Township 9 South, Range 17 West, located in Dallas County. According to the 1860 Census, this is where Cynthia was living. Driving up the driveway to a brick home, we were met by a Mr. Butler. He currently owns what has been in his family for around a hundred years and it is about half of what David owned in 1858, when he died. Mr. Butler told us there were a large number of Hugheses who had been or were living in the area. They are, however, black. If you read the earliest posts to this blog, you may remember that David and Cynthia owned several slaves, for which she petitioned the court after David's death that they not be sold. It is common knowledge that after their freedom was given, many slaves took on the surname of their master. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions.

Mr. Butler and his son were a joy to talk with and were very interested in the earlier history of their land. Mr. Butler told me that G. W. Hughes, a black gentleman, had lived near him for many years.