Hughes, Thomas, 1854-1934

Thomas Hughes (1854-1934), the son of Henry Hughes (1833-1912) and Eliza Davies (1831-1915), was born in Minersville, Ohio on September 23, 1854. After emigrating from Tredegar, Wales in 1851, the family moved from Ohio to a Welsh settlement in Cambria, Blue Earth County, Minnesota in 1855 with Eliza's mother and brothers.

Thomas Hughes graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota in 1880 and was admitted to the bar two years later. He married Alice Orianna Hills (1856-1927) in 1885, also a graduate of Carleton College and the daughter of a New England Yankee farming family who had settled in Minnesota after spending five years in the 1850s in Jamaica as Congregational missionaries. Thomas and Alice had two sons, Burton Edward and Evan Raymond. Burton E. Hughes (1888-1967) also studied at Carleton College, received a degree from Harvard Law School, and practiced in Austin, Minnesota where he and his wife and son Edward Sterling (Ned) lived. Evan Raymond Hughes (1892-1954) also studied at Carleton and Harvard and married Alice Lowe in 1921. He practiced law in Mankato with his father (1920-1934) and alone until 1954 and was an active civic leader. Evan Raymond and Alice had two children, Thomas Lowe Hughes and Marianne (Ann) Hughes.

A lawyer in Mankato for fifty-two years, Thomas Hughes also held many civic offices, served on the board of governors and was a life member of the Minnesota Historical Society. He was an avid historian throughout his life, writing pamphlets, articles and books on many Minnesota topics including: The History of the Welsh in Minnesota (1895), The Semi-Centennial of Mankato (1903), The History of Blue Earth County (1909), Indian Chiefs of Southern Minnesota (1927), and Old Traverse des Sioux (1929).

Foundation executive Thomas Lowe Hughes was born in Mankato, Minnesota, December 11, 1925, and married Jean Hurlburt Reiman on May 7, 1955. He earned a bachelor's degree at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota (1947) and a law degree at Yale University (1952). Hughes was a college professor in California, in Texas, and at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.; counsel to Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey (1955-1958); and held various positions in the State Department (1961-1971). For many years he was associated with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

From the guide to the Thomas Hughes and family papers., 1845-2007., (Minnesota Historical Society)