Biography - John B. Hughes
JOHN B. HUGHES, a well-known and highly respected druggist of Oconee,
Shelby County, a man of broad experience and excellent attainments, who has
added to the material prosperity of his village by his energy and
enterprise. He is a public-spirited citizen, who is ever wide awake to help
forward every movement which tends to the prosperity of the place. His
parents were Thomas W. and Catherine (Burke) Hughes, both natives of
Ireland, the father being born in County Carlo in 1801, and the mother in
Loughrea, County Galway, in 1843. The father emigrated to America in 1838,
and the mother in 1851, and here they met and united their fortunes in
marriage.
The father of our subject located in Pennsylvania and made his home there
for some three years, but the Western fever had not been assuaged by his
removal across the ocean, and he decided to come to the Mississippi Valley.
St. Louis was his destination, and he remained there until 1852, but in that
year removed to Pana, Ill., where he resided until his death in 1887. The
mother still resides in the latter place.
Mr. Hughes was educated in the public schools of Pana, where he received
excellent drill and advantages, and he took his professional training at the
Chicago College of Pharmacy, from which institution he graduated in 1883.
For eleven years he worked in a drug store in Pana, during which time he
attended the college and received his diploma. After graduation he went West
and made a tour of California, Arizona, Old and New Mexico, Indian
Territory, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. His trip covered a period of three
years. During a portion of this time he was occupied in mining and upon a
ranch, and worked in a drug store for a while in Denver, Col. Returning home
he soon after went into business on his own account at Oconee, where we now
find him. He carries a full line of staple drills, wall paper, glass, paints
and oils, toilet articles, jewelry, clocks, watches, cigars, school
supplies, etc., and has an excellent trade in these various lines.
On May 28, 1889 was the happy wedding day of our subject with Miss Ida M.
Morris, a daughter of William Morris of this place. This lady, Mrs. Hughes,
was the only child of her parents being born in Oconee, April 15, 1867. One
child, Marietta, died in early infancy. Mr. Hughes is a Republican in his
political views, and has always advocated principles of the party which
placed Abraham Lincoln in the Presidential chair and supported his hand
during the trying years of the Civil War. He has served for two years as
Township Clerk of Pana, and is a member of Oconee Camp, No. 1312 M. W. of
A., of which he was a charter member, and where he has held the office of
Worthy Advisor. He is a member, as were his parents before him, of the Roman
Catholic Church, and his good wife is identified with the Methodist
Episcopal Church.
The parents of our subject had five sons and three daughters, five of whom
now survive, namely: William L., who is the eldest and resides in Pana,
Ill., carrying on the drug business; Mary F., the wife of Thomas Scott, a
barber in Pana; Martin F., who is married and is carrying on the coal
business in Pana; Thomas P., who is engaged in the hotel business in
Decatur; and the deceased members of the family are Ella, Edward and Anna,
all of whom died while the family were living in Pana.
Extracted 12 Jan 2018 by Norma Hass from 1891 Portrait and Biographical Record of Shelby and Moultrie Counties Illinois, page 402.
