Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/764

 666 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI icine. He stayed at the store for two years, studying- hard all the spare time he could get. He then entered the St. Louis Univer- sity and graduated from its medical depart- ment in 1892. After spending one year in the city hospital he located at Altenburg, Perry county, Missouri, where he remained for ten years and a half, engaged in general practice. In December, 1903, he came to Cape Girardeau, where he has been ever since. Although he is a general practitionei', his abilities in the surgical line have caused him to be considered somewhat of a specialist. He is a member of the Cape Girardeau County Medical Society, of the Missouri State ]Iedical Society and of the American IMedical Association. He is a member of the state board of health and of the city board of health. He is a Republican of a very de- cided character. He is greatly interested in all matters pertaining to public welfare and especially in educational ways. He realizes the advantages to be gained from an educa- tion, the culture that it gives, the satisfac- tion that is gained by its possession, apart from the dollars and cents that it helps one to gain. He is president of the board of education, always active in promoting the welfare of both pupil and teacher. He is a man who is only at the beginning of his ca- reer, but he has already made his presence felt in the county. Bex.jajiin H. Hughes. "Some men are born to greatness ; some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." The "greatness" which Mr. Hughes enjoys has been achieved my him. Born and reared on a farm, it was entirely owing to his own capabilities that the responsible position which he so ably fills was bestowed on him, and was even thrast on him a second time. Mr. Hughes was born October 24, 1875, in St. Francis township, "Wayne county, Mis- souri. He belongs to the Hughes family who are so well known as pioneers in Wayne county. Mr. Hughes' grandfather, William Hughes, was a native of Virginia, where he was educated and learned the blacksmith trade. He was there married and thence came to iMissouri, locating near Lodi, Wayne county, on some wild land which he pro- ceeded to bring inder cultivation. There his first wife died and he married a second, Miss Delphia Brown, and to this union A. C. Hughes (father of Ben. H.) was born, Feb- ruary 2, 1849, in Cedar Creek township. Grandfather Hughes trained his son in the knowledge of farming and also blacksmith- ing, and with these two industries Mr. A. C. Hughes has occupied himself. When a young man he purchased a farm four miles west of Greenville, iMissouri, and settled on the wild, uncultivated prairie, which he graduall.y cleared and improved until it be- came a productive farm. His wife was Mar- tha Rodgers, born in Carter county, Mis- souri, who died when she was thirty-three years of age, in 1886. Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Hughes became the parents of seven chil- dren, five of whom are living, and all are residents of Wayne county. Their names are as follows, — W. W., living near the old homestead which his grandfather owned in St. Francis township ; Benjamin ; Joseph D. ; G. W. ; and Lulu, the wife of William H. Lane. Father Hughes is living a retired life on the farm which his son superintends, and where the father spent so many years of his life and where he still retains the interests of his youth. He has always been a stanch Dem- ocrat, but has never desired any public office for himself. He has for years held member- ship in the Missionary Baptist church — the church in which he and his young wife worked together during the short years of their wedded life. Ben. Hughes obtained his education in the district school of the township and after leav- ing school he assisted his father with the work of the farm, remaining at home until 1906. In the fall of 1906 he was elected to the office of treasurer of Wayne county, and that his services in the capacity of treasurer were eminently satisfactory is evinced by the fact that in 1908 he was reelected to the same office to serve a four-year term. In January, 1910, he became cashier of The Iron Exchange Bank for a year. ]Ir. Hughes was married to Miss Sarah Eads on the 11th day of April, 1901. Mrs. Hughes is a daughter of J. N. Eads, formerly a prosperous farmer in Wayne county, where he died in the year 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Hughes are the parents of five sturdy sons, — ■ Ralph. Robert, Raymond, Roy and Russell; they lost one .sou, Richard, by death. Both husband and wife are members of the Baptist church, where they have many friends. Mr. Hughes has always been aligned as a Demo- crat, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Independent