there till 9 Sept., 1841. Mr. Hughes was recom- missioned in 1842, and returned to the United States in 1845. He was the bearer to this country in 1815 of the treaty of peace, signed at Ghent, between the American and English commission- ers. Mr. Hughes was a brother-in-law of Col. George Armistead, and an intimate friend of John Q. Adams and Henry Clay. He was a welcome guest in the best society of his native city, and well known for his wit and humor.
HUGHES, Francis Wade, lawyer, b. in Mont-
gomery county, Pa., 20 Aug., 1817 ; d. in Potts-
ville, Pa., 25 Oct., 1885. He was educated at Milton
academy, Pennsylvania, studied at the law-school
in Carlisle, was admitted to the bar in 1837, and
began practice in Pottsville. He was appointed
deputy attorney-general of Pennsylvania in 1839,
resigned the office there several times, but was
reappointed and held it for eleven years. In
1843 he was elected to the state senate as a Demo-
crat by the largest majority ever given in the
county of Schuylkill ; but he resigned this office
in the following year and returned to his practice.
In 1851 he was appointed secretary of state, and in
1853 attorney-general of the state, which office he
filled until 1855. He was a Democratic presidential
elector in 1856, and was a delegate to many state
and national conventions, over some of which he
presided. In February, 1861, he was a member of
the state convention at Harrisburg, known as the
Peace convention, and was a member of the com-
mittee on resolutions. When the war began, his
support of the Union was prompt, energetic, and
valuable. He aided in fitting out one of the first
five companies that reached Washington, and
maintained with voice and pen the legal right of
the government to put down rebellion by force of
arms. He originated and aided in many extensive
enterprises, among which were the opening and
working of coal and iron mines, and the establish-
ment of iron-works and other factories.
HUGHES, George Wurtz, engineer, b. in El-
mira, N. Y., 30 Sept., 1806 : d. in West River. Anne
Arundel co., Md., 3 Sept., 1870. He was educated
at the U. S. military academy, but was not com-
missioned. He was employed under the canal
commissioners of the state of New York in 1829.
and in 1838 was appointed to the army as a captain
of topographical engineers. In 1840 he was sent
by the war department to Europe to examine and
report on public works, mines, -and other subjects.
He was chief engineer on Gen. Wool's staff in
Mexico in 1846, and on that of Gen. Worth in
1847, commanded a regiment of Maryland volun-
teers, and was civil and military governor of the
Department of Jalapa and Perote, Mexico, from
December, 1847. till the evacuation of Mexico in
1848. He was brevetted major, 18 April. 1847, for
gallant and meritorious conduct at Cerro Gordo,
and lieutenant-colonel. 30 May, 1848. Col. Hughes
was chief engineer of the Panama railroad, serving
at first with permission of the government, in
1849-’50, and in 1853 was sent by the Crystal pal-
ace association as its representative to most of the
European governments. He resigned his commis-
sion in the army on 4 Aug., 1851. He was presi-
dent of the Baltimore and Susquehanna railroad in
1854-'5, was quartermaster-general of Maryland in
1855, and brigadier-general of militia in 1856. He
was elected to congress from Maryland as a Demo-
crat, and served from 5 Dec, 1859, till 3 March.
1861. From that date until his death he was a
consulting engineer and planter at West River.
HUGHES. James Laughlin, Canadian educator, b. near Bowmanville, Ontario, 20 Feb., 1846.
He was educated in the public schools, and in the
normal school, Toronto, and spent the following
four years on his father's farm. At eighteen he
began teaching, in 1871 was appointed head master
of the provincial model school at Toronto, and in
May, 1874, became inspector of schools, Toronto.
He was a member of the central committee of ex-
aminers from 1877 till 1882, and was appointed by
the Ontario government a special commissioner to
investigate the frauds in teachers' examinations
in 1877. He was sent by the Ontario government
to St. Louis in 1883, to report on the kindergarten
system in that city, and mainly through his instru-
mentality it was introduced into the province, as
was also the phonic method of teaching reading,
and systematic hand-training as a means of intel-
lectual development. He is the author of "A
Humorous Reciter " (Toronto, 1874) ; " A Prohi-
bition Reciter " (1874) : " Mistakes in Teaching "
(twice republished in the United States, 1877);
" How to secure and retain Attention " (1878) ;
"Topical History of Canada" (New York, 1881);
" Topical History of England " (1882) ; " The Prac-
tical Speller " (1883) ; edited " Gage's Canadian
Readers " (Toronto, 1884) ; and has written often
for educational publications.
HUGHES, John, archbishop, b. in Annalogham, County Tyrone. Ireland, 24 June, 1797; d. in New York city, 3 Jan., 1864. He was the son of a small farmer, and his early education was
meagre, most of
his time being
given to work in
the fields and in
the gardens of one
of the neighboring
gentry. In 1816
his father emigrat-
ed to the Unit-
ed States, settling
at Chambersburg,
Pa. John follow-
ed him the next
year, and found
work at first with
a gardener near
Baltimore. After-
ward he was a day-
laborer at Cham-
bersburg and else-
where. He had
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determined, however, even before he left Ireland, to be a priest, and finally entered Mount St. Mary's college, near Einmettsburg. Md., where he was to pay for his board and private tuition by taking care of the garden. He was now twenty-two years old, and his schooling was far in arrears; but in a few months he was qualified for admission to the college on the footing of a pupil teacher. He was ordained priest in 1826. and began his ministry in Philadelphia, where, after serving successivelv at St. Augustine's and St. Joseph's, he built in. 1831-2 the church of St. John, which became under his pastorship the principal Roman Catholic place of worship in the city. He had been scarcely three years a priest when he was stronglv recommended for the coadjutor-bishopric of Philadelphia. The Roman Catholic body in the United States at this time was nowhere strong. The churches and priests were few, the dioceses were far too large for episcopal supervision, the institutions of learning were insignificant, the people were nearly all poor. Polemical warfare was general and extremely acrimonious, and the secular press devoted an undue attention to the con-
