The 'Hughes' of Dunbar, Pa. really starts with William Hughes. He was born in  Shade Township, Somerset County, Pa. in 1824, died April, 1900 at the age of  76, in Fayette County, Dunbar, Pa. His mother was Elizabeth Burkett (b.abt.  1792, d. 1890) father was John Hughes Jr. (abt. 1790's, d. unknown).

NOTE: On William Hughes' marriage application to his first wife Elizabeth  Butler, he denotes: Father:  John Hughes, Mother:  Elizabeth Burkett.

The reason for the "Jr." after John Hughes' name:
 From the Somerset Courthouse (tax room) in 1825, John Hughes appears with two  letters after his name.  It is difficult to determine what they stand for and  therfore what significance they may have.  Well, I (Richard D. Hughes) was  determined to try to figure out what they were and I think I know.  The  letters kind of look like a capital J and a small y.  I flipped throu other  pages of tax lists looking for a similar set of letters.  On one page I found  what appears to be identical two letters.  I don't remember the man's name  now, it's not imprrtant, but it said Sam Cooper Jy and right above his name it  said Sam Cooper Sen.  So, as you  can see, my conclusion is that the Jy stands  for Junior.  If correct, our John Hughes had a father also named John Hughes.   Sometimes Junior is shown as Jun., but if you look next to John Hughes' name,  there is very little room left in the column.  Maybe the tax assessor used an  abbreviation, which looks mor like a Jy?

I believe William's father John Hughes Jr. came from New Jersey, via Ireland.   Not much is known about John Hughes Jr., where he came from or what became of  him.  He seems to disappear shortly after his son William is born.

William's mother Elizabeth Burkett marries Michael Smitely around 1825 and  they go on to have 5 sons.  They also relocate from Somerset Co. Pa. to the  Dunbar, Pa. area.

Around this time, young William is sent to live with relatives/friends  (perhaps a John McMillen) a resident of Somerset County on the Old National  Road *currently Route 40. It is believed William also may have spent time as a  child with the Paull family, *William's first wife (Elizabeth Butler) is an  orphan who lived with the Paull family.  The Paull's are a weathy and  prominent family in the Dunbar and Uniontown area.  Around the age of 12,  William shows up working at a iron furnace (owned by Col. James Paull), around  the year 1835.

For the rest of Williams life, his mother Elizabeth (Burkett) Smitely are  connected and stay close together.  *William and his mother show up on the  1850 cenus living next door to each other! William first wife, Elizabeth  (Butler)Hughes have 6 son, i.e., Joseph, Jonah, James, John, William A.,  George Paul Hughes and 1 daughter Elizabeth Rose Hughes (b. abt. 1850, d. abt.  1862). Wife Elizabeth dies abt. 1886, and William marries a second time  to a Susanna Wells around 1891.  They have no children together.

My great-grandfather was one of Williams 6 son's (Joseph Hughes).  Joseph  Hughes serves in the Civil War, 1862-65.  He enlisted in the Pennsylvania  159th Cavarly and enters the war as a private, and musters out a sargent at  Fort Levansworth, Kansas.

Joseph Hughes (b. 1845, d. 1925) marries Josephine Parady and together they  have 2 sons and 2 daughters, i.e. William, Elizabeth, Ettie and Charles Hughes  (b. 1870, d. 1945).  Charles Hughes was my grandfather.

Charles Hughes marries Ida Mae Bryner and together they have 10 children, i.e.  Sevilla, Joseph, Josephine, Elmer, Lynn, Mildred, LaVada, Essie, Nellie, and  Robert Hughes (b. 1915, d. 2007)(my late father).

INFORMATION FROM HISTORICAL REFERENCE BOOK OF FAYETTE COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA

The first Hughes to settle here around Dunbar, Pa. was William Hughes, Sr.  He  was born in 1823 in a log cabin in Shade Township, Somerset County, Pa.

When Billy, was 14 yrs. old he came to Dunbar Township and was employed by  the "New Laurel Furnance Company", in the Dunbar Mountains.  the remains of  the old stone furnace can still be seen today.  The Dunbar Furnace Company  started operation in 1791.

Billy founded Iron Ore deposits for the company and took his money and bought  363 acres of farm and timber land in the Tucker Run Valley.  This land of  William, Sr. above Dunbar, is a beautiful green valley with a trout stream  running through it into Dunbar Creek.  In the valley, there is a small white  church and a little one-room schoolhouse.

Jotting the hills are smaller farms, mostly Hughes' now.  there is a saw mill  on the upper creek run by G.P. Hughes.  The scholl was once called the Hughes  School.  Almost all the farms have a blacksmith shop for repairing wagons and  shoeing the horses.

William Hughes met and married Elizabeth Butler.  They built a log house in  1838 in the Tucker Run Valley.  They had nine children, seven boys and tow  girls.  (They had two girls and 1 boy die at childbirth).  Six boys grew to  manhood.

William Hughes was six feet tall and weighed close to 200 pounds.  His hands  large.  He worked outside in the winter snows in his timber business.  He had  a saw mill, but later turned to farming.  He liked fruit and had a large fruit  orchard.  William was a man of high character and hand many friends in the  Dunbar Mountains.  He was school director for many years.  He would visit the  school in the winter with a sack of apples and pears.  This delighted the  children.  He was a friendly man and liked to organize parties and picnics.