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Hughes-McDonald Family Papers

Correspondence and papers, 1820-1900

Manuscript collection MC 641

• Information about the Hughes-McDonald Family
• Information about the Collection
• Contents of Collection (2 boxes)

THE HUGHES-McDONALD FAMILY

They had at least one child at their home in addition to Allen's son from a previous marriage, Jerry H., and his stepson, Samuel C. Howell. James Hughes maintained his own house and land near his father's at Ozark, Arkansas, until he died in April, 1848, during a trip back to Greenville, Missouri. William R. Hughes also established his own home and became a preacher for the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1856. George Hughes served in the Union Army during the Civil War as a private in the Second Arkansas Volunteer Cavalry. Rebecca Hughes married a man named Kersey and settled near the town of Greenwood, Arkansas.

THE COLLECTION

Most of the letters in the collection were written by geographically distant relatives of the Hughes-McDonald families. A substantial number are from the Bledsoe family of Alabama. Cousins to Polly Ann McDonald, the Bledsoes wrote to her and her father throughout the years prior to the Civil War and included many interesting vignettes of their lifestyles in the antebellum South. Two letters to Polly Ann from her stepson, Samuel C. Howell, were written from Jackson County, Missouri, during the turbulent years of border strife with neighboring Kansas Territory and include some second-hand descriptions of conditions there in the 1850s. All of the letters in the collection were written by farmers to farmers, and details, such as crop prices and agricultural concerns, were routinely reported. In order to clarify the relationship of the writers and recipients, most of the principal correspondents have been listed in a genealogical chart included with this finding aid.

The financial documents in the collection almost entirely pertain to Moses Hughes or Polly Ann and Allen McDonald, and record the many transactions of business in which they were engaged. The legal documents include a number of Civil War civilian movement passes issued to members of the family and oaths of allegiance signed by Moses Hughes. The majority of the land indentures found among the legal documents pertain to William Barrick of Coles County, Illinois, and his son, William, who moved to Texas before the Civil War. Sometime during the postwar era the younger William moved to Franklin County, Arkansas, and his descendant, Sarah Barrick, married Jerry H. McDonald.

The papers in the Hughes-McDonald collection have been arranged into seven series by document types. The series include Correspondence, Minutes and Proceedings, Literary Productions, Financial Records, Printed Materials, Legal Documents, and Photographs.

Processed by Kim Allen Scott, April 1987. Special Collections Division, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

• Series 1. Correspondence, 1842-1900. Box 1.
• Series 2. Minutes and Proceedings, 1827...1859. Box 1.
• Series 3. Literary Productions, ca. 1848-1860s. Box 1.
• Series 4. Financial Records, 1820...1880. Box 1.
• Series 5. Printed Materials, ca 1853...1880. Box 1.
• Series 6. Legal Documents, 1824...1883. Box 1.
  • Subseries 1. Indentures, Deeds, and Abstracts, 1824-1871
  • Subseries 2. Petitions, Warrants, and Commissions, 1825-1883
  • Subseries 3. Civil War Military Documents, 1863-1865
• Series 7. Photographs, circa 1864-1912 (See also Box 2 for oversize items). Box 1.

Series 1. Correspondence, 1842-1900. Box 1.

Box 1

• Folder 1
  1. March 12, 1842. John Headlee [Greenville, Missouri?] to Moses Hughes [Greenville, Missouri?].
  2. February 18, 1848. James M. Hughes (Greenville, Missouri) to Moses Hughes (Ozark, Arkansas).
  3. March 26, 1848. James M. Hughes (Greenville, Missouri) to Moses Hughes. (Ozark, Arkansas).
  4. October 26, 1848. Polly Chapman, Sarah Chapman, Johnathan Viles, Susannah Viles, Alexander Viles (Green County, Tennessee) to Moses Hughes (Ozark, Arkansas).
  5. October 29, 1848. William Pettit (Wayne County, Missouri) to Moses Hughes (Ozark, Arkansas).
  6. January 15, 1854. William G. Hudspeth (Bodega, California) to Allen McDonald [Charleston, Arkansas?].
  7. August 5, 1854. William C. Bledsoe (Polkville, Alabama) to Polly Ann McDonald [Charleston, Arkansas?].
  8. February 6, 1856. Butler Howell, (Jackson County, Missouri) to "My Grand Son" [Samuel C. Howell, Charleston, Arkansas?].
  9. May 4, 1856. Abraham Hughes (Camp Creek, Tennessee) to Moses Hughes (Ozark, Arkansas).
  10. May 27, 1856. Samuel C. Howell (James Fork, Arkansas) to Mary A. McDonald, "at home" [Charleston, Arkansas?].
• Folder 2
  1. September 28, 1856. Margaret Kennedy and Mary Kennedy (Johnson County, Indiana) to William Hughes and Polly Ann McDonald (Ozark, Arkansas).
  2. November 30, 1856. Samuel C. Howell (Jackson County, Missouri) to "Dear Friend" [Polly Ann McDonald, Charleston, Arkansas?].
  3. December 21, 1856. Patience Kennedy [Johnson County, Indiana?] to Moses Hughes (Ozark, Arkansas).
  4. January 4, 1857. Samuel C. Howell (Jackson County, Missouri) to "Dear Friend" [Polly Ann McDonald, Charleston, Arkansas?].
  5. March 28, 1858. William C. Bledsoe (Eastaboga, Alabama) to Polly Ann McDonald (Charleston, Arkansas).
  6. April 7, [1858?]. Charles P. Bledsoe (Morrisville, Alabama) to Polly Ann McDonald (Charleston, Arkansas).
  7. June 27, 1858. Charles P. Bledsoe and Nancy Bledsoe (Calhoun County, Alabama) to Polly Ann McDonald and Lucinda Hughes (Charleston, Arkansas).
  8. September 7, 1858. James Haren (North Texas) to "Brother Hughes" [William Hughes] (Ozark, Arkansas).
  9. November 28, 1858. William Craig Bledsoe (Eastaboga, Alabama) to Polly Ann McDonald (Charleston, Arkansas).
  10. December 20, 1858. J. Green (Independence County, Arkansas) to "Brother Hughes" [Moses Hughes] (Ozark, Arkansas).
• Folder 3
  1. [December, 1858]. Wiliam A. Witten (Independence County, Arkansas) to Moses Hughes (Ozark, Arkansas).
  2. [December, 1858]. Isaac Negrem (Curia, Arkansas) to Moses Hughes (Ozark, Arkansas).
  3. March 4, 1859. Samuel C. Howell (James Fork, Arkansas) to "Dear Friend" [William Hughes, Ozark, Arkansas?].
  4. May 22, 1859. Samuel C. Howell (James Fork, Arkansas) to "Dear Friend" [William Hughes, Ozark, Arkansas?].
  5. May 6, 1860. Charles P. Bledsoe (Eastaboga, Alabama) to Polly Ann McDonald [Ozark, Arkansas?].
  6. December 18, 1860. William C. Bledsoe and L.R. Bledsoe (Boligee, Alabama) to Polly Ann McDonald [Ozark, Arkansas?].
  7. June 7, 1865. William C. Brewer (Ashley, Illinois) to George P. Hughes (Ozark, Arkansas).
  8. August 5, 1866. Abraham Hughes (Camp Creek, Tennessee) to Moses Hughes (Ozark, Arkansas).
  9. October 28, 1866. William R. Barrick (Camargo, Texas) to William Barrick (Coles County, Illinois).
  10. January 8, 1900. J.H. Hughes (Oakwood, Arkansas) to Polly Ann McDonald [Ozark, Arkansas?].

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  Series 2. Minutes and Proceedings, 1827...1859. Box 1.

  Quarterly conference minutes from the Fort Smith district of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1853, 1855, and 1859, (incomplete) Church membership certificates for the M.E. Church.

  Box 1 (cont.)

• Folder 4. (9 items).

  Series 3. Literary Productions, ca. 1848-1860s. Box 1.

  Sermons, poem, memos, and recipes for making medicine and tanning leather handwritten funeral notice for James Hughes, April, 1848.

  Box 1 (cont.)

• Folder 5. (19 items).

  Series 4. Financial Records, 1820...1880. Box 1.

  Promissory notes and ledger pages pertaining to Moses Hughes, Alan McDonald, and Polly Ann McDonald documenting their private, business, and taxation transactions in Missouri and Arkansas. The notes have been arranged chronologically.

  Box 1 (cont.)

• Folder 6. Notes, ca. 1820-1839
• Folder 7. Notes, ca. 1840s.
• Folder 8. Notes, ca. 1850s.
• Folder 9. Notes, ca. 1860-1880s, n.d.

  Series 5. Printed Materials, ca 1853...1880. Box 1.

  Form letter from the Miami Medical College, 1853 blank ration issue form, United States Army, circa 1863 Certificate from the Washington National Monument Society acknowledging donations Wakefield's Western Farmer's Almanac for 1866 clipping, n.d., describing premiums awarded at the Jackson, Missouri, county fair.

  Box 1 (cont.)

• Folder 10. (5 items).

  Series 6. Legal Documents, 1824...1883. Box 1.

  Subseries 1. Indentures, Deeds, and Abstracts, 1824-1871

  Indentures and deeds from land purchases in Illinois, Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas. Most of the purchase records pertain to the William Barrick family in Illinois and Texas. Four fragments are merely property descrip- tions or township grids with no provenance. The deeds have been arranged chronologically. (See also Box 2 for oversize items.)

  Box 1 (cont.)

• Folder 11. Indentures and Deeds, (14 items).
• Folder 12. Miscellaneous Property Descriptions, (4 items).

  Subseries 2. Petitions, Warrants, and Commissions, 1825-1883

  Commissions for Moses Hughes and William Barrick to act as Justices of the Peace in Illinois and Missouri affidavits pertaining to Moses Hughes petition for a writ of habeus corpus to release William Porter from Confederate military custody in Texas, ca 1863 miscellaneous court orders and arrest warrants from Franklin County, Arkansas, justice court, circa 1880s.

  Box 1 (cont.)

• Folder 13. (11 items).
• Folder 14. (14 items).

  Subseries 3. Civil War Military Documents, 1863-1865

  Travel passes issued by the United States Army to the members of the Hughes-McDonald families furlough paper issued to George P. Hughes, private, 2nd Arkansas Volun- teer Cavalry permit issued to Moses Hughes authorizing him to bear firearms Oath of Allegiance to the United States Government signed by Moses Hughes.

  Box 1 (cont.)

• Folder 15. (15 items).

  Series 7. Photographs, circa 1864-1912 (See also Box 2 for oversize items). Box 1.

  Box 1 (cont.)

• Folder 16
  1. Tintype, 2 1/2" x 3", mounted in gilt frame w/glass cover. Unidentified man, seated, wearing an enlisted man"s cavalry shell jacket and sidearm, ca 1864. [George P. Hughes?]. (Extremely fragile, original removed use copy.)
     • a. Photograph, 4" x 5", copy of 1a
     • b. Photograph, 4" x 5", copy of 1a
  2. Photograph, 4 3/4" x 6 3/4", mounted on 7" x 9" matteboard, 32 people in wedding regalia standing on the porch of a two- story frame house. November 18, 1906, wedding of Nettie Lou Garner and Willard Thayer McDonald at the home of James and Mary Duncan Garner near Charleston, Arkansas. Willard and Nettie are standing in the right foreground. Man standing in the last row behind Willard and Nettie appears to be Jerry Hackett McDonald. Man standing in the back row, far right, holding a baby appears to be James Garner.
  3. Photograph, 4 5/8" x 6 1/2", mounted on 7" x 9 7/8" matte board. 16 people, standing or seated in front of a two-story frame house, ca. 1912. James and Mary Duncan Garner, seated at the center, with their children and their spouses. Couple on the far right is Willard and Nettie Lou McDonald.
• Folder 17. RESTRICTED (Fragile originals removed from series 1-6.)

Box 2. Oversize Materials. (3 items).

1. March 21, 1826. Indenture for property sale, Crawford County, Illinois. Lewis and Elizabeth Little to William Barrick.
2. May 7, 1859. Settler"s claim, Parker County, Texas. Jasper Adair to William Barrick, signed by H.R. Runnels, Governor of Texas.
3. Photograph, 16" x 20", unmounted. 11 people, seated or standing in front of a frame house, ca. 1900. Standing, from left to right, George Aley McDonald, Francis Allen McDonald, Willard Thayer McDonald, Byrd Hackett McDonald, Elizabeth Ann McDonald, and William Corbin McDo nald. Seated, from left to right, Polly Ann McDonald, John Ashbury McDonald, Sarah [Barrick?] McDonald, Sarah Myrtle McDonald, and Jerry Hackett McDonald.
   • 3a. Photograph, copy 11" x 14".