John W. Hughes - G.A.R., Bishop Post

John W. Hughes moved around quite a bit in his youth, including Hancock and Allen Counties.  It appeared that he married Mary Ann Rucketts (Ricketts) in 1863, and the very next year enlisted in Company E, 180th Regiment, Ohio Infantry.  He signed up for a one year term of service, and found himself mostly stationed in Tennessee where his unit's main duty was guarding the railroad supply lines.  The unit was engaged in battle later in North Carolina on March 8 - 10, where some men were lost.  Later they caught up with Sherman's Army and ended up pulling garrison duty in North Carolina until they were mustered out on June 3, 1865.

His obituary (below) stated that he came to Defiance in 1891, yet he did appear in the 1880 census on Front Street in Defiance.  It seemed to be the same man: J. W. 38, Jane, 33 and children Florance, 16, and Charles, 14, who both worked in the woolen mill, and Ada May, 12, Anna, 10, and Arie, 8.  John, himself, was employed at a sawmill.

By 1900, he was a widow, 59, and he and his daughter, Ada Campbell, 32, also widowed, lived on Ottoway Avenue (Ottawa?). Ada's sons, Sam, 7, and daughter, May, 4, lived with them.  John was listed as a merchant.  

In 1910, Ada had opened a boarding house at 414 Hopkins Street with seven men boarding, mostly workers at the steel mill or on the railroad. (Her name on the census was Ada Cameron - mistake or remarriage? She was still listed as a widow.)  Her son, John, 17, and her father, John Hughes, 69, lived with her.  Her father did not live much longer, passing away on January 5, 1912.

John W. Hughes was buried at Riverside Cemetery.

John W. Hughes at www.findagrave.com

(This is part of a series on Civil War veterans of Defiance County who were part of the G.A.R., Bishop Post, that headquartered in the city.  Formed in 1879, the post was named after a local man, Captain William Bishop, Company D, 100th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Army who died as a result of wounds received in battle.  The veterans' photos are part of a composite photo of members that has survived.  If you have other information or corrections to add to the soldiers' stories, please add to the comments!)