Jesse Hughes ( 1750 – c. 1829) was a frontiersman, hunter, and scout who was an early settler in the western region of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
that became
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...
and
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
. Hughes was noted for his hatred of
Native Americans, and is said to have killed many in battle, and murdered several others. "He was as savage as a wolf, and he liked to kill an Indian better than to eat his dinner", said the wife of one of his descendants in 1902.
[McWhorter, 59.]
McWhorter alleges a variety of familial relationships, but without primary evidence, asserting that his father was Thomas Hughes (who died April 1778)
and Jesse had a younger brother named Thomas (born 1769). Jesse himself was born about 1750 (rather than 1768). Hughes married Grace Tanner in 1771. They had two daughters, Martha and Massie (who married Uriah Gandee, son of Uriah Gandee, Sr. and Suzanne Teter;
[Cotrill] Massie and Uriah's daughter Sarah Gandee married Charles Droddy).
They also had a son named James Stanley.
Jesse and his family lived in a cabin on
Hacker's Creek, near a stream that is now known as "Jesse's Run", located in present-day
Lewis County, West Virginia
Lewis County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,033. Its county seat is Weston. The county was formed in 1816 from Harrison County.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bu ...
See McWhorter's Chapter 23, "Genealogy of the Hughes Family" for more names.
Hughes is believed to have been one of the first American colonists to explore the
Hughes River in West Virginia. It may have been named for him,
[Bartlett, Larry. 2006. "Hughes River." ''The West Virginia Encyclopedia''. Ken Sullivan, editor. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Humanities Council. .] or for others of the same surname residing in the area during roughly the same time period.
[Dean, William H. 2006. "Jesse Hughes." ''The West Virginia Encyclopedia''. Ken Sullivan, editor. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Humanities Council. .]
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
*
McWhorter, Lucullus V. ''The Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia from 1768-1795: Embracing the Life of Jesse Hughes and Other Noted Scouts of the Great Woods of the Trans-Allegheny...'' Hamilton, Ohio: Republic Publishing, 1915; reprint ed., Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1975.
*Thrapp, Dan L ''Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography'', vol. 2. Glendale, California: A.H. Clark, 1988. .
*Cotrill, Stella, "Descendants of Thomas Henry Hughes SR."
External links
Listing of books and newspaper articles describing Jesse HughesJohn Curry, "Jesse Hughes: The Legend, the Man"Search for Jesse Hughes and other descendants at Hacker's Creek Pioneer Descendants Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Jesse
1750s births
1829 deaths
American hunters
American people of the Indian Wars
West Virginia pioneers
West Virginia colonial people
People of pre-statehood West Virginia
Kentucky pioneers