Caswell Jackson Hughes (1797 - 1880)

Born 1797 in Va. or Tenn.

Ancestors

Husband of Caroline Paulina (Seay) Hughes — married about 1839 in Meigs Co., Tenn.

Descendants

Died 1880 at about age 83 in Lamar Co., Tex.

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Biography

(His parents here are still a hypothesis.)

Caswell was born about 1797, in either Va. or Tenn. The identities of his parents are still being researched, but it is highly probable, based on DNA matches, that his mother was a Blevins.

In 1819, at about age 22, he was in Sullivan Co., Tenn., where he fathered a son, Robert Campbell Buckles, born to Mary "Polly" Buckles (they were never married).^[1] In 1825, he was on a Rhea Co., Tenn., tax list, with his name in Captain Smith's Company.^[2]

In Nov 1827, in Rhea Co., Caswell and Allen Blevins provided securities for the appearance of Isaac Blevins at a subsequent court date, in connection with a lawsuit against David, Isaac, and William Blevins.^[3]

He was still in Rhea Co. for the 1830 census, which shows him with an unknown wife in her 20s and two boys and two girls, all under age 10.^[4]

On the 1840 census, he was in Meigs Co., Tenn., with a wife in her 20s and a young boy. This was his second wife, Caroline Paulina Seay, and her son, Jack Johnson,^[5] so his first family had either died or separated from him. (One son from his first marriage, George W., who left home at about age 17, has been identified.)^[6]

On the 1850 census, he was in Meigs Co. with Paulina and their children: Martha Jane and Eliza Ann (twins), Mahala C., Matilda, and Rowena.^[7] By the 1860 census, the family was in Lamar Co., Tex., and sons William Nathaniel and John Lowe had been added.^[8]

The family moved to Independence Co., Ark., about 1855.^[9] It was there that Martha Jane married Miles Collard in Jul 1857, and Eliza Ann married M.D.L. Six in Feb 1858. (Stepson Jack remained in Tenn.)

By 1857 or 1858, the family had settled in Lamar Co., Tex., and began to farm. Caswell passed away there in 1880.^[10] Paulina continued to live on the property with sons William and John until she died in 1884.^[11]

The name 'Casual' appears on his tombstone and on his son's death certificate. In the censuses from 1830 to 1870, he was always Caswell. He was Casper on one daughter's death certificate. He was Cass on records related to his sons Robert Campbell and George W. I have not found Jackson on any document.

Notes

About 1960, a gr. granddaughter of Caswell Hughes and Paulina Seay, wrote a brief (unpublished) family history in which she said Caswell's parents were Simon Peter Hughes and (?) Blevins who lived and died in Tennessee. She said Miss Blevins's father was John Blevins, an early settler of the Holston River area of Tenn.

And she said Simon Peter's ancestor came to Virginia before the Revolutionary War from Wales.

I think she was writing down at least partly what had been passed down in the family rather than only library research. DNA matches to my mother, another Hughes gr. grandaughter, do indicate a connection to John Blevins, b. 1718, R.I., who lived in Henry Co. and Pittsylvania Co., Va., and then moved with his sons to Sullivan Co., Tenn. (then N.C.), before 1776.^[12] His son William was the father of Lucy Blevins who married Peter Hughes.^[13]

I would love to exchange information with any descendants of Lucy Blevins and Peter Hughes.

She also wrote: "Casual . . . was born in Tennessee in 1797 and came to Paris, Texas in 1858. His wife was Caroline Seay. They brought five children with them to Paris. A married daughter was left behind in Batesville [Independence Co.], Arkansas. Also, a son and a daughter lived in Oklahoma. Casual (or Cas) Hughes died in 1880 and his wife died in 1884."

The five children were Matilda, Rowena, William Nathaniel, John Lowe, and their older sister Martha Jane, who had married Miles Collard in Arkansas and who followed her family to Texas by 1860. The daughter who stayed in Arkansas was Martha Janes's twin sister Eliza Ann (m. M.D.L. Six). (This is said later in the history.) George W., Caswell's son from his first marriage, went to Oklahoma from Arkansas sometime in the 1860s. We do not know of a daughter who went to Oklahoma; it could have been Mahala C. or a daughter from the first marriage.

Sources

1. ↑ Cass Hughes was named as his father on his death record: Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee; Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1958; Roll Number: 76. This is supported by 47 (so far) DNA matches by a proven gr. granddaughter to proven Buckles descendants.
2. ↑ Tennessee, U.S., Early Tax List Records, 1783-1895
3. ↑ Allen, David, Isaac, and William Blevins may have been the sons of James Blevins, brother of William "Devil Will" Blevins, who may have been Caswell's maternal grandfather. (See Robert P. Blevins, "The Blevins Men of the Hiwassee: Theoretical Structures of the First Blevins Families of Rhea and Meigs Counties Tennessee," (typescript, 2020), p. 15; images, WikiTree, Robert P Blevins Publications.) Their sister, Susan Blevins, who married Samuel Doak Wadley, named her fifth son, b. 1828, Caswell Hughes Wadley.
4. ↑ U.S. Census: Year: 1830; Census Place: Rhea, Tennessee; Series: M19; Roll: 175; Page: 374; Family History Library Film: 0024533
5. ↑ U.S. Census: Year: 1840; Census Place: Meigs, Tennessee; Roll: 528; Page: 232; Family History Library Film: 0024547
6. ↑ Through DNA matches and a record of George's son naming his grandfather as Cass Hughes.
7. ↑ U.S. Census: Year: 1850; Census Place: Subdivision 22, Meigs, Tennessee; Roll: 890; Page: 378b
8. ↑ U.S. Census: Year: 1860; Census Place: Precinct 6, Lamar, Texas; Page: 126; Family History Library Film: 805299
9. ↑ Caswell Hughes bought 80 acres of land there in 1855 and sold it in 1856: Independence Co., Ark., Deeds, 1853-1856 and 1856-1859. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSTN-53MJ-5?view=explore and https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSTJ-95X8?view=explore
10. ↑ U.S. Census: Year: 1870; Census Place: Beat 5, Lamar, Texas; Roll: M593_1594; Page: 382A; Family History Library Film: 553093
11. ↑ U.S. Census: Year: 1880; Census Place: Precinct 5, Lamar, Texas; Roll: 1314; Page: 181D; Enumeration District: 079. On the census as Polona Hughes, assigned to the wrong dwelling number. (John Lawson was an employee.) Son William's obituary says that he and his wife (and perhaps John) then moved to Post Oak, Lamar Co., in 1885.
12. ↑ Robert P. Blevins, "The Blevins Men of Monocacy and Goochland: The Southern Migration of the James Bliven Family," (typescript, 2020); images, WikiTree, Robert P Blevins Publications
13. ↑ About 50 DNA matches who are proven or very probable descendants of John Blevins/Rachel or Sarah Dillon. There are also many DNA matches who descend from Hugheses who came into Burke/Avery/Yancey Counties in North Carolina about the late 1700s.