California Biographies, San Joaquin Valley

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


HIRAM HUGHSON. The keen and farseeing judgment which led Mr. Hughson to cast in his 
destiny with that of the far west in the early and untried days of adventure also led him to 
make investments in property, large tracts of which he purchased in the days when prices of 
realty were low. By this course of action he has become one of the extensive land owners of 
Stanislaus county, and is ranked among the successful men of the county. A native of Schoharie 
county, N. Y., he was born November 22, 1840, the son of Nicholas M. and the grandson of 
George Hughson. The latter was a very prominent man in his community, being an old-line 
Whig politically, and in the cause of his country having an arm blown off by a cannon ball in the 
Revolutionary war. Upon the return to peace in the colonies, or what was then our own United 
States, he was elected to the offices of county treasurer, constable and collector, respectively, 
being able to use his left hand in writing. By occupation he was a farmer, and died in New York 
when over seventy-five years old. Nicholas M. Hughson was born on Long Island, and as a 
farmer spent his life in Schoharie county, where he was numbered among the successful men 
of the community. Politically he was a Republican, and in his religious affiliations subscribed to 
the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Charlotte Duncan, born in 
Edinburgh, Scotland, and who came to the United States at the age of ten years. Her father, 
Charles S., was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, as well as a capable blacksmith and 
farmer, practicing the two occupations during the week and preaching on Sunday. He died at 
the age of eighty years, after a useful life in whatever community he had made his home, as a 
broad, noble character, a profound student and an earnest and progressive citizen making his 
presence felt among his fellow townsmen. 

Of the six sons and four daughters born to his parents Hiram Hughson was the fifth in order of 
birth. He received his education in the common school in the vicinity of his home, after which 
he attended the Norwich Academy for a period of three years. Upon becoming dependent 
upon his own resources he engaged as a clerk in a general merchandise store at Elmira, N. Y., 
his employers being R. & E. Covell & Co., with whom he remained for nearly four years. He then 
became a partner with his brother, O. M. Hughson, in a general merchandise establishment at 
Norwich, remaining in this connection until 1857. He then emigrated to California, traveling by 
way of the Isthmus of Panama on the steamer Star of the West, and arriving in San Francisco on 
Christmas night. He remained in San Francisco for about a week, after which he went to 
Marysville and engaged as a clerk in the store of Kirby & Burns, continuing in that employment 
for a year and a half. In 1858 he entered the mines at Monte Christo, where he remained six 
months, afterward spending seven months at the mines on Fraser river, British Columbia. In 
the following year he worked his passage to San Francisco on the old Pacific steamer, not 
having met with financial returns as he had hoped to. On his arrival in the city he borrowed $20 
from George Walton, a friend in Marysville, going to work for him on a ranch for the following 
six months. In 1860 he engaged with John Campbell in taking beef cattle to the mines, later 
engaging in the work for himself, continuing in the work for one year, when he had 
made"$3,ooo. The following year he engaged in teaming over the mountains, receiving $100 
per ton for freight between Sacramento and Virginia City. Within the period of two and a half 
years he had made $7,000, the business then becoming profitless through the building of the 
railway. Coming then to San Joaquin county, Mr. Hughson rented five hundred acres of land 
near Stockton, four miles southeast, upon which he engaged in raising grain for three years. In 
1872 he bought five hundred acres located in the vicinity of the rented land, paying $25 per 
acre; farmed this property for fourteen years and then sold it for $50 per acre, the value having 
doubled in the passing years with the natural increase of land and that given to it by Mr. 
Hughson's progressive methods and improvements. In 1882 he moved his family to Stockton, 
after which he bought one thousand acres located eight miles east of Modesto, Stanislaus 
county, erecting thereon a substantial and comfortable home and making many improvements 
calculated to increase the value of his property. With the passing years he has invested heavily 
in real estate, now owning over seven thousand, five hundred acres of land, of which four 
thousand, three hundred and sixty are valued at $60 per acre, and the remainder at $25 per 
acre, all located in the irrigation district. No part of his land has ever been encumbered with a 
mortgage, a striking evidence of the business ability and thrift of the owner. In 1901 Mr. 
Hughson rented his land and located in Modesto, purchasing a fine property here, spending his 
days in retirement with the exception of such cares as are entailed by his vast landed interests. 
All of the success of Mr. Hughson has been achieved by his own exertions; through no royal 
road has he won his way to fortune. Like all pioneers, he suffered numberless hardships and 
discomforts before he had surrounded his family with the comforts of existence. One of the 
greatest misfortunes which came to him was the loss of his left arm, the spring on his mowing 
machine breaking and throwing him to the ground and against the sickle. Notwithstanding this, 
he continued to advance in success, and today occupies a position only won by those whose 
own efforts have brought them through trials and privations. 

In Stockton Mr. Hughson was united in marriage with Luella R. Avery, of New York, who came 
to California with her father, Demas, also a native of that state, journeying from Iowa, in which 
state they had formerly settled. He engaged in mining upon his first arrival in the west, but later 
became a farmer, and so continued until his death. The following children were born to Mr. 
Hughson and his wife : Belle C, the wife of R. T. Hudleson, of Stanislaus county; Ore M., located 
on a ranch; George, also on a ranch; Mary M., the wife of J. H. Deal, of Stockton ; Edna M., the 
wife of C. W. Craig, of San Jose; Minnie L., the wife of Harry Sturgell, a conductor on the Santa 
Fe railway, located in Berkeley; Hiram; Lavina; Olive, and Lester, the four last named being still 
at home with their parents. Politically Mr. Hughson is a Republican.