Hughes-McDonald Family Papers

Collection

Identifier: MC 641

Staff Only
Select files to request

Scope and Content Note

The Hughes-McDonald Family Papers consist of letters, promissory notes, legal documents, and photographs pertaining to the Hughes-McDonald families of Franklin County, Arkansas.

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.

Dates

1820-1912

Creator

Hughes-McDonald family (Family)

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Access Information

Please call (479) 575-8444 or email specoll@uark.edu at least two weeks in advance of your arrival to ensure availability of the materials.

Use Information

Use of fragile originals is restricted for preservation reasons. Access copies are available for use.

No Interlibrary Loan.

Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).

Biographical Note

Moses Hughes, (ca 1797-1865) was a farmer, Methodist lay preacher, and sometime Justice of the Peace from Camp Creek, Tennessee. He married Lucinda Chapman, (1805-?), and the couple moved to Greenville, Wayne County, Missouri, sometime in the early 1820s. Among the children born to Moses and Lucinda were Polly Ann, James, William, George, Rebecca, and Martha, all of whom moved with their parents to Franklin County, Arkansas, around 1845. Polly Ann married Allen McDonald, a Sebastian County farmer, and settled near the town of Charleston, Arkansas.

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.