The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 268

WILBUR HUGHES.

A native of Washington county, Oregon, Wilbur Hughes is an enterprising western
agriculturist who cultivates a valuable property near Wiley City, having been a
resident of Yakima county since his third birthday, at which time he was brought
by his parents to this part of the state. Coming of an Oregon pioneer family,
Mr. Hughes was born July 9, 1808, a son of Samuel Vinton and Louisa (Ketchings)
Hughes, the former born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Missouri. Mrs. Hughes
was a daughter of Benjamin Ketchings, who in 1853 or 1854 brought his family to
Oregon, in which state he remained during the balance of his life, there
following agricultural pursuits. Samuel V. Hughes removed to Oregon in 1865 and
there was married. He crossed the plains twice, going on his first trip to
California during the gold rush in 1855, and remaining five years. He continued
along farming lines in Oregon until 1871, in which year he came to Yakima
county, and in the spring of 1872 he bought one hundred and sixty acres on the
Ahtanum, Wiley City now being located on part of the old home farm. For many
years Mr. Hughes devoted his entire attention to the further cultivation of his
property but later in life removed to Centralia, Washington, where he died
August 4, 1912, in his ninetieth year. His wife had preceded him in death,
passing away on the home farm on the Ahtanum. Mr. Hughes, Sr., also conducted a
livery stable in old Yakima City long before the railroad came here, his being
the second establishment of the kind to be opened in the city.

Wilbur Hughes was reared amid western pioneer conditions and was but three years
of age when the family was transplanted to the Yakima valley, where he attended
the public schools. Having received a fair education, he laid aside his
textbooks and continued to assist his father with the farm work, thus becoming
thoroughly acquainted with valuable methods in regard to local farming
conditions. He subsequently worked for wages but in 1910, in which year his
mother died on the 8th of February, Wilbur Hughes received as his share of the
old home farm twenty-five acres and here he has made his home ever since. He
raises hay, grain and potatoes but his live stock interests are also important
and he has cattle and hogs, also conducting a dairy. He is enterprising in all
that he does and has instituted modern improvements and facilities, thus
increasing the value of his property from year to year.

On December 14, 1904, Mr. Hughes married Ada Jackson, a native of Illinois and a
daughter of Charles Jackson, who was one of the pioneers of Kansas. Mrs. Hughes
came to Yakima county in 1903 and in the following year her marriage occurred.
She bore her husband three children, Dolly, Robert and Fay, but the firstborn.
Dolly, is deceased. The family are highly esteemed in their community, where
they have many friends, all of whom speak of them in terms of warm regard.

Mr. Hughes is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and in his political
affiliations is a republican. He is ever ready to cooperate in worthy measures
and movements for the promotion of the public welfare and through the
development of his agricultural property has contributed toward the prosperity
that is now prevalent in this part of the state.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.