Hughes Family- New Jersey / Ireland

[liscoole]

Hi

Please could some kind soul help me!

Im trying to trace the HUGHES family who were living in New Jersey at the time of the 1900 census.

James Hughes born Dec 1888 in New Jersey was my husband's great grandfather. He came over to Ireland after 1900 and settled in Belfast where he married Mary Caldwell in 1910. My husband's grandmother Mary Theresa Hughes was born in 1919 in Belfast.

I am trying to trace backward from there- and have found James in the 1900 census living with his father John who was born in Ireland, and his brother Philip born 1890- both brothers were born in New Jersey. John is listed as widowed, but the census states the mother was born in Pennsylvania.

It also says John came over to the USA in 1868.

I wonder if anyone could help me find out more?

many many thanks

[shellyesq]

Philip & John appear to be in Fairfield, Cumberland Co., NJ in the 1920 Census with some conflicting information - John was born New Jersey & his parents were born in Ireland, Philip's mother was born in New Jersey.

[AMBLY]

Hi

1900 East Boulivard - Landis Twp, Cumberland, NJ
Head: John HUGHES 45, wid, farmer, b 1855  Ireland, parents b Ireland; imm 1868 & in US 32 yrs
Son: James HUGHES 12, At School, b Dec 1888  NJ, father b Ireland, mother b PA
Son: Philipp HUGHES 10, At School, b Feb 1890 NJ, father b Ireland, mother b PA
All stated can Read/Write. Farm is rented.

1910:  Rock?ville Road - Fairfield, Cumberland, NJ
Head: John R HUGHES 59, wid, b Ireland, parents b Ireland
Son: James HUGHES 28, b Pennsylvania, father b Ireland, mother b  NJ
Son: Philip HUGHES 20, b New Jersey, father b Ireland, mother b  NJ
Dau: Marguerite HUGHES 15, b New Jersey, father b Ireland, mother b  NJ
No year of immigration for John
Can't read their occupations - but I think John & Philip are farm Labourers

1920: Farm Lumminnis?? Mill Road - Fairfield Twp, Cumberland, NJ
Head: Philip HUGHES 29, single, b NJ, father b Ireland, parents b NJ., Farmer, Fruels Farm (own Account)
Father: John HUGHES (no age stated), wid, b NJ, father b Ireland, mother b NJ, Farm labourer Fruels Farm (worker)
Farm is owned, Freehold
Both stated can Read/write

WW1 Draft Registration: Fairfield Twp, NJ, 6 May 1917
Philip HUGHES 25, caucasian, Farmer (self employed) at Fairton NJ, single
Home : Fairton NJ
Born: Pemberton NJ
Dependants: Father
Signed with "his X mark"
Description: Medium Height & Build, gray eyes, L brown hair

WW2 Draft Registration - Bridgeton NJ, Cumberland local Board, 25 April 1942
Philip HUGHES age 52, b 9 Feb 1890, Pemberton NJ
Home: 179 South Ave, Bridgeton, Cumberland, NJ
Mailing address: 172 South Ave (Johnsons Store)
Telephone: None
Employer: De Wilde's Nursery, Shiloh, Cumberland, NJ
Signed: Philip HUGHES (not a very literate looking signature)
Description: 5' 9",  190 Llb,  Brown eyes, Gray hair, ruddy complexion
Person who will always know his address: John HUGHES

DEATH (Social Security Index)
Phillip HUGHES 
Born 4 Jan 1890
Died Aug 1967
Last Residence:  08320  Fairton, Cumberland, New Jersey

Cant find:
1895: Can't find the John HUGHES with children James, Phillip (Margeuerite?) in New Jersey State Census; Would have thought they'd be in Cumberland Co. or Burlington Co. (The latter is where Pemberton is located). A near neighbour in 1900  was a Lewis GIFFORD

1900: Can't find Marguerite (Margaret) HUGHES in 1900.

1930: Can't see Philip & John following on from the 1920
(the 1942 Draft rego below indicates both should still be in the Cumberland co. area - around Fairton, Fairfield, Bridgeton?)

Can find on:
http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start

There is a Maggie HUGHES
born 20 Dec 1894, Land, Cumberland Co. NJ
Parents: John HUGHES & Margaret MULHOLLAND
(is she: Marguerite Hughes dau of John, sister of James & Philip (as in 1910 census)  ? )

There is Margaret HUGHES
Died 7 Mar 1896, Landis, Cumberland Co. NJ, age 36 (b abt 1860)
Married., Born US, parents b Ireland
(is she: Mother of Maggie b 1894  above - and maybe mother of James & Philip, wife of John ?)

Which I could find something in the 1895 New Jersey Census as this might be the key   

Cheers
AMBLY

[liscoole]

Thank you shelley. And a big thank you to you  Ambly for your research!

My only problem is that James Hughes was definetly in Belfast, Ireland in 1910 and was married to Mary Caldwell in July of that year. So I doubt he could also be on the 1910 US census? He is definetely recorded in the 1911 census of Ireland. He also joined up for the army in WW1.

Oh dear now I am worried I have the wrong family...

Though the Maggie Hughes you mention sounds very promising indeed, as the name carries on down the generations..

It's possible that John Hughes came back to Ireland too at some point but I dont know when that would have been.

My FIL says the old aunt keeps talking about Boston near New Jersey but Ive been looking at google maps and cant find anywhere of that name in NJ.

What you have found is very interesting indeed- from the 1920 census it suggests that there was also a son called John possibly, as it states John was born in NJ, yet we are fairly certain the father John was born in Ireland.

I wonder if anyone could look to see if there are any emigration records for 1868 for John coming to the USA?

thank you again so much for all your interest and input.

[AMBLY]

Hi   

The official date of the 1910 Census  was 15th April - so James had time to get back to Ireland in order to be married in the July same year.  Which might indicate he went back specifically to get married to Mary - or he was a fast worker!

On his WW1 papers, or anywhere else, does he give  a DoB in keeping with the 1901 Census, which said born Dec 1888?

The 1920 Census - it does state the pair are father (John)  & son (Philip) - with Philip now in the dominant role of Head of House and the Farm owner, while John is a worker on it.

The lack of age for John in 1920, and the fact he is enumerated as born  NJ - discrepancies with  birthplaces of the individuals & their parents did occur quite a bit - in this case it could be an error on the part of the Census enumerator perhaps in conjunction with Philip or John; or perhaps even someone else entirely provided the information and could not say how old John was, nor knew his details of birthplace. And  so whatever it was, the enumerator has dittoed  down Philips details of birthplace for John.   

Also, if  Philip is the one who registered for WW1 and ww2, all indications are that he wasn't terribly literate and he may have needed help from the enumerator or someone else to fill in the schedule, wherby a mistake was then made in recording the details of John.   Also noting that in 1900, there is no month of birth for John - it just states "1855".  As I understand it  not all the exact detail on the 1900 which we see on these images, was specifically supplied by the household - some of what they did supply in regard to age / immigration, etc was then used by the enumerator to perform a calculation to work out the rest for entering into the enumeration book - sometimes the arithmetic wasn't all it should be.  I can't remember which way round it went, but for eg. if someone said they were "45 as at last birthday and born in Dec" the enumerator worked out the year of birth from that (so should be born 1855). You can see how errors would (and did) happen .

Immigration for John
Next to near impossible to pin anything down for sure , sadly - his age is variant in the census, he's irish with a common name. And the passenger manifests of that time recorded very little information.

If  he was correctly 45 in 1900 and had been in the US since 1868,  he would have been about 13 on arrival - and so maybe (but not necessarily) came with family.

But if his age was correctly 59 in 1910 and had been in US since 1868, he would have been about 17 on arrival and travelling alone would not be unusual.

Searching for a John HUGHES born 1855 +/- 5 years, arriving 1868 +/-5 years  who arrived into New York (he could also have come in via Philadelphia, Boston, Canada), there are a lot of hits. Add to the mix  name variations as John HUGHS or Jno HUGHES / HUGHS etc.....  The following 3 show up as the closest based on the census  - and as it happens all point to a year of birth closer to 1851 than 1855  but there are many more close by.

1) John HUGHES age 17 arriving 1868 on the Malta - he's part of a family, headed up by a William 35 a labourer. and Esther age 40, and a bunch of other children. All simply, born Ireland.
2) John HUGHES age 17 arriving 1869 on the Europa - a labourer, born Ireland.
3) John HUGHES age 16, arriving 1867 on the Great Western - a labourer, born Ireland.

It's a pest, I still can't see them (John & Philip) in NJ in 1895  . 

Do you think it's possible John came back to Ireland to stay or just for a visit, and returned?

It may be worth making enquiries to find info of burial records for Philip HUGHES who died in 1967, if a local paper ran an obit maybe - it may mention family?

Cheers
AMBLY

[liscoole]

Thank you sooooo much Ambly, for all your hard work!

This is really fantastic, I will take it all away and digest it..

Many many thanks once again