Payday: The Dan Hughes Story

Dan Hughes biography-chapter 30_Layout 1 2/16/2016 2:18 PM Page 172
1904-1906; was an original incorporator of the
Macon-Dublin-Savannah Railroad in 1885 and
served as its president until 1891.
In politics, he was a Georgia state senator, 1882-
1883, but is mostly known for his service in the
U.S. House of Representatives, 1909-1917. He
then ran his plantation until his death in 1927.
His eldest son, Daniel G. Hughes, Jr., entered
politics but died in 1916. His son Hugh L.D.
Hughes then became an important merchant
in Danville, Georgia, and became a state senator
in 1925.
Henrietta Louise Hughes was never married and
lived in the old family home until her death at an
age near 100. She furnished almost all of the
information concerning her famous brother,
Dudley, to reporters and historians, included in
the History of Twiggs County, Georgia, published in
1960. She wrote, “Mr. Hughes, only son of Daniel
Greenwood Hughes and Henrietta Clay Moore
was born in Jeffersonville on Oct. 10, 1848.” It is
believed she purposefully deleted all references
to John Wesley from the records furnished.
John Wesley Hughes, 1845± - 1914)
(grandfather of Dan and Dudley Hughes)
John Wesley Hughes was raised with his half-brother, Dudley Mays
Hughes, and Dudley’s sisters. However, he was not treated as an equal
to Mary’s children. When he became of age, he left home in the
1860s and made it on his own.
No record has been found to establish his activities from the time he
left home in the 1860s until the early 1900s. The Oklahoma oil
booms began about the turn of the century. Oklahoma was Indian
Territory when oil was found in large quantities beginning just before
1900. All of the land had been held by some 60 Indian tribes, many
of which had been forcibly removed there from other states. In 1889,
some land was open to non-Indians, and initiated the Oklahoma
land rush. The first rail line was built to Bartlesville in 1899 to begin
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