The Hughes Family and Connections Author:William Joseph Leander Hughes Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. 2 — Lucy Lea Hughes, daughter of Little Berry Hughes, St., married Nathan Ward, a son of John and Holly Ward. Nathan Ward was, for some forty y... more »ears, one of the most prominent men of affairs in South Smith County. He became the owner of the homestead of his wife's father, Little Berry Hughes, Sr. He was the senior partner in the mercantile firm of Nathan and Sterling Ward at New Middleton. The house carried a general stock, as was done by nearly all country stores in those days. This house handled dry goods, groceries, hardware, shoes, hats, andc. It was around Ward's store that New Middleton grew up. This store was one of the old land marks of that section, and for thirty or forty years it enjoyed, probably, a more substantial patronage than any other country store in Smith County. Prior to 1850 country stores were numerous in that region. Now, there is generally a village wherever there was a store then. Mr. Ward was a Justice of the Peace for a number of years. He was elected to the lower house of the Legislature in 1861. He died soon after the close of the Civil His wife, Lucy Lea, died early in life, leaving 4 children, 3 daughters and 1 son, whose names in the order of their ages, are as follows: a — Mary Jane. c — Martha Marion. b — William Walker. d — Holly Mangrum. a — Mary Jane died unmarried in the early part of the Civil War. I am not advised as to the date of her birth or death. b— William Walker Ward was born Oct. 5, 1825, and died April 10, 1871. He was a very exemplary young man, received a classical education, studied law, and was admitted to the bar early in the 5O's, if not a little earlier. He was elected to the lower house of the Legislature in 1855. He married Miss Elizabeth Hughes Rucks, Dec. 23, 1862. She was a daughter of...« less