HUGHES, Ida Ellen (Hale) 1857-1941

HUGHES, HALE, THOMAS, COOPER, ANDERSON, TATSCH, BAXTER, FLIEHLER, LITTLE

Posted By: S. Ferrall - IAGenWeb volunteer
Date: 6/13/2012 at 03:05:46

Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon, August 10th, at two o'clock from the Congregational church for Mrs. Ida Hughes, 84, with the Rev. Vernon Benson conducting. Burial was made in the Strawberry Point cemetery with Eastern Star services. Casket bearers were Theadore Anderson, James Hughes, William Hughes, Raymond Fliehler and Almond Fliehler, grandsons of the deceased. Music was furnished by Eldon Stafford, vocalist, and Mrs. J.S. Knight, organist.

As Ida Ellen, she was born December 20, 1857, at China, Maine, the daughter of Electa Jane (Thomas) Hale and Ripley A. Hale, her father being a sailor in the U.S. navy at the time of her birth. He fought in the Monitor and Merrimac battle, being on the winning ship, the Monitor. It was a short time after her birth that Mr. Hale resigned from the navy and, with his family, journeyed to Iowa, where he joined with the 21st Iowa infantry and remained in the U.S. service until the end of the Civil war. The Hale family settled on a farm, five miles northeast of Strawberry Point where Mr. Hale engaged in farming. Here, Ida Ellen attended the rural school and grew to womanhood.

October 1, 1877, she was united in marriage to Mr. Ambrose Hughes at Elkader. The young couple first engaged in farming on a farm, four miles southwest of Littleport. Forty-seven years ago, Mr. Hughes purchased a farm that borders Strawberry Point on the southwest and here the Hughes family resided for many years.

To this union were born eleven children, ten of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, one daughter, Margaret, passing away at the age of four. After the World war, Mr. and Mrs. Hughes retired from farming and moved to Ames, Ia., where they lived for four years, while their sons became educated at the Iowa State college. They then returned to Strawberry Point and resided in town, where Mr. Hughes passed away June 14, 1927. Mrs. Hughes continued to live here and, after a lingering illness, was taken from our midst Friday evening, August 8, at about 7:30 o'clock.

Mrs. Hughes was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star for over forty-six years. she belonged to the Royal Neighbors of America and the American Legion Auxiliary. At one time, she was also a member of the Women's Relief Corps. For several years she held offices in both the O.E.S. and the R.N.A. organizations. Mrs. Hughes was a member of the Universalist church and after its discontinuance here she attended the Congregational church until her health failed.

She was a devoted mother, a loving wife, and a kind neighbor. She was a woman of a sturdy pioneer spirit and her cheerful and genial disposition endeared her to all who knew her.

Surviving are five daughters, Mrs. R.V. (Eva May) Cooper of Buckeye, Arizona, Mrs. Peter (Electa Jane) Anderson of Gilbert, Mrs. Harriet Tatsch of Brookline, Massachusetts, Mrs. Francis (Mary) Baxter of Crescent, Oklahoma, and Mrs. Cassy B. Fliehler of Strawberry Point; two sons, Amos Oliver Hughes of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Howard Hughes of Fort Dodge; and one sister, Mrs. Addie Little of Strawberry Point. There are also twenty-nine grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren. Her husband, her daughter, Margaret, three sons, Clinton Bordman Hughes of Bloomington, Ill., James Ripley Hughes of Springfield, Ill. and Andrew Bryan Hughes, of Gilbert, Iowa, and two brothers, Elwin Hale and Edwin Hale, preceded her in death.

~Oelwein Daily Register, Wednesday, August 13, 1941 (Strawberry Point column)

_____________________________

Notes added by Carl Ingwalson 9/9/2016:
The 1882 Clayton County History says Ripley Hale was in the 21st IA Infantry before being transferred to the “gunboat ‘Chickasaw.” Actually, he was transferred from the infantry to the U. S. Navy. It was the navy that assigned him, not initially to the 'Chickasaw', but to the 'Autona'. He was later assigned to the 'Chickasaw'. Also, the 'Chickasaw' wasn’t a gunboat, it was a monitor. That, I think, is what led to another error. When his daughter, Ida, died, her obituary (above) said her father “fought in the Monitor and Merrimac battle, being on the winning ship, the Monitor.” When th2 two ships had their fight in March, 1862, Ripley was a civilian working his Clayton County farm. He didn’t join the navy until two years after the battle. I think someone saw a reference to him serving on “a monitor” (i.e. the Chickasaw) and thought that meant “the Monitor.” It also says Ripley was in the “navy” when Ida was born; actually, he was working on merchant ships and wasn’t in the navy until 1864. There’s also a report that, while he was on the 'Chickasaw' at Mobile Bay, he participated in the capture of the “gunboat Ram.” Not true. A “ram” was a type of ship, not the name of a ship. He actually participated in the capture of the “ram 'Tennessee'.”