J. C. Hughes

HUGHES, MCGUGIN, WITHROW

Posted By: Chuck Helling (email)
Date: 8/20/2003 at 13:32:46

Dr. J. C. Hughes, of Keokuk, Iowa, occupies a prominent position in the medical fraternity of this section, being a skilled surgeon and a valued citizen. His birthplace was Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and the date thereof March 4, 1849. He is the son of Dr. J. C. and Amanda T. (McGugin) Hughes, natives of Washington County, PA. The former was born in April, 1821, and removed to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, twenty-four years later, where he was married in 1848. After this event he removed to Iowa, and settled in Keokuk in 1850. He received his medical education at Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, PA., and afterward graduated at the University of Maryland, in Baltimore.

After coming to Keokuk Dr. Hughes associated himself with the Faculty of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, then the medical department of Iowa State University, and was Demonstrator of Anatomy and afterward Professor of Anatomy, following which he became Professor of Surgery and Dean of the Faculty, in which position he remained until his decease, which occurred in 1881. He was twice President of the State Medical Society, was Associate Editor of the Iowa Medical Journal, and one of the representatives of the American Medical Association to the international meeting of that body in Europe in 1866. He was also Surgeon-General of the State of Iowa, and President of the Board of Medical Examiners of the State during the war. His widow is still living in Keokuk. Their household included four children.

Dr. J. C. Hughes, Jr., was the oldest child of his father’s family; he received his primary education in the public schools, and in later years attended the State University at Iowa City. He entered upon the study of medicine in 1868, and graduated in 1871, receiving his diploma in that year from the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Hughes was elected Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Keokuk College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1871, and occupied that position for the four years following. He then succeeded to the Professorship of Anatomy, and during one year of this time attended the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, serving under Lister and Spencer, two of the most prominent surgeons in the Royal Infirmary. Upon his return to Keokuk he resumed the chair which had been filled while he was absent by Dr. North. He continued to hold this position until 1881, when he was elected Surgeon to fill the place made vacant by his father’s death. The following year he was made Dean of the College and Secretary and Treasurer of the Faculty. He makes a specialty of surgery, and is considered one of the most skillful young surgeons of the Mississippi Valley.

In 1880 Dr. Hughes was united in marriage with Miss Lillie Withrow, of Midway, Ky., and daughter of John S. Withrow. Of this union there has been born one son, Joseph C. Their residence is located on Seventh street, adjacent to the college, and they are the center of a large circle of warm friends and acquaintances. Politically Dr. H. affiliates with the Republican Party. He is a member of the State Medical, and the Keokuk Medical Societies, also the American Medical Association. Socially he is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the I.O.O.F.