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Clinton B. Hughes

"It is the progressive, wide-awake man of affairs that makes the real history of a community, and his influence as a potential factor of the body politic is difficult to estimate. The examples such men furnish of patient purpose and steadfast integrity strongly illustrate what is in the power of each to accomplish, and there is always a full measure of satisfaction in adverting even in a casual way to their achievements in advancing the interests of their fellow men and in giving strength and solidity to the institutions which make so much for the prosperity of the community. Such a man is Clinton B. Hughes, and as such it is proper that a review of his career be accorded a conspicuous place among the representative citizens of Fayette county.

Mr. Hughes is the present popular and efficient mayor of West Union, Iowa, and, although comparatively young in years, he has long been an influential citizen of this locality. He was born near Strawberry point, Clayton county, this state, July 16, 1878, and is the son of A. M. and Ida E. (Hale) Hughes, the former born in Pennsylvania, January 9, 1855, and the latter born in Maine, December 20, 1857. The maternal grandfather, R. A. Hale, enlisted as a private in Company B, Twenty-first Iowa Volunteer Infantry, in 1861, in which he served until 1863, when he was transferred to the United States monitor “Chickasaw,” on which he served until the close of the war. Andrew Hughes, uncle of Clinton B., died while in the service of the Union, as a private in Company D, Twenty-first Iowa Volunteer Infantry, his death occurring while at Memphis, Tennessee.

Clinton B. Hughes was the eldest of a family of eleven children, consisting of five boys and six girls, named as follows: Clinton B., of this review; James R., who is living at Springfield, Illinois, is twenty-seven years old; Andrew B., aged eleven; Amos, aged nine; Howard A., aged seven, all three live at Strawberry point, Iowa; Mrs. Eva M. Cooper, who lives at Kingfisher, Oklahoma, is twenty-nine years old; Jane Electa is twenty-four years old, unmarried, and lives in West Union; Margaret died in 1889, when four years old; Cassy, aged nineteen, lives at Strawberry Point, Iowa, where also live Harriet, aged seventeen years, and Mary, aged fourteen years.

Clinton B. Hughes is a self-made man and is deserving of a great deal of credit for what he has accomplished, having overcome the many obstacles that arose in his life-path, removing them, one by one, until today he holds a first place in the ranks of representative citizens of one of the most progressive communities in the great commonwealth of Iowa, and as a lawyer he has few peers. He received his education in the country schools of Clayton county, Iowa, and graduated from the high school at Strawberry Point in 1898; still thirsting for higher learning, he entered the State University of Iowa, which conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Laws in June, 1900. He soon had a good clientele, which has steadily increased to the present time. He practiced his profession at Arlington, Iowa, from November, 1902, to January, 1908, during which time he was the busiest attorney Arlington had seen in years. Seeking a wider field for the exercise of his talents, he came to West Union in January, 1908, and opened an office, as a member of the firm of Ainsworth & Hughes, which is one of the best known in the county. Since entering the legal field here he has frequently figured in the most important cases in the local courts, and has won a reputation as an earnest, forceful and learned attorney, profoundly versed in the law and painstaking and persistent. He is the local attorney for the Chicago Great Western Railroad Company, in Fayette county, Iowa. He is secretary of the Jewell, Moyer & Company, a mercantile corporation at Arlington, Iowa.

Politically, Mr. Hughes is a Republican and he has long been active in the ranks. He was elected mayor of Arlington in 1904 and served until 1908; during his four years’ incumbency in this important office he did a great many things of permanent benefit to the place and won the hearty commendation of all concerned. His splendid record as mayor preceded him to West Union and on March 28, 1910, he was elected mayor of this city.

Mr. Hughes joined the Christian church in a country school house near Strawberry Point, Iowa, and in 1908 he joined the Methodist Episcopal church in West Union. Fraternally, he has long been active and prominent. He is a member of West Union Lodge No. 69, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Ansel Humphrey Chapter No. 80, Royal Arch Masons, at Fayette; Langridge Commandery, No. 47, Knights Templar, West Union; ElKadir Shrine, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Zarephath Consistory, No. 4, Davenport, Iowa; Arbor Vitae Camp No. 292, Modern Woodmen of America, West Union; West Union Chapter No. 110, Order of the Eastern Star; Klondike Homestead No. 72, Brotherhood of American Yeomen, of West Union; Round Grove Lodge No. 41, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of West Union. He is also secretary of the Wet Union Commercial Club and his labors in this capacity have done much in furthering the interests of local industries.

Mr. Hughes was married on June 17, 1902, to Anna Opperman, daughter of H. K. and Mary (Kramer) Opperman, of Strawberry Point, Iowa. Mrs. Hughes was summoned to her reward on January 3, 1905, and on December 27, 1905, he married Magdalena Opperman, a sister of his first wife. Mr. Hughes has the following children: Flora M., seven years old; Donald M., five years old; Harold A., three years old; Helen, two years old, and a son, Theodore, born in 1909.