Patrick County
History of Patrick and Henry Counties Virginia
by V. G. & L. G. Pedigo
"THE HUGHES FAMILY OF PATRICK COUNTY, VIRGINIA"
Orlando, Leander and William Hughes came from Wales to Virginia about 1700.
Mrs. Harriet D. Pitman, in her work entitled "Americans of Gentle Birth and their Descendants," says that the Hughes family of Virginia descend from Roderick the Great.
The Welsh are among the proudest people on earth, even the humblest Welshman loves to trace his lineage and it has become a proverb, "His lineage is as long as that of a Welshman."
Orlando and Leander Hughes had land grants in Powhatan and Goochland Counties, near Richmond, Virginia. Mrs Pitman speaks of Colonel Archelaus Hughes, of the Revolution, as belonging to an old Virginia family and that his father's name was Leander.
Orlando Hughes, the immigrant died in 1768. His sons were: Anthony, Josiah and Leander. This son, Leander, died in 1775. His sons were: Powell, Stephen, John and Archelaus. The county records show that Colonel Archelaus Hughes of Revolutionary fame, was of the third generation in America.
The name Hughes is sometimes spelled Hewes. The mother of Mary Ball, grandmother of George Washington, was Mrs. Mary Hewes. Their descent from the Princes of Wales is many times reiterated by genealogists.
Archelaus Hughes was born in Goochland County, in 1747. When quite young he went to Pittsylvania County to live. He was married to Mary Dalton, daughter of Samuel Dalton. After his marriage he lived in what is now Patrick County. His home was first in Pittsylvania County, in the part that was made Henry County in 1776. When Henry was divided into two counties in 1791, the western portion being made into a separate county, Patrick, Colonel Hughes' home was then in Patrick County, so "believe it or not" the Hughes' home occupied the same location, but was in three counties.
The home was called Hughesville, and was the first frame house built in what is now Patrick County. In calling their home Hughesville they were following an old Saxon custom - a single farmhouse in Scotland is still called a town or tun, meaning a fence or hedge, because they were surrounded by a rampart of earth set with a thick hedge.
Colonel Archelaus Hughes had large estates, but he seemed to like to add to his income through merchandise. He operated seven stores in different localities. Hughesville, a house of ten rooms, still stands. All of the children of Colonel Hughes and Mary Dalton Hughes were born there.
On the twenty-seventh day of September, 1775, Archelaus Hughes was appointed, by the Committee of Safety, captain of a company of militia, in Pittsylvania. Later he was made colonel of a Virginia regiment.
The children of Colonel Hughes and Mary Dalton Hughes, are as follows: Leander, unmarried; Archelaus married Nancy Martin, daughter of Captain and Rev. William and Rachel Dalton Martin; William married first, a Miss Moore, second, Alice Carr, of North Carolina; Jeancy, Colonel John Faulkerson, of Lee County, Virginia; John, Lily Martin, daughter of Captain William Martin; Samuel, unmarried, served in the Virginia Senate; Reuben; Nancy, Brett Stovall; Madison Redd Hughes was thrice married, first ...... Moore, second ...... Matthews, third, Sally Dillard; Sally Hughes married Colonel John Dillard, son of Captain John Dillard of the revolution.
Greenwood was built about 1810, it was near Belmont, the home of General Martin, which had been purchased from General Harrison. Also near the Leatherwood home of Patrick Henry.