Hughes, Joseph Henry (Mayor of Brandon) was born on April 14th 1867
4/14/2010 at 7:47 AM
in London, Middlesex Co, Ontario.
He was the only son of Joseph C. Hughes and Jane McAndless who farmed until 1903, when they retired and moved to Brandon. His Grandparents immigrated from Ireland in the early 1800’s.
Mr. J. H. Hughes was born at Ilderton, Ontario, and was educated in the Middlesex Co. and at the Normal School in Toronto in 1874. After graduation in 1875 he taught school at Ilderton his subject was ‘General Merchant Business’.
In 1882 he moved to Brandon to open a Lumber business with partner Mr. T. H. Patrick of Souris. They operated yards in both Brandon and Souris, but in 1886 the partnership was dissolved.
In 1883 he married Anna Maria Hughes of Kenwood, Ontario. She was the daughter of Mr. Thomas Hughes, (he died before 1906) of Metcalfe, Middlesex County who served as Reeve and Warden of the city.
They had five children, Alma, born 1885: May who attended the Alma College at St. Thomas Ontario in 1906, Percy Cooper, born 1889: Harley Moody, born 1892 and Ruth Alida, born 1894.
Anna Maria was born on 14th October 1854, and died in Brandon at age 90 on October 3rd 1947. She is buried in Brandon Cemetery.
Before the town of Rainy River was founded, Mr. Hughes cut the first timber and established the first Lumber Mill which he disposed of in 1901, but that year he started a wholesale and retail lumberyard on Tenth Street between Rosser, and Princess Avenues.
Mr. Hughes owned most of the property between Tenth and Eleventh Streets. He built a brick Block on Tenth Street, which is named after him, and also the Alexander and Strathcona Blocks on 132 – 148 Tenth Street.
In his factory he manufactured sash doors and sold builders supplies, and employed over forty men. He conducted business in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
He served as Alderman on Brandon City council for four years, sat as Chairman of the Board of Public Works, and was elected Mayor of Brandon in 1914.
He was member of the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Foresters (IOOF), and the Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW).
Mr. Hughes died at Brandon following a prolonged illness on August 5th 1917 at age 60, and is buried in the Brandon Cemetery next to his wife.
Source: The History of Manitoba by George Bryce, 1906.
http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/hughes_jh.shtml