Eli Hughes

    Eli Hughes, grocer, Hartford City, is a native of Blackford County, Indiana, born in Jackson Township, February 19, 1840, a son of David and Eliza (Gochnauer) Hughes, the latter dying when our subject was but two weeks old. The father was a native of Virginia, born and reared in Rockingham County, coming to Indiana when a young man. He was a millwright by trade, and became engaged on the mill at New Castle in Henry County. While living there he was married to Eliza Gochnauer, who was also a native of Rockingham County, Virginia. Mr. Hughes died about the year 1872.

    Eli Hughes was reared at the home of his grandfather, Samuel Gochnauer, being brought up on a farm. He was educated in the schools of Jackson Township, and at Hartford City. He was married in 1860 to Miss Susannah Ashbaugh, a native of Pennsylvania, born in Adams County, and to them have been born eight children, of whom one married Jane is deceased. Those living are -Melinda, wife of Michael Smith; Catherine, Samuel, Ella, Flora, Walter and Eliza.

    In 1878 Mr. Hughes was elected treasurer of Blackford County, when he removed to Harford City, and two years later he was re-elected to the same office. At the expiration of his second term he engaged in the grocery business at Hartford City, establishing his business December 24, 1882. He is associated with his son-in-law, Michael Smith, and they are doing a fine business. They own the brick building which they have occupied since 1884.

    Mr. Hughes is a Lutheran in his religious faith, and has been a deacon of his church since 1878. Samuel Gochnauer, the maternal grandfather of our subject, was born in Shenandoah County, Virginia, and was of German descent, although the family had lived in Virginia many years before the Revolutionary war. Samuel Gochnauer was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and drew a pension from the time they were granted to survivors until his death. He was married in Shenandoah County to Catherine Wolgemath, whose father came from Germany and settled in Virginia. To this union five children were born -Mary Ann was first married to Jacob Emshwiller, who was collector and treasurer for Blackford County, and died in 1848, and his widow married Lewis Willman, Sr.; Eliza Gochnauer is the mother of our subject; Catherine, widow of J. K. Hobson, lived in Allen County, and William Benjamin, and Jacob, the two last mentioned dying in Virginia.

    Samuel Gochnauer and family removed from Shenandoah County to Henry County, Indiana, by team, taking four weeks to make the journey. He entered three eighty acre tracts in Jackson Township, Blackford County, walking to Fort Wayne to make the entry, a distance of fifty miles. there being no roads at the time, he was guided by a compass, making the trip in one day. He brought his family to the county in 1838, they living with a family the neighborhood until he had erected a log cabin. He had been a cooper by trade, and after coming to Blackford County he devoted his attention to his trade, together with his agricultural pursuits. He and his wife lived on the land in Jackson Township, on which they first settled, until their death. Both were members of the German Reformed Church. In politics he was a life-long Democrat. He held the office of county commissioner of Blackford County, and was afterward trustee of Jackson Township. He was a man of excellent habits, and of great strength, and was universally respected throughout the community where he had made his home so many years.

Source: Biographical and Historical Record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1887.