The Indianan: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine, February 1900, Vol. 2, p. 101-104. NOTE: The information noted below was abstracted Randi Richardson from a very lengthy article, accompanied by a picture of Hughes. The full text of the article is available at Google Books. Judge James Hughes was born in Baltimore County, Maryland on November 20, 1822. In 1839, at the age of 17, he came to Bloomington, Monroe County, Indiana, with his widowed mother, one brother, Levi Hughes, and one sister, Julia, who married Mr. Ringold of Mississippi. Hughes attended Indiana University then, along with Samuel H. Buskirk, studied law under Paris C. Dunning. In 1843, Hughes began the practice of law in Bloomington with General Willis A. Gorman who later became the territorial governor of Minnesota. In 1844, Hughes located in Bedford where he became very successful. For the better part of the time that he lived there, he was editor of the Bedford Sun, a Democratic newspaper. On June 18, 1846, Hughes married Mary W. Barnes at Bloomington. In 1847, Hughes was appointed a lieutenant in the 16th U. S. Infantry which was raised for service in the Mexican War then in progress. At the close of the war he relocated in Bloomington in the summer of 1848 and resumed the practice of law. In 1852, he was elected U. S. judge for the State of Indiana and also taught law school. He remained on the bench until 1856 when he became a successful candidate for Congress in the third district of Indiana. In 1859, when Mulky, the writer of the sketch, graduated with a degree in law, Hughes formed a limited partnership with him. Later that year or early the next, President James Buchanan offered Hughes the first judgeship of the Court of Claims in Washington, D. C. Hughes accepted the judgeship at considerable financial sacrifice. In 1861, after the fall of Ft. Sumter, Hughes together with other prominent Democrats joined with President Lincoln in advocating a vigorous prosecution of the war in suppressing the rebellion. This he continued to do until the close of the war, and in 1864 he advocated and voted for the re-election of Abraham Lincoln to a second term as president. In 1862, Judge Hughes resigned his office as Judge of the Court of Claims and became a member of a celebrated law firm in Washington. However, he still owned and kept his residence and an office and voting place in Bloomington. His loyalty to the Union was so great that he spent a great deal of his time at home in Indiana advocating the war and recruiting for the various companies and regiments then being raised by Gov. Morton. When John Morgan invaded Indiana in 1863, Hughes took command of all the Legion and militia of southern Indiana and gave chase, primarily on foot, and followed Morgan into Ohio where he had to give up the chase. In 1866, Hughes was nominated by the Republican Party to represent them in the State Legislature. In public addresses, he noted that the legislature was his lifetime ambition. His Bloomington friend, Samuel H. Buskirk, ran against him on the Democratic ticket. Hughes, however was the winner. On October 24, 1873, at the age of 50 years, Hughes died at Bladensburg, a suburb of Washington, D. C. He was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery at Bloomington. To read more about the life to James Hughes, please refer to the original article.