Dear Group(s): I and posting this on both Washington and Greene because they were Washington until the late 1700's and Thomas and other Hughes lived in what is now Greene County. I hear quite often about "The Hughes Papers" and how Thomas Hughes manumitted his slaves before the Civil War. That the elder Thomas died in 1823 is a long time before the Civil War. And, in Sept 1823, a good 6 months after the elder Thomas Hughes dies, another Thomas Hughes purchased and within the same document freed a slave. However, that freedom was not to come until 1841 and there is no record of that slave being freed in 1841. The elder Thomas Hughes, by recorded document tha I have read, co-freed one slave. He and his brother James co-freed the slave of their late father, Felix Hughes. By document, this is the only slave the elder Thomas Hughes freed/manumitted. It is said, with no documentation, that the elder Thomas freed Daniel Ferrell after Daniel dug 5000 bushels of coal for his master. Again, no documentation that this happened. In fact, I cannot find proof that Daniel Ferrell was ever a slave of the elder Thomas Hughes. Daniel, according the his cemetery records, was born in 1798. A Negro/Mulatto child named "Dan" does appear in a special 1807 Tax List for Jefferson Township. This 1807 Tax List does not seem to be in the Greene County Courthouse records. It was found in the city of Pittsburgh, PA. Jane the Black woman and Daniel Ferrell, a man of color, do appear in the 1823 Last Will and Testament of the elder Thomas Hughes. Jane is to be maintained and Daniel is to be managed. Freed nor manumitted not mentioned. If there are other Manumissions and Freedom Papers from Thomas Hughes to his slaves in Greene County Records, I have not seen them. I guess I need a defination of "The Hughes Papers". Can anyone assist? Bill Davison