1856-1930
Adoniram Judson Hughes
Baptist Pastor Canada/PA
Adoniram Judson Hughes was born in Canada on June 27, 1856. Census records report that he immigrated to the United States in 1881 and that he claimed his calling as a Baptist Clergyman, the only person I have discovered to use such a moniker. In the 1910 census he is 54 years old, living in Massachusetts with his wife, Annabell, and his 16-year-old son, Merritt Y. Hughes.
His career as a clergyman followed this course:
- 1884-87. Minister, Baptist Church, Chester, Middlesex Co., CT
- 1887-90. Minister, Baptist Church, Eastport, Washington, Co., ME
- 1890-93. Minister, Baptist Church, North Grafton, Worcester Co., ME
- 1893-99. Minister, Phoenixville Baptist Church, Phoenix, Chester Co., PA
- 1899. Minister, Central Square Baptist Church, East Boston, Suffolk Co., MA
- 1899-1906. Minister, Baptist Church, East Boston, Suffolk Co., MA
- 1906. Minister, Baptist Church, Everett, Middlesex Co., MA[1]
The next time Rev. Adoniram Judson Hughes appears is November 24, 1930, and the scene is reported in the local newspaper under the heading “Retired Clergyman, 75, Falls Dead at Grave of Wife in Phila. Cemetery:”
As he stood by the side of his wife’s grave in Lawnside Cemetery, Philadelphia, yesterday, Rev. A. Judson Hughes, 75, a former pastor at the Chestnut Hill Baptist Church, fell dead.
With Rev. Hughes at the time was his sister-in-law, Mrs. Maryemma Rogers, of 4957 Rubican avenue, Germantown, in whose car the clergyman had been driven to the grave. Rev. Hughes’ death was caused by heart disease.
He had resigned his pastorate in Everett, Mass., October 1, and had planned to spend the rest of his life with his son, Professor Merritt Y. Hughes, of the University of Southern California.
Mrs. Rogers said the former pastor would be buried beside the grave of his wife.[2]
[Compiler’s Note: Adoniram Judson Hughes’ son, Merritt Yerkes Hughes (May 24, 1893 – May 12, 1971) was an expert in the literature of France, England and Italy. He was a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1925, the first year the award was given. He subsequently served on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin from 1936 until his retirement in 1963. Among other works, he edited a compilation of the complete works of John Milton. Hughes died in Madison, Wisconsin on May 12, 1971.[3]]
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[1] Lasher, The Ministerial Directory of the Baptist Churches…, p. 371.
[2] “Retired Clergyman, 75, Falls Dead at Grave of Wife in Phila. Cemetery,” The Morning Post (Camden, NJ), November 24, 1930, p. 1.
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merritt_Yerkes_Hughes