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Thomas Hughes (priest, born 1818)

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Reverend
Thomas Hughes
Head-and-shoulders frontal photograph of Thomas Hughes clipped from an 1880 atlas of the historical Canadian counties of Essex and Kent.
Photograph of Thomas Hughes
in an 1880 historical atlas[1]: 87 
Born1818 (1818)
Walsall, Staffordshire
Died12 April 1876(1876-04-12) (aged 57–58)
Dresden, Ontario
Burial placeDresden, Ontario
Occupationpriest
Years active1859–1876
Known for
SpouseAnn (née Tonks)
Children
  • Horatio
  • Alfred
  • Thomas
  • William
  • Henrietta
  • Eleanor
  • Walter
FatherThomas Hughes
ReligionChristian
ChurchAnglican Church of Canada
Ordained11 December 1859
by Isaac Hellmuth
WritingsDiary (1861–1873)
Congregations served
Dresden, Ontario;
Dawn Mills, Ontario;
Kent Bridge, Ontario;
Township of Chatham[i]
Offices held
Rural dean of Kent.
Inspector of schools for townships of Camden and Zone.
Trustee of the British-American Institute.
WebsiteDiary of Thomas Hughes

Thomas Hughes (1818–1876) was an Anglican minister and abolitionist from Walsall, Staffordshire, who moved to Dresden in Canada West in 1859 to establish a mission school and mission church[ii] in the newly established Diocese of Huron.

He ministered to several congregations, and was appointed as a rural dean, an inspector of township schools, and a trustee of the British-American Institute, befriending Josiah Henson, its principal founder.

His diary[2] provides insights into the abolitionist culture of 19th-century Dresden.[3]

Biography

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Early life

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Thomas Hughes was born in Walsall, Staffordshire, in 1818.[4][5] In 1842, he married Anne Tonks.[6] In their marriage certificate,[7] his profession is given as schoolmaster, and his father's, file-maker. From the mid-1850s, Hughes taught at Queen Mary's Grammar School in Walsall.[8] The 1851 census records a family of five children.[5]

Life in Canada

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London

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In 1856, Hughes moved to Canada to teach at a pioneering integrated school in London, Canada West,[9] established in 1854 by the Colonial Church and School Society,[3]: 36–38  the missionary arm of the Anglican faith. The school was noted as "flourishing" by the examining chaplain to the bishop of the diocese,[10] though its rationale had earlier been questioned by the Provincial Freeman, an Afro-Canadian, abolitionist newspaper.[11]

While in London, Hughes studied for Anglican holy orders under the guidance of then Archdeacon Isaac Hellmuth and the Right Reverend Benjamin Cronyn, first bishop of the Diocese of Huron. He was ordained as a deacon on 28 September 1858 and as a priest on 11 December 1859.[4]

By the late 1850s, public schools[iii] in London had become open to both Black and white pupils. Following requests by William P. Newman, a Black Baptist pastor and abolitionist, and other Black leaders, the Society decided to close its London school and open a mission in Dresden, where schools remained segregated. Hughes accepted the new posting, and accompanied by Jemima Williams, an English schoolteacher working in the London mission, moved to Dresden with his family in 1859.[3]: 37–38 

Dresden

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Soon after Hughes' arrival in Dresden, he began to hold services in the town hall of nearby Dawn Mills.[12]: 90  In Dresden, though, he encountered resistance from those in charge of places suitable for public worship (such as the school for white children), while white property-owners refused to sell him a building-lot. He had to use a room above a grocery store.[3]: 43 

In 1860, Hughes bought a farm lying between Dawn Mills and Dresden[1]: 81, cell VI/2  from William P. Newman, who had left Canada the year before.[3]: 38  After Jemima Williams' death that same year, Alfred Whipper, a brother of William Whipper, a leading Black businessman, was appointed as teacher in her place.[3]: 42  Shortly after, Isaac Hellmuth inspected the Dresden mission, reporting that:

Dresden, Feb. 28, 1860 – Here I spent last Sunday and part of Saturday and Monday. The work under Mr. Hughes, I am happy to report, is really prospering; he is much beloved by the colored and the white people, and I think he has done much in a quiet and humble but most effectual way to soften the prejudices between the white and colored people. His services are attended by both classes. The room in which he officiates was crowded last Sunday [...]. On Monday I visited the school under Mr. Whipper. Average attendance, fifty (entirely colored); and here regular religious instruction is given by our faithful missionary [...].[13]

In the Society's report for 1860–61, Hughes was commended for his missionary work: "The Reports of preceding years, and the following statements of the missionary, will supply all needful information respecting this station and the labors of the Rev. T. Hughes. He has most satisfactorily filled the position assigned to him by the Society, and has won the esteem and confidence of the Committee and friends in Canada."[14]: 24  The 1861 census records an expanding Hughes family.[15][16]

Principal communities of freedmen in southwestern Canada West, c. 1860, where the Colonial Church and School Society was active.[14]: 4 

Parker T. Smith, carpenter, pharmacist and one-time president of the Banneker Institute, a literary society in Philadelphia, lived with his family in Dresden in 1861/62. Together with Hughes, he established a literary and debating society, the Dresden Mutual Improvement Association.[17][18] Smith recounted his experiences in letters published in the Christian Recorder, describing Hughes as "A gentleman of distinguished ability and learning as a theologian",[19] and "An untiring advocate of the equality of man, and knows no complexional distinction".[20]

In 1863, Kent County was divided for the first time into different school inspectorates, and Hughes was appointed the inspector for the townships of Camden and Zone.[1]: 49 col.3  He was later ordained as the rural dean of Kent.[4]

Christ Church Anglican in Dresden in 2024

In the mid-1860s, Hughes and his congregation erected a church using raw materials from Hughes' farmland.[21][22] Now called Christ Church Anglican, it was first known as the "Episcopal Mission Church to the Freed Population of Canada".[23] In 1868, Hughes became a member of the board of trustees of the British-American Institute.[22]: 12:22 mins in 

Death

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After a two-week illness, Thomas Hughes died in Dresden on 12 April 1876 from "general congestion from cold".[24][iv] He was buried in Dresden cemetery in the racially integrated Anglican section[2] — the riverside "Anglican range" — which he had himself established.[v] His will was proved and registered at Kent County's surrogate court and its administration granted to Hughes' executors, his sons Thomas and William.[27] Probate was granted in England later that year,[28] with the value of his estate given as "under £450".[vi]

Letters and diary

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Each year, Hughes wrote a letter to his employer, the Colonial Church and School Society. The letters were published in the Society's annual reports.[29] He also kept a diary of his doings and reflections from 1861 to 1873.[2]

Recognition

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Rev. Hughes was a great friend of Josiah Henson, who wrote a tribute to him in the second version of his autobiography.[30]

Memorials

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The memorial plaque in Christ Church Anglican, the church he established, reads:[22]: 11:48 mins in 

In Memory of the Reverend Thomas Hughes, First Incumbent of this Church, and Rural Dean of Kent; Who died April 12, 1876; Aged 58 years. "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement"[vii] Be ye therefore ready.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Now part of the municipality of Chatham-Kent.
  2. ^ A church that does not have full status as a parish church, and is supported by a parish, diocese, or other organization.
  3. ^ Known as "common schools".
  4. ^ As a 19th-century medical term, "congestion" denoted an abnormal accumulation of blood in an organ,[25] such as in the phrase "congestion of the lungs".
  5. ^ Threatened by erosion, the Anglican range was relocated in 2004–2006.[26]
  6. ^ According to the Bank of England's inflation calculator, this was worth the equivalent of about £43,500 in May 2024.
  7. ^ The Bible (King James Version), Hebrews 9:27.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Illustrated Historical Atlas of the Counties of Essex and Kent, 1880 1881". Internet Archive. Toronto: H. Belden & Co. 1881. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "The Diary of Thomas Hughes". Phantoms of the Past: Slavery, Resistance, and Memory in the Atlantic World. London, Ontario: Huron University College. c. 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Reid-Maroney, Nina (2013). "Chapter 2: 'As Lively Stones' : Abolitionist Culture in Johnson's Dresden". The Reverend Jennie Johnson and African-Canadian History, 1868-1967. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press. ISBN 978-1-580-46447-5. JSTOR 10.7722/j.ctt2jbm4t.7. OCLC 805048370. Project MUSE book 73659.
  4. ^ a b c "Ruggle's Directory : Anglican clergy of Upper Canada / Canada West / Ontario" (PDF). Project Canterbury. 28 January 2021. p. 410: entry for "Hughes, Thomas, 1818-76". Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  5. ^ a b "1851 England Census, Enumeration District 1db". The National Archives. 1851. Class: HO107; Piece: 2023; Folio: 150; Page: 6; GSU roll: 87428-87429. See Household schedule number 240 (lines 10–16), where Hughes' age is stated as 33. Retrieved 29 June 2024 – via Ancestry.com.
  6. ^ "Marriages". The Birmingham Journal. 31 December 1842. p. 7 col. 5 para. 12. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  7. ^ Thomas Hughes and Ann Tonks: "Certified copy of an entry of marriage given at the General Register Office". Southport: General Register Office. 16 July 2024 [23 December 1842] – via Internet Archive.
  8. ^ "The Diary of Thomas Hughes". Huron University College. c. 2010.
  9. ^ Cooper, J.I. (1954). "The Mission to the Fugitive Slaves at London". Ontario History. 46 (Spring, 1954): 131–139 – via Internet Archive. p. 138: [The mission] continued for at least three years more, that is until the summer of 1859. During this period, the principals were Miss Williams [Jemima Williams], Hurst, and a new master, Thomas Hughes.
  10. ^ Grasett, Henry James (1855). "Mission to the Free Colored Population in Canada: Occasional Paper No. IV". London, England: West London Branch of the Colonial Church and School Society. Retrieved 26 September 2024 – via Internet Archive. p. 4: I am very happy indeed to hear so favorable a report of your progress, and that your schools are in so flourishing a condition.
  11. ^ "Church of England Mission to the Colored People of Canada". Provincial Freeman. Vol. 1, no. 26. 16 September 1854. p. 2, col. 5. "The Mission to the Colored People Again". Provincial Freeman. Vol. 1, no. 27. 23 September 1854. p. 2, col. 6. Retrieved 27 September 2024 – via Ontario Community Newspapers Portal. See also: Elliot, Christopher Bruce (1989). "Chapter 3: The Mission to Fugitive Slaves of Canada West". Black education in Canada West: A parochial solution to a secular problem. Rev. M. M. Dillon and the Colonial Church and School Society (MA thesis). Wilfrid Laurier University. pp. 42–64. ISBN 0-315-52741-2. OCLC 827992868. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  12. ^ Elgie, Kae (2019). This Land: The Story of Two Hundred Acres in Kent County, Ontario. Waterloo, Ontario: Fountain Street Press. ISBN 978-0-981-27763-9. OCLC 1137041974.
  13. ^ Hellmuth, Isaac (1860). "Mission to the Fugitive Slaves in Canada: Report of 1859–60". London, England: Colonial Church and School Society. pp. 38-39, "Dr. Hellmuth’s Report upon the Dresden Mission". Retrieved 24 September 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  14. ^ a b "Mission to the Fugitive Slaves in Canada: Report of 1861–2". London, England: Colonial Church and School Society. 1862. Retrieved 8 September 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  15. ^ "Canada West Census 1861, Enumeration District Three of Camden & Gore Townships in the County of Kent". Library and Archives Canada. 1955 [1861]. Page 51 (microfilm C-1038-1039), lines 47-50. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  16. ^ "Canada West Census 1861, Enumeration District Three of Camden & Gore Townships in the County of Kent". Library and Archives Canada. 1955 [1861]. Page 52 (microfilm C-1038-1039), lines 1-5. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  17. ^ Reid-Maroney, Nina (2014). "Chapter 6: 'A Contented Mind is a Continual Feast': Tracing Intellectual Migrations through the Promised Land". In de B'béri, Boulou Ebanda; Reid-Maroney, Nina & Wright, Handel Kashope (eds.). The Promised Land: History and Historiography of the Black Experience in Chatham-Kent's Settlements and Beyond. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 116–117. doi:10.3138/9781442667457-007. ISBN 978-1-442-66746-4. OCLC 870562407.
  18. ^ Smith, Parker T. (26 October 1861). "Letter from Canada". The Christian Recorder. Philadelphia: African Methodist Episcopal Church. p. 166 cols. 5 & 6. Retrieved 5 March 2024 – via Internet Archive. We have a literary association in full blast
  19. ^ Smith, Parker T. (10 August 1861). "Letter from Canada West". The Christian Recorder. Philadelphia: African Methodist Episcopal Church. p. 122 cols. 5 & 6. Retrieved 5 March 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  20. ^ Smith, Parker T. (7 September 1861). "Letter from Canada". The Christian Recorder. Philadelphia: African Methodist Episcopal Church. p. 138 cols. 4 & 5. Retrieved 5 March 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  21. ^ "The spirits of Christmas past at Christ Church, Dresden". Diocese of Huron. 31 January 2024. para 2. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  22. ^ a b c Bernard, Jackie (host) & Carter, Marie (2 February 2022). "Thomas Hughes and Christ Church Anglican" (video). Discovering Dawn. Episode 1. Ontario Heritage Trust. Retrieved 26 February 2024 – via YouTube.
  23. ^ "The Chatham-Kent Municipal Heritage Register : Listed Properties in the Community of Dresden : 350 St George Street South" (PDF). Municipality of Chatham-Kent. 6 July 2021. p. 15. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  24. ^ "Registrations of Deaths, 1869-1942 (MS 935, reels 1-694)". Toronto: Archives of Ontario. 1992 [1876]. Filmstrip for county of Kent 1876, division of Dresden; image 21, col. no. 9 (upper); ref. 005947 – via Ancestry.com.
  25. ^ "'congestion of an organ' in congestion (n.), sense 2.b". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. July 2023 [1891]. doi:10.1093/OED/4261907139. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  26. ^ The Dresden Cemetery (memorial plaque). Dresden, Ontario: Municipality of Chatham-Kent. 6 August 2006. From 2004 to 2006, over 950 of Dresden Cemetery's erosion-threatened gravesites were moved [...]. Historically significant burials were among those relocated here from the original Anglican range [...]. British-born Rev. Thomas Hughes, founder of an Anglican mission to freedom seekers, was responsible for establishing the Anglican range. Buried with him are [...].
  27. ^ "Registration document and annexed copy of 'Last will and testament of Thomas Hughes late of the village of Dresden [dated 26 October 1875]'". Ontario: Kent County Surrogate Court. 25 April 1876. Retrieved 10 July 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  28. ^ "Letters of Administration, with the Will annexed, of the personal Estate of The Reverend Thomas Hughes". London, England: Principal Registry of the Probate Division of the High Court of Justice. 23 August 1876. Retrieved 10 July 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  29. ^ "Finding Christ Church : Primary Source Archive : CCSS reports". London, Ontario: Huron University College (using Internet Archive). 18 May 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2024. See Dresden or Rev. Hughes sections in: "Mission to [the] Fugitive Slaves in Canada" reports for 1859, 1859‍–‍60, 1860‍–‍1, 1861‍–‍2, 1862‍–‍3, and 1863‍–‍4, and "Mission to the Coloured Population of Canada, Late Fugitive Slave Mission" reports for 1865, 1866, 1867, and 1869.
  30. ^ Henson, Josiah (1876). Lobb, John (ed.). "'Uncle Tom's story of his life' : an autobiography of the Rev. Josiah Henson (Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's 'Uncle Tom') : from 1789 to 1876". Internet Archive. London: Christian Age Office. pp. 200–203. Retrieved 28 December 2023. p. 200: For sixteen or seventeen years he worked most zealously as a missionary in Canada ; he was always my devoted friend[.]

Further reading

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