Rev. Robert Hughes

The Rev. Robert Hughes (1824-1895) was related to two families living at Monticello. As the son of Wormley Hughes, grandson of Betty Brown, and great-grandson of Elizabeth "Betty" Hemings, he was a member of the large Hemings family. Robert's mother was Ursula, a granddaughter of Great George and Ursula and niece of Isaac Jefferson.

Wormley Hughes (1781-1858) worked in the Monticello nailery as a youth; as an adult he became Monticello's head gardener and was in charge of the stables. Hughes, who dug Jefferson's grave, was unofficially freed after Jefferson's death. He was a domestic servant in the Jefferson-Randolph household until his own death.

The Rev. Robert Hughes was born at Monticello. Along with his mother and several of his siblings, he lived in slavery until the end of the Civil War on the plantation of Jefferson's grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph. After the war, Hughes became the founding minister of Union Run Baptist Church near Charlottesville, Virginia, where he served for three decades. For more information on Robert Hughes, see the "The Ties That Bind."

The Rev. Wormley and Georgetta Burbridge Hughes

Wormley Hughes (1851-1901), the son of the Rev. Robert Hughes, moved to Loudoun and Fauquier counties and became a minister. His wife Georgetta (1865-1921) was an educator.

Descendants of Wormley and Ursula Hughes:
l to r, Lloyd A. Hughes Jr., Karen Hughes White,
Lloyd A. Hughes, Angela Hughes Davidson, Timothy L. Hughes

 

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