John Hughes

John Hughes was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, on March 3, 1860. He received his degrees in Gray Lodge: the Entered Apprentice on June 25, 1894, the Fellowcraft on November 21, 1894, and the Master Mason degree on February 20, 1895. He became Junior Deacon in 1895 and Senior Deacon in 1896, and served as Junior Warden in 1897–1898 and Senior Warden in 1898–1899.

As Senior Warden he represented Gray Lodge at the laying of the cornerstone of the Masonic Widows and Orphans Home at Fort Worth on January 7, 1899, and reported on the ceremony at the next stated meeting. The lodge reimbursed his railroad fare of $8.50.

He was installed as the 29th Master in 1899 by District Deputy Grand Master Ingham S. Roberts, assisted by Past Master Frank W. Campbell, in a joint installation with Holland Lodge No. 1. Afterward the Brethren returned to the Grand Lodge room for refreshments and a Masonic lecture by Brother L. T. Noyes, “illustrated with Stereopticon views and Dissolving pictures,” a modern marvel at the time.

His year closed out the nineteenth century, and with it an era. On October 30, 1899, Past Grand Master A. S. Richardson, the first Master of Gray Lodge, died, and the Brethren laid him to rest in Glenwood Cemetery. As 1900 began, only four charter members remained on the rolls. The following summer Brother Hughes seconded the resolution that created life membership in Gray Lodge for Brethren of 25 years’ standing.

He served the Grand Lodge of Texas as Grand Junior Steward for most of fifteen years, from 1896 to 1902, 1903 to 1906 and 1907 to 1910. He demitted from Gray Lodge on January 15, 1908, and affiliated that same year with El Paso Lodge No. 130, where he served as Tiler in 1909–1910 and 1910–1911. He died in El Paso on February 17, 1917.