On November 22, 1840, Hiram Mark Hughson was born in Middleburgh, a small town in Schoharie County, New York. By the time of the Civil War, Hughson had moved west to the San Joaquin Valley, where, in 1864, he married Luella Avery. The two would go on to raise nine sons and eleven daughters.

In 1882, he arrived in the area of modern-day Hughson and purchased 1,000 acres of land to cultivate grains upon. In the early 1900s, the San Francisco & San Joaquin Valley Railroad purchased land from Mr. Hughson to erect a train stop, which the railroad named in his honor. In 1907, Mr. Hughson turned ownership of his lands over to the Hughson Town Company. This land, along with the acreage that John Tully had owned up for settlement to his south, was the land that the township of Hughson was born upon. The township would not be incorporated for another 65 years. Hiram Hughson would die on January 15, 1911.

That same year, Hughson Union High School was founded. In over a century, its student body has grown dramatically. In 1970, the school had 250 pupils (according to my grandfather). Today, it has nearly 900 pupils. In recent years, corresponding with the rise in enrollment, Hughson’s population has also grown rapidly. It went from a population of around 2,000 in 1970 to 4,000 in 2000, to 7,683 as of July 1, 2023.

Information used comes from:

“About Hughson,” cityofhughsonca.gov

“Hiram Mark Hughson,” ancestors.familysearch.org

“Hughson, California: Quick Facts,” census.gov