He was in an English
infantry regiment, and not in the Indian service, except that
the regiment was serving in India at the time. He met my
grandmother in the ship which took them to India. She was
going to a maternal uncle, Colonel Hughes, who was
considerably displeased on her announcing at Madras that she
was engaged to a poor young officer who had offered to her
during the voyage. But the young couple being determined, he
gave his consent, and continued kind to his niece, and my
father was born in his house, and at his father's request
called Hughes after him. My grandfather was twenty-five and
his bride eighteen at their marriage, and she was a widow
before she was twenty, from which time till she died at
eighty-five she was a widow indeed, making her son the chief
object of her life, living in and for him.
His uncle William, whom he succeeded at Haddington, was never
married, and was exceedingly attached to my father. He was a
singular man; in his early days very gay and handsome, and
living in some matters, I know not what, so incorrectly, that
on offering himself for holy orders, the then Bishop of
Durham wrote to him mentioning something he had heard, and
telling him if it was true he was not fitly prepared for
taking orders. My uncle acknowledged the accusation as far as
it was true, and thanked the Bishop for his letter, and
abstained from coming forward at that time, but took the
admonition so to heart that it led to an entire conversion of
heart and life.
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