John William Hugus was a Meeker Townsite shareholder. The importance of his mercantile company and bank to the development of Meeker can not be overstated. However, J.W. Hugus himself was not deeply involved with the formation of the town. By the time the soldiers had pulled out in 1883, John was planning his retirement. He turned over his very successful Hugus & Company over to John Charles Davis, manager of the Rawlins store and president of Hugus & Co. J. W. Hugus took his family, moved to Pasadena, California, and purchased a 250 acre ranch. He created citrus groves, raised grain and a vineyard. He also built a mansion. He was also a member of the Valley Hunt Club in Pasadena, which started the 1890 Tournament of Roses Parade.
John learned the retail trade early. At the age of 14 he was living at home with his parents, Peter Hugus and Eliza McCormick 1850. They are listed in the Canton, Ohio Census. Peter was listed as Hardware Merchant owning $3,000 in real estate.
As a young men, J.W. and his brother were typesetters in Omaha, Nebraska. At the age of 26, J.W. was partners in a sutler store at Fort Kearney, Nebraska. He stayed there for several years before returning to Omaha to marry Annetta Olivia Reese and have one daughter, Nellie Reese Hugus born in October of 1865. Annetta died January 14, 1868.
In 1868, Fort Fred Steele was established as the UP transcontinental railway came through. J. W. Hugus was not far behind the track layers. He got the contract for Post Trader or Sutler at Fort Steele in 1869. He operated it for 14 years before it was sold to his brother, Wilbur, and Fenimore Chatterton, who operated it until 1886 when the Fort was closed.
In the 1870 Omaha, Nebraska Census, he was listed at Sutler at Ft. Fred Steele, Wyoming. I believe he was splitting time between Omaha with his young daughter, Nellie, age 4. He was widowed and living with his mother-in-law, Malinda Reese. Business was good. Hugus & Company incorporated in 1877. Expansion was on his mind. In January of 1879, Hugus bought out the Trabing Brothers stores in Medicine Bow, Douglas, and Rawlins. This an important move. This gave Hugus stores beyond the Fort Steele trading post and gave him a lucrative government contract to haul freight to the White River Ute Agency.
J. C. Davis, shareholder in Hugus & Co., was with the freight wagons who joined the ill-fated Thornburg troops. He was wounded at Milk Creek as a civilian. Some other freighters elsewhere on the trail were killed. Joe Collom, the mail carrier, related that Wilbur Hugus, brother of J.W., had left a wagon of groceries at Joe’s place and had been on route with other wagons to set up a trading post. I am personally at a loss to say where they planned to set up shop. Without permission from Nathan Meeker, any trading post would have to remain north of Milk Creek.
It would appear Wilbur Hugus might have worked for J.W. at the Camp on the White River. W. B. Hugus was named U.S. Postmaster at White River, Summit County, Nov. 25, 1879; later designated as Meeker, Colorado, Aug. 23, 1880 with Henry W. Gray as postmaster).
To be continued…
Sources: This Is What I Remember; Rio Blanco Historical Society; Rawlins Wyoming newspaper: Carbon County Journal; Meeker Herald; Flickering Lights in Vacant Windows by Peter Van Dorn 1992; J.W. HUGUS & COMPANY, Anniversary booklet 1909; Museum of Northwest Colorado.