John J. "Jack" Hughes was the eighth of Martin Hughes and Mary Wickham's eleven children. He was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He married Clara H. Wyckoff of Illinois in 1899. They had six children. In 1920 they moved to Des Moines, Iowa, where he spent the rest of his life. He was a successful life insurance agent and also an active member of the Democratic party.

Related Items:
Biographies of his father, Martin D. Hughes, and uncles James and Owen P. Wickham.
Obituaries for his father Martin, mother Mary Wickham, brothers Thomas B. and Martin, sister Mary and daughter Mary E. Kurtz.

Council Bluffs Nonpareil (Council Bluffs, Iowa)
Friday, 22 June 1956, p. 1

      J. J. Hughes, 84, one-time Council Bluffs resident, prominent in Iowa insurance fields and for many years a power in the state Democratic party, died Wednesday afternoon at Des Moines.
      He has suffered a stroke 11 weeks ago.
      Mr. Hughes was born in Council Bluffs, educated here and at one time served as secretary of the School Board.
      He started in the life insurance business here in 1902, was named general agent for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. of Milwaukee at Oklahoma City in 1919. A year later he was named general agent for the firm at Des Moines, retiring in June, 1945, after 43 years association with the company.
      Hughes' acquaintanceship with Democratic state and national figures dated back to 1908 and more recently during the first administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt when he headed up state recovery agencies in the depression era.
Party Treasurer
      From 1908 to 1919 he was treasurer of the Iowa Democratic State Central Committee and from 1908 to 1924 was sergeant-at-arms for the Democratic National Committee.
      In 1916 while he lived in Council Bluffs he was a delegate-at-large to the national convention and was sergeant-at-arms for the national conventions in 1920 and 1924.
      President Roosevelt appointed him chairman of the State Recovery Board in 1933 and he organized and headed such agencies as the National Recovery Administration (NRA), the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
      Hughes was the son of Martin Hughes, Council Bluffs contractor, and the former Mary A. Wickham, member of a prominent early Council Bluffs family.
Master of Accounts
      After graduation from high school in Council Bluffs he attended St. Benedict's College, Atchison, Kan. where he was graduated in 1899 with master of accounts degree.
      Mrs. Hughes, whom he married in Jacksonville, Ill., Jan 9, 1899, was Clara H. Wycoff, whose father was superintendent of the Iowa School for the Deaf here.
      Survivors besides Mrs. Hughes include a son, Lyman B. Hughes, Des Moines and three daughters: Mrs. John F. Wilcox, Jr. of Council Bluffs; Mrs. Theodore Hofsommer of Chicago, and Mrs. Bernard Kurtz, Des Moines.