Cosmelia Janney Brown Hughes was born in1872 to William (1839-1922) and Lydia Neill Janney Brown (ca. 1844-1925) in Loudoun County, Virginia, in an area known as Circleville. She was the youngest of three children, with two older brothers Thomas Janney Brown (1867-?) and Samuel Neill Brown (1870-?). Cosmelia was descended from some of the earliest Quaker families to settle in Loudoun County, and was a birthright member of the Goose Creek Society of Friends meeting. Her ancestors include, most notably, Jacob (ca. 1712-1796) and Hannah Ingeldew Janney (1725-1818) and Isaac (?- ca. 1800) and Margery Cox Nichols (?-1806).

Cosmelia (also known as "Cossie") majored in letters at Swarthmore College, graduating in 1891. She was an active member and "Librarian" of the Somerville Literary Society, "Poet" of her class, and an associate editor of the college newspaper, the Phoenix. William C. Sproul, later governor of Pennsylvania, was senior editor.

On 24 June 1896, Cosmelia married Daniel McPherson Hughes (1870-1953) officiated by the Reverend C. T. Herndon at the Baptist Church in Hamilton, VA. Daniel, son of Elias (1824-1890) and Virginia Jefferson Nichols Hughes (ca. 1835-1903), grew up in Hughesville, a village north of Circleville. His forbears include Constantine (?-1823) and Elizabeth Janney Nichols Hughes (?- ca. 1823), Quakers from Pennsylvania who settled in the area. Daniel and Cosmelia were both descended from Isaac Nichols (? -1802). A birthright member of Goose Creek Meeting, Daniel resigned his membership in 1895. Cosmelia married Daniel contrary to discipline. Her acknowledgement of this was accepted and she remained a member of Goose Creek Meeting until she resigned in 1921. Cosmelia and Daniel Hughes had five children: Donald McPherson (b. 1898), Margery Janney (1899-?), Anna Neill (1901-?), Leila Canby (1901-?), and Edward (1906-?).

Daniel ran Holmes Mill in Hughesville until about 1898. In both the 1900 and 1910 censuses, he is listed as a farmer in Loudoun County. Sometime just after 1910, the family moved to California, where Hughes also farmed. He is listed as a "rancher" in the 1920 census, and in the 1930 census from Pasadena, CA at the age of 60 his occupation is given as "none".

Throughout her married life, Cosmelia is listed in the census as "homemaker". Little is known about her community involvement or activities outside of child-rearing. She must have developed artistic skills, because, in 1945, she presented her son Donald with a sketchbook entitled "Family Memories and Past Lore". Her colored-pencil sketches of the Hughesville and Circleville area homes and other structures, along with anecdotes from Cosmelia's memory, help to shed light on a bygone era in Loudoun County. Many structures included in the sketchbook no longer exist.

Cosmelia Janney Hughes died 1 Dec 1962 in Pasadena, CA at the age of 91. Daniel died in 1953.

HUGHESVILLE AND CIRCLEVILLE

Quakers first came to the Loudoun County area as early as 1730. One of the earliest to arrive in the Lincoln (Goose Creek) settlement was Constantine Hughes (?- ca. 1823), who arrived with his wife Elizabeth Janney Nichols (?- ca. 1823) from Bucks County, PA. Hughes bought 96 acres of land located southeast of Lincoln from Samuel and Rebekah Wilks on 8 Oct 1787. The Hughesville settlement, as it became known, was a village just west of the junction of present day Routes 704 and 725. It was located along "the Great Road" from Leesburg to the Blue Ridge, probably the earliest east-west road in the area and a major thoroughfare at the time, preceding present day Route 7 by fifty or sixty years. Hughes built a home nearby, and other Hughes family members subsequently built residences in the surrounding fields. At one time, Hughesville had a store, post office, blacksmith, frame school building and church. Hughes' grandson Thomas ran the store and served as postmaster periodically from 1830 to 1850.

South of Lincoln and Hughesville, and north of North Fork, lay Circleville, named by Thomas Brown for the semi-circular way the road curved on its way from Lincoln south to the village. By the time Brown arrived from Winchester, VA about 1831, a mill near the Northwest Fork of Goose Creek had been in operation for nearly 80 years. Brown married Samuel and Mary Nichols' daughter Phoebe in 1835. He built a log and frame home in the area, and from this dwelling he operated a store and a post office. He served as Circleville postmaster from 1836 until Nathaniel Janney took over in 1865. Brown built a log schoolhouse nearby and taught the local children, including his son William. He retired in 1871 when public education became available. William, also known as "Circleville Will", served as postmaster from 1866 until it was discontinued in 1878. The area's activities declined in the late 1800's and the mill closed in 1906. By 1967, the paving of route 722 was completed from Lincoln to Circleville, cutting across a hill and taking the "circle" out of Circleville.