Building the Log House - 1771 - 1784
Isaac & Leah Hughes and their children Abner, Anne, Edward, and Catherine
A young Quaker family in the Colony of Virginia during the American Revolution
Isaac Hughes was born in a small Welsh community north of Philadelphia in 1738.   The home of his father (Edward Hughes) built by Edward's father (Morgan Hugh) in 1714 on land owned by Morgan's father (Hugh Morgan) is still there, known as "Morgan Hughes Homestead Bed and Breakfast."  A couple of miles away stands today's Gwynnedd Monthly Meeting, still an active Quaker house of worship.  In 1771 Isaac and his wife Leah transferred from Gwynnedd with 3 children, Abner, Anne, and Edward, to Hopewell Monthly Meeting near Winchester, VA. 
Apparently previous generations had belonged to St. David's Episcopal Church in Radnor, PA (Edward was Christened there in 1712.)  
Daniel Boone Connection:  Isaac Hughes was 4 years younger than Daniel Boone.  Boone's grandfather Edward Morgan had a farm near Morgan Hugh's homestead.  In 1718 Dorothy Hughes married Morgan Morgan (i.e. Isaac Hughes' aunt married Daniel Boone's uncle.).  In 1720 Squire Boone and Sarah Morgan (Daniel Boone's parents) married at Gwynnedd Monthly Meeting.  Close relatives signing the marriage certificate included Morgan Hugh (Isaac's grandfather), Dorothy Morgan and Elizabeth Hughes (Isaac's aunts.)
Upon their arrival in Virginia, the Hughes family built a two-story log home on 250 acres, part of a large land grant from Lord Fairfax to Lewis Burwell's father 18 years earlier.  The house had spacious rooms, simple architecture in keeping with their Quaker views.  Its hefty doors with impressive box locks still hang on massive hinges designed to provide some security.  (Local residents could no doubt remember the French and Indian wars.  Less than 5 miles from the house was Fort Neally, site of a devastating Indian attack only 15 years earlier.)
Hopewell Friends, organized in 1734,  built this stone building in 1759.  Their records indicate a thriving congregation during the 1770's.  During the winter meetings were authorized in several local areas, and it is likely that Isaac Hughes' family usually worshiped in the Tuscarora "Providence" meeting closer to home.
Isaac Hughes died at age 38. (Leah Hughes, Morgan Hughes and Benjamin Hughes were named March 19, 1776 as administrators for Isaac Hughes, deceased.)   We have an intersting list of his estate's contents in 1776, but no information on his burial or cause of death.

Leah Hughes married Robert McKown (McKewn) who became guardian of her children.  In addition to Abner, Anne, and Edward who are listed in Hopewell's records, a Catherine Hughes is possibly a younger daughter.  Leah and Robert apparently had three sons: John, Morgan, and Robert McKeown.
December 14, 1784, Abner Hughes and Leah McKewn (McKown) sold the house and 250 acres to Hugh Cunningham.  The Cunninghams added the stone addition to form what is known today as the "Hughes-Cunningham House."

Leah and Robert McKown and their children moved to Kentucky in 1784; In 1792 Kentucky, which had been a county of the state of Virginia, became a separate state.  Robert McKown was named an original trustee of one of Kentucky's first towns (now Jeffersontown) in 1797.    

We haven't found any record of their transfers out of Hopewell Friends, or any Quaker connections in Kentucky.  It appears that some if not all of the family affiliated with Baptist churches in Kentucky.

Stories of the Hughes family on the Kentucky Frontier:
Old lock and key have provided security more than 200 years.