[4][5] Hanson Truman Hughes was born in North Carolina.
[4] Hanson lived in early life in Oxford, a town in Granville County, North Carolina; and in later life he lived in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[4][9] He owned land and personal property of substantial value and became a leader within the African-American community.
[4][10][11] In the State v. Hanson T. Hughes et al., he was prosecuted alongside others in 1875, for leading a procession with horses in Oxford, North Carolina in celebration of the emancipation proclamation.
[14] In April 1881, Hughes was appointed as justice of the peace in Oxford Township.