Hugh married Mary Elizabeth Stevens, aged 19, on May 3, 1869, at Howard Methodist Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Mary was a native of San Francisco and given that its population boomed from only a few hundred before the gold rush of ’49 to 25,000 by 1850, she may well have been the child of Forty-niners. The choice of a Protestant church for their marriage is also noteworthy. Perhaps Hugh had drifted from his Catholic background, or Mary was more Protestant than he was Catholic[1]. However, a Rootsweb posting in 2001 from Donna Pesce, wife of a descendant of Hugh’s, expresses surprise that Hugh was a Freemason in later life, “since Mary was a Catholic”. Hugh's funeral, it appears, was a Freemason ceremony, not a Catholic one.

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Hugh and Mary had five children. Hugh’s army background shows in the names of his sons, both called after prominent Civil War Generals.

Tecumseh Sherman, born June 28, 1871

Ben Butler, born July 26, 1873

Virginia, born October 22, 1877

Mary, born May 18, 1881

Callie, born February 28 1883

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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From 1875 to 1880, he lived in Virginia City, Nevada, which provided the name for his first daughter, who was born there. Virginia City sprang up as a boomtown with the 1859 discovery of the Comstock Lode, the first major silver deposit discovery in the United States, and numerous mines were opened. At the city's peak of population in the mid-1860s, it had an estimated 25,000 residents and was called the richest city in America. The mines' output declined after 1878, and the city declined. As of the 2020 Census, the population of Virginia City was about 661.

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We get a sense of Hugh and his family struggling to keep his head above water at this time. In his 1887 application for an increase in his Army pension, he is asked to describe his physical condition and ability to perform manual labour. He writes:

I have been in various branches of business since my discharge, first that of Store Keeper. I gave it up on account of the ( ?? strain? steam?) of my right eye fearing that it would impair the sight of it. I worked? with the dairy business, gave that up after seven? years as it was too much exposed to winds and ?? of this climate. I next went mining in Nevada, gave that up as too distressing? having to work by candle light and am now  ?? clerk in the San Francisco Post Office.

Hugh comes across as an adventurous type, prepared to take a risk to make his fortune, undertaking hazardous journeys and activities, but he never had the luck his efforts deserved.

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In support of his pension application, he obtained affidavits from former colleagues and from Colonel (later Major General) Patrick Edward Connor, the officer in charge at the Battle of Bear River. At the time, Irish-born Connor was regarded as a hero for his actions at Bear River and other engagements and was promoted, though by present day standards, he would undoubtedly be regarded as a war criminal. See details of his career and historical assessment here.

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In his statement supporting Hugh Brady’s application, he writes: “I commanded personally in the battle, and being cognizant of who were wounded or killed of my command, I know of my own knowledge of his being wounded as stated.”

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Hugh’s medical examination notes describes the extent of his injury:

Height 5 feet 7 inches; weight 155 pounds

Ball struck bridge of nose, left side.

Scars, no loss of tissue, no atrophy, no deformity

Eyes – left – vision impaired. Cannot read a newspaper

Right eye - ?? – has great fear of losing it.

Entitled to a 8/18 rating for the disability caused by loss of vision, left eye.

It seems Hugh received a pension of $8 a month.

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