The Hughes Granite and Marble Company of Clyde, Ohio, was founded in the 1880s by Carmi Sanford, who soon brought in his brother-in-law, William E. Hughes, as a partner. Under Hughes' management, the company grew rapidly.

The Hughes Company built mausoleums and memorial headstones for cemeteries nationwide. It connected Sandusky County and Ohio with the entire country through its Civil War memorials on the battle sites of Antietam, Chickamauga, Gettysburg, Shiloh and Vicksburg, its Ohio Andersonville monument, and its World War I memorials in many states.