Hough, John B.

HOUGH, HITE, BOND, MOORE

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 12/3/2008 at 20:10:32

HOUGH, John B.
Firm of MILLER & HOUGH, lumber and grain, resides on Mulberry street. He was born 25 Feb 1823 in Loudoun Co., VA. He came to Newton, IA in 1854. In 1855 was appointed Deputy of the District Court, was afterward elected Clerk the first time the Republican ticket was in the field. He held this position two terms. Was in the Provost Marshall's office during the war, under Capt. James MATTHEWS. In Jan 1866, he returned to Newton and engaged in the lumber trade. In 1876 they added grain to their business. Has been a member of the city Council, was President of the School board in 1862 and also taught for one term. He married Elizabeth HOUGH in 1846. She was born Aug 1822 in Loudoun Co., VA. They had seven children, six living---Josephine, Evelyn is a graduate of Iowa College, now teaching school in CA. Ella V., Emerson, now attending the State Univ. at Iowa City, in his junior year. He was one of three who formed the first graduating class of the Newton High School; and Edward C. who was one of the three who graduated in the 2nd graduating class at Newton, IA. He is now employed at the office of Miller and Hough. Norman Hamlin, now attending the High School, room No. 8. They are members of the Congregational Church. He is a Republican. ~ "Newton Township Biographies," The History of Jasper County, Iowa, (Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1878)
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Joseph Bond Hough, a grain merchant of Newton, was born in Loudoun County, VA, February 25, 1823. The family of which, he is an honored representative. He was prominent in the history of the Old Dominion during the early days of its settlement. They were of Saxon origin, and the forefathers came to this country with William Penn, settling in the Keystone State. The great-grandfather of our subject, John Hough, married a Miss Hite, whose ancestors came from Germany. Both families were prominent in the Quaker Church.

About 1742 John Hough went to Virginia, where William Hough, our subject's grandfather, was born. He was a roan of more than ordinary ability and education, and followed the occupation of a civil engineer, becoming the owner of large tracts of land. At the time of his demise, he and the Hite family had many land warrants in Virginia, but it is thought that after his death no great amount was realized on this property. Amasa Hough, the father of J. B., was born in 1790 on the farm where his father had first opened his eyes to the light, it being the place where John Hough made settlement in 1742. Amasa was the youngest of eleven children, and upon attaining man's estate he became a prominent and successful merchant. After the death of his father, the old homestead fell to him, and returning to that place he continued to make his home there until his death, which occurred in 1865.

Our subject's mother was Ann Elizabeth Bond, who's mother was a daughter of Thomas Moore, and her father was Joseph Bond, who was of Welsh descent. William and Thomas Moore came from Ireland to America and settled in Virginia during the Colonial days, Mrs. Hough being a descendant of Thomas. His brother, William, was lost sight of, and nothing is known of his life career. Which of these brothers was the elder is a question that has puzzled the minds of the descendants of Thomas for generations, for a large fortune was left in Waterford, Ireland, to the elder of these brothers, but with all their research they have not been able to learn which was the elder. Therefore a great fortune is awaiting proof that in all probability will never be furnished. They were Quakers, and settled in Bucks County, PA, where their names appear on the minutes of the Friends Church. The mother of Ann Elizabeth (Bond) Hough, bore the family name of Moore and was a descendant of Irish ancestors, who upon emigrating to America settled in Loudoun County, VA, and located and named the village of Waterford, in honor of the town by that name in their native country. Her birth occurred about 1801. She lived and died upon the old homestead, where her husband also passed away some years prior to her demise.

Both the Bond and Moore families were prominent in the early history and settlement of Virginia. Living in a slave state in the days when it was honorable to own slaves, none of the forefathers of our subject ever owned one; in fact, they were greatly opposed to human slavery. One member of the Hough family came into possession of some slaves by marriage, but at once freed them. Our subject was the eldest in a family of eight children, all of whom attained to mature years. William resides in Maryland; Deborah went to Nebraska and was killed by falling from a buggy; Eleanor Hite is living in Maryland; Edgar was killed by falling from a tree in Loudoun County, VA; Amasa; Elizabeth, deceased, and Warwick, complete the family circle.

During the Civil War, Amasa Hough, Jr., discovered the rebels in the vicinity of his home in Virginia, and dreading discovery, which would be equivalent to death, he hid in the woods for three days, without food. Finally he made his way across the river on a rail to the Maryland side and sped away to Washington, where he quietly presented himself to President Lincoln and made known to him the state of affairs. This was a daring deed, and was greatly appreciated by the President, who would have rewarded him had he lived. Five of the family are now living: Joseph B. of this sketch; Eleanor; William; Warwick, who lives in Montgomery County, MD and Amasa, whose home is in the same neighborhood.

At Alexandria, Va., our subject received an excellent education, having for schoolmates such men as ex-President Harrison, the late Justice Lamar and Kirby Smith, and others who have gained national fame. At the age of eighteen he commenced to teach school, and for fourteen years was Principal of a select school in the state of his birth, where he ranked high as an educator. In the fall of 1854 he came to Iowa and settled in Jasper County, where he taught school for a short time. Later, for a year he was engaged as a civil engineer, and then served as Deputy County Clerk. In 1856 he was elected, on the Republican ticket. Clerk of Jasper County, a position that he held for six years. From May of 1868 to the close of the war, he was in the employ of the Government in the Provost Marshal's office at Iowa City and other places.

Retiring from politics in 1866, Mr. Hough embarked in the lumber and grain business in Newton, in which he engaged until 1883. Then abandoned the former interests, and since that time has been in the grain and coal business. In 1846 he married Miss Elizabeth Hough, a cousin, who died in June 1892, after forty-six years of married life and at the age of seventy years. They had seven children, one of whom died in infancy. Josephine married Aaron Steever and died in Dakota; Evelyn was educated at Iowa College, and married Joseph Sims, the son of a Congregational minister in Nevada, CA; Eleanor Virginia was educated at Iowa College and is prominent as linguist; she resides with her father; Emerson, a graduate of the Iowa State University, is manager of the Chicago office of the newspaper known as the Forest and Stream; Edgar, a graduate of the Newton High School and of the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago, is now a practicing physician at Vilisca, IA; Norman finished his education in the Newton High School, and now connected with the Northern Pacific Railroad, has his office in Minneapolis, MN.

From the organization of the Republican Party to the present time Mr. Hough has been an adherent of its principles and a champion of its candidates. His life has been an exemplary one, his habits temperate and his dispositions generous and kind. Since 1859 he has been identified with the Congregational Church, and has served as Deacon during most of the time since that date. Portrait and Biographical Record, Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, IA Page 218.
Transcriber note: One biography has John B and the second one has Joseph B. Birthday is the same.