Lapeer-Macomb County MI Archives Biographies.....Hough, Ebenezer B. 1819 - 
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Author: Chapman Bros. (1892)

EBENEZER B. HOUGH is a retired farmer residing in Almont. He was born in Genesee
County, N. Y., March 6, 1819, and is a son of Jedediah E. and Betsey
(Starkweather) Hough, natives of Connecticut. The father had learned the trade
of a clothier, but on moving to New York purchased land, to the cultivation of
which he intended to devote himself, but was deterred from so doing by an
accident. In clearing his place a log rolled on him and partially crippled him
for life. At the time our subject was approaching his fifteenth year his family
moved to Michigan, coming hither by the overland route, consuming a month on the
road. They arrived at Romeo on the fifteenth birthday of our subject.

  Jedediah Hough purchased eighty acres of land in what is now Almont Township
on section 29. This he made the home place. Three children had been born prior
to coming to the State and of these our subject was the eldest. After him came
Mary Leonard, who married Orson Ingalls and at the present time resides in
Almont. Lucy A. married Gilbert Thurston and is now deceased. Our subject's
opportunities for acquiring an education were very limited. After coming to
Almont he attended the first school ever held in the village.

  The family home was a frame house in which shingles were used for clapboards.
This was burned the fall before our subject reached his majority and as there
was no insurance the family were left in sore straits, their clothing as well as
their dwelling being consumed. The neighbors, however kindly aided them in
putting up a new frame. On reaching his majority our subject started out in life
for himself, and although he was unfortunate and had to work against many
difficulties, little by little he accumulated enough to purchase a good tract of
land and the first year of his harvest brought him from eighteen acres of wheat
land four hundred and seventy-seven bushels, which he had threshed with a
machine. His land comprised eighty acres on section 36, Dryden Township, Lapeer
County. The crops on this turning out so well he was enabled to get a fair start
and has ever since been in comfortable circumstances. His land was one mile from
his father's place and as both were poor our subject boarded at home and gave
two days' work of each week for his board.

  On February 25, 1844, our subject was married to Miss Emeline L. Johnston, a
daughter of Samuel and Sally Johnston. Five children came to their fireside.
They are Edgar S., Charles Dyar, Theodore Belcher, Ausmer J., deceased, and
George Oscar. Mrs. Emeline Hough died January 25.1867, and was interred in the
cemetery at Almont.

  About two years after our subject's marriage he purchased the farm belonging
to his father-in-law and moved to Almont. Sometime after selling his own place
he purchased his father's place, giving him a life lease of a part of it and the
house. He has added considerable to his landed property since that time. Mr.
Hough was again married September 6, 1867, to Miss Lucretia E. Myers, nee
Barnes, daughter of Evelyn and Permelia (Kimball) Barnes. She was born in
Bloomfield, Trumbull County Ohio, December 14, 1829. Her family moved to
Michigan when she was eight years of age and located in Bruce. Previous to her
marriage she was engaged as a teacher. By her present marriage she is the mother
of two children-William E. and May P.

  Our subject retired from active agricultural labor and is now living in
Almont. Mr. Hough used to be a Democrat and cast his first vote in 1840. He
began voting the Republican ticket in 1856 and since that time has been true to
his party. Although taking great interest in local politics, he has ever refused
to be an office-holder. He and his wife are active members of the Congregational
Church in which he was Trustee for many years and at the present time is Deacon.
On the erection of the new church he contributed $1,900 toward the building. Mr.
Hough still owns one hundred and eighty-one acres of good farm land and three or
four acres of land in the village.

  Mrs. Hough's maternal great-grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary War
and at one time was so reduced for food that he and others cast lots to see
which one should die that the others might live. They, however, came upon a dead
wildcat and this providential find relieved them from their pressing necessity.
One of the ancestors of our subject's first wife was a descendant of the Allen
family of whom Col. Ethan Allen was one, and her grandmother drew a large
pension, a part of which was used in building the house and barn on the Johnston
farm in Almont Township.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Portrait and Biographical Record of Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola Counties,
Michigan, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative
Citizens, Together with Biographies of all the Governors of the State, and of
the Presidents of the United States

Chicago:
Chapman Bros.
1892


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