BIO: Benjamin F. HOUCK, Huntingdon County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley: 
Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata and Perry, 
Pennsylvania, Containing Sketches of Prominent and Representative 
Citizens and Many of the Early Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. 
Runk & Co., 1897, pages 279-280.
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  BENJAMIN F. HOUCK, deceased, was among the most respected citizens of 
Tod township, Huntingdon county, Pa. He was born in Cass township, son 
of Elijah and Delia (Corbin) Houck. His grandfather, William Houck, was 
a native of Maryland, and a pioneer settler of Tod township; he owned a 
coal mine on the present site of Robertsdale, in Carbon township. He 
came to Tod township in 1787, and erected a log-mill. He married Ellen 
Hall; their children were: Ross; Elijah Washington; Adams; James; 
William; Sophia; Mrs. S. Sarter, Christian name unrecorded; Mrs. Croft, 
Christian name unrecorded; Antha (Mrs. M. Green), of Johnstown, Pa. 
Their home taking fire, Mrs. William Houck was burned to death. Mr. 
Houck died at the age of eighty-two. His son Elijah was a farmer and 
stock raiser. He married Delia Corbin; their children are: Allison, 
died in Minnesota; Wealthy, widow of Dr. Bird, of Shirleysburg, Pa.; 
Minerva, widow of Nicholas Crum, of Tod township; Sarah A. (Mrs. John 
Benson), of Tod township; Benjamin F. and Joseph, twins, the latter 
found dead in Kansas; and Elijah C., a member of the Baptist church in 
Reynolds, Ill. Elijah Houck removed to Ohio, where he cultivated a farm 
in addition to the one near Shirleysburg, Huntingdon county; he died in 
Ohio. He was a Whig, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
  Benjamin F. Houck attended the common schools of Tod township and the 
seminary at Cassville, Huntingdon county. He taught school nearly all 
his life, in Huntingdon county and Washington county, Md., which was 
his home at the time of his death. He was married in Tod township, in 
1861, to Mary B., daughter of Nicholas Benson; she was born in Tod 
township October 4, 1834. Their only child, Ulysses S., was born in 
Washington county, Md., in February, 1864. The young husband, esteeming 
the honor and safety of his country beyond his own comfort and 
pleasure, had enlisted in Company H of Coles' Regiment, Maryland 
Volunteer Cavalry. He was promoted to be captain of Company I, and was 
in several engagements. At Charlestown, Va., August 22, 1864, while 
urging his men forward, he was shot in the head by a citizen. For his 
courage, his exemplary conduct, and those qualities which render a man 
popular, Captain Houck was greatly esteemed by his comrades. His loss 
was deeply regretted by his comrades. It was sadly mourned also in the 
Methodist church, in which he was a consistent member and a diligent 
Sunday-school worker; to the wife, thus numbered among that vast army 
of women who made the greatest of sacrifices to patriotic duty, it was 
unspeakable.
  Their son, Ulysses S. Houck, was educated in the public schools of 
Tod township, his mother having returned to the home of her girlhood. 
After a course of preparation at the Huntingdon Normal School, he 
taught school for some time, but is now a civil engineer, with J. M. 
Africa, of Huntingdon, Pa. He married Ida Cohn, of Entriken, Pa. Their 
children are: Madeline; and Jennie M., who died at an early age, in 
Milford, Ill.
  Nicholas Benson, father of Mrs. Mary N. Houck, owned and cultivated a 
large farm in Tod township. He married Ellen Hall, of Tod township. 
Their children are: Nancy, wife of Jacob Prough, both deceased; John 
A., farmer, of Tod township; Fleetwood, deceased; Perry O., of Tod 
township; Sarah, deceased, wife of William Feaster, of Huntingdon; 
Samuel, deceased; Mary B. (Mrs. Houck); Wilson, of Tod township; 
Rachel, deceased; Harrison W., of Tod township; Ellen C. and Elizabeth 
A., twins, the former widow of Jacob Fisher, the latter wife of Daniel 
Naugle, of Tod township. Mr. Nicholas Benson was a Whig. Both parents 
are deceased; Mrs. Benson lived to the good old age of ninety-one.