HOUGH (New Bedford family). The progenitor in New England of those bearing the family name of Hough was William Hough, son of Edward Hough, of Westchester, in Cheshire, England. This William Hough was known as a house carpenter at Gloucester, Mass., along just prior to the middle of the seventeenth century. He lived at Trynall Cove, where and on Biskie island, opposite, he had land. It is not known that his father came to New England, but it is believed by those who have written of the family that Ann Hough, who died at Gloucester in 1672, aged eighty-five years, was Edward’s widow and the mother of William Hough. The latter was selectman in 1649 and 1650. His departure from Gloucester is spoken of in the latter year, when he joined the migration to New London, Conn., and in that State the family is a numerous one. William Hough married Oct. 28, 1645, Sarah, daughter of Hugh Calkins, and of their ten children the first three were born at Gloucester and the others at New London.
Dr. George T. Hough, late of New Bedford, was a son of Garry A. and Julia (Wright) Hough, the father a native of Potsdam, N. Y., and a well known manager of theaters and from 1860 until his death a resident of Detroit, Mich. Dr. Hough was born March 3, 1837, in New York City, and passed his boyhood days at Victor, N. Y. He graduated from the New York Medical College in the class of 1857, and for a short time thereafter practiced medicine in the West and in New York. Then he came to Massachusetts, settling at Vineyard Haven, which was then known as Holmes Hole. During the war he entered the army as acting assistant surgeon, and was stationed at Camp Butler, near Springfield, IL. About 1867 he came to New Bedford, which city was his home during the remainder of his life. He built up a large practice, for many years, until the failure of his health, ranking among the leaders of his profession in the city. Soon after settling in New Bedford he was city physician for a number of years, and he served for a time as member of the school committee from Ward Four. He was made a fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1668, and was honored by being elected to some of its offices. Dr. Hough was also a valued member of the South Bristol District Medical Society, and the New Bedford Society for Medical Improvement, and served as president of both of these organizations. He was a member of the original staffs of St. Joseph’s and St. Luke’s hospitals, and upon his enforced retirement from active practice because of serious illness was the first physician to be made an honorary member of the staff of the latter hospital. Indeed, it was as a mark of especial honor to him that the position was created. His skill as a practitioner of medicine insured for him a large clientele and his eminently genial nature made him always a welcome visitor to the sickroom. To his cheery brightness many a patient owed that encouragement which was better than medicine, while his thorough command of the resources of his profession was a constant stimulus to confidence. Few physicians are so thoroughly the friends of their patients as was Dr. Hough. He was a fine type of the best that can be found in a noble profession. He died March 23, 1898.
Dr. Hough married Maria P. Smith, of Vineyard Haven, daughter of Nathan S. and Jane (New) Smith. She died at Vineyard Haven April 5, 1863, aged twenty-three years, the mother of one son, Garry de Neuville. Dr. Hough was married (second) in Owego, N. Y., to Lydia Winslow Anthony, a native of Westport, Mass., daughter of Daniel B. and Maria L. (Winslow) Anthony. Mrs. Hough resides in New Bedford. One son was born to the second marriage, George A.
Garry de Neuville Hough, M. D., son of Dr. George T. and Maria P. (Smith) Hough, was born at Vineyard Haven, Mass., April 19, 1861, and was two years of age when his mother died. He resided with his maternal grandparents at Vineyard Haven until the age of twelve years, attending the district school there. He then came to New Bedford, and graduated from the Friends’ Academy in 1878. Entering Harvard the same year, he graduated there-from in 1881, cum laude and with honors in chemistry, and the following fall became a student at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, in New York, graduating in the spring of 1884. He then became an interne on the Third (Bellevue College) Surgical Division of Bellevue Hospital, New York, remaining there until October, 1885, when he returned to New Bedford and entered upon an association with his father which continued until the latter’s retirement, because of poor health, in 1891. Since then Dr. Hough has practiced alone and has acquired a wide reputation as a successful general practitioner and skillful surgeon. He is a member of numerous medical societies, local, State and national. He has been visiting surgeon at St. Luke’s hospital since June, 1886, and has been medical examiner of the Fourth Bristol District since 1891, having been first appointed by Gov. William E. Russell. Fraternally he is a member of Star in the East Lodge, A. F. & A. M.; Adoniram Chapter, R. A. M., and New Bedford Council, R. & S. M.
Dr. Hough married Margaret H. Soule, daughter of Hon. Rufus A. Soule, of New Bedford (see Soule family elsewhere).
George Anthony Hough, son of Dr. George T. and Lydia W. (Anthony) Hough, was born in New Bedford Nov. 27, 1868. He graduated from the New Bedford high school, and furthered his studies under private tutors. In 1885 he became connected with the Morning Mercury, in 1886 resigning his position with that paper to become telegraph editor of the Evening Standard. He was a year later made the city editor of the Standard and has continued with that publication since as managing editor and a director of the publishing house of E. Anthony & Sons, Incorporated. Mr. Hough has been active in public affairs and served in the New Bedford board of aldermen and as a trustee of the New Bedford Free Public Library. Mr. Hough and Z. W. Pease were authors of a history of New Bedford and its industries published by the Board of Trade. He is a member of Star in the East Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Adoniram Royal Arch Chapter, and of Sutton Commandery, K. T.
Mr. Hough was married at Vineyard Haven, Oct. 10, 1893, to Abby Louise , of Tisbury, Mass., and they have two sons
- George A., Jr., born July 22, 1894
- Henry B., born Nov. 8, 1896
The first paragraph of this post says the immigant William’s mother was probably an Ann Hough who died in Gloucester in 1672 at age 85. While that statement appears in some early books, principally the 1895 History of New London by Frances Manwaring Caulkins, it is incorrect. First, the 85 year old Ann Hough who died in Gloucester died in 1812, not 1672, according to the Vital Records of Gloucester. Second, recent research says both William’s parents, Edward and his widow Jane Manley Hough, are buried in the churchyard of St. Mary-on-the-Hill parish in Chester, Cheshire, England, just a short distance from their home in Chester. This is all covered in an article in the October, 2010, NEHGR, “The Cheshire Home and Family of William Hough, 1640 Immigrant to New England,+