Original Highland Township Landowner Simon Hough a/k/a Huff SW 1/4 of Section 26 E 1/2 of SE 1/4 of Section 27 The surname "Hough" may be pronounced different ways depending upon the origins of the particular family. It is said that in northern and eastern England the name is pronounced "How" or "Hoe," (i.e., with "ough" given the sound found in "bough" or "although.") In the west of England, in and around Cheshire, however, the pronounciation is "Huff" or "Hoff" (i.e., with "ough" given the sound found in "enough" or "cough"). As will be seen, the pioneer Highland Township family appears to have favored the varient "Huff." Simon Hough was born circa 1799, the son of William Hough of Warrensburgh, Warren County, New York. He finds mention in H. P. Smith, History of Warren County, New York, (1885), p. 577, as having run "a small factory north of the village [of Warrensburgh] a year or two in the second decade of years." He married Abigail Reynolds, born May 17, 1806, the daughter of Moses and Patty Maria (Truesdell) Reynolds, with the family appearing on the 1830 Census for Warrenburgh as "Hough." Durant's History of Oakland County, Michigan (1877) notes that Simon Hough came to Highland Township in 1836 and settled on his purchases in Sections 26 and 27. He is credited with running the first store in Highland, having "brought on a small stock of goods and sold them at his house" in 1836. Around the same time he was elected Highland township Supervisor; the third to hold that position. The family appears on the 1840 Census for Highland as Simon "Huff," but left the township soon thereafter. Durant, supra, notes that Hough sold his store operations to Daniel St. John in 1842, and the 1845 Michigan State Census shows Simon "Hough" living in Troy, Oakland County. He likewise appears on the 1850 Federal Census for Troy as "Simeon Hough," age 51, born in New York, with wife Abigail, age 46, and three children. The family thereafter moved to Pontiac, where the 1870 Census shows Simon "Huff", age 71, and his wife Abigail, age 64, living by themselves in Ward 2. The Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society Collections, Vol. VIII, p. 68, notes his death on March 23, 1885, at age 85. Simon's grandson, Dr. Frank Sherman Hough, was a physician in Osceola County, Iowa, See: John Licinius Everett Peck, et al, Past and Present of O'Brien and Osceola Counties, Iowa, B. F. Bowen & Co. (1914), Vol. 2, p. 749. |
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