Page 608

 

GEORGE W. HOUGH

 

George W. Hough, who is one of the prosperous farmers and stock feeders of Taylor county, owns three farms, which cover altogether four hundred and thirty-four acres of land.  He is a man of resolute spirit, carrying forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes, and his business interests have been so capably managed as to make him one of the prominent representatives of agricultural life in southwestern Iowa.  He now makes his home in Conway and has been a resident of the county since 1873, while his residence in the state dates from 1868.  He was a lad of about eight years at the time of his arrival in Iowa, his birth having occurred in Mercer county, Missouri, on the 11th of January, 1860.

 

His father, Jeremiah Hough, was a native of Pennsylvania and when a young man removed westward to Iowa.  He was married in Davis county, this state, to Miss Elizabeth Brown, also a native of Pennsylvania.  Following his marriage he engaged in farming in Iowa for several years and then removed to Missouri.  At the time of the Civil war he responded to the country's call for aid, enlisting in defense of the Union cause and continuing at the front for more than three years.  His wife died while he was in the army.  After the war he returned to Iowa, locating in Monroe county, where he lived for five years, and then removed to Taylor county, settling in Marshall township, where he purchased land and opened up a new farm.  Upon that place he reared his family and as the years passed he transformed the property into a valuable place, from which he annually gathered rich harvests.  At length with a handsome competence he retired and is now living in Bedford.

 

George W. Hough came to Taylor county when a lad of thirteen years.  He was educated in the public schools of Iowa and engaged in teaching for one winter term, but the greater part of his life has been devoted to general agricultural pursuits.  Following his marriage he began farming on his own account with one hundred and thirty-five acres of land and, resolutely taking up the task of improving the property, he brought the fields under a high state of cultivation.  Subsequently he bought more land, securing at different  times tracts of one (page 609) hundred and eighty-five, forty-five and one hundred and sixty acres.  The last mentioned is all pasture land.  He built and remodeled the house upon his farm and also built two good barns together with sheds and cribs sufficient for the shelter of his products.  He likewise set out a grove and planted a good orchard and made the farm a valuable and productive property.  There he continuously and successfully carried on general agricultural pursuits until 1905, when he rented his place and bought a new residence in Conway.  He had previously purchased forty acres just south of the town and also four acres of pasture within the corporation limits.  With the production of crops he also raised and fed stock and was quite successful in that department of his business.

 

It was on the 23d of March, 1882, in Marshall township, that Mr. Hough was united in marriage to Miss Anna Boyd, who was born and reared in this county and pursued her education in the common schools of Bedford.  She is a daughter of John Boyd, one of the first settlers and early farmers of the county.  He became a pioneer teacher and was also county surveyor and county superintendent of schools.  His activity in varied lines has made him a valued and representative citizen of this part of the state for his labors have been far reaching and beneficial and he now lives retired in Bedford and is numbered among the valued residents there.  Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hough have been born two sons and a daughter: Harry, who follows farming in Oregon, is married and has one son, Donald B.; Carl, a surveyor, resides in the state of Washington; and Maud, the wife of C. M. Norton, of Conway, and they have one son, Russell Clair.

 

In his political views Mr. Hough is a republican, stalwart in support of the party and while on the farm served for two terms as assessor.  He is now township trustee and he has frequently been a delegate to the county and state conventions.  His wife is a member of the Methodist church and takes an active and helpful part in the work of the church and Sunday school.  Mr. Hough belongs to the Odd Fellows lodge in Conway, and is one of the present officers.  He has been a resident of Iowa form his early youth and has witnessed much of the growth and development of this part of the state.  He has helped to improve and make the county one of the leading counties of this commonwealth and his own labors have been an influential factor especially in the development of Taylor county.  As a business man he displays keen discernment and unfaltering enterprise and is, moreover, widely known and respected for his reliability which none have questioned.