Houghton Family

Ruth likes to remember the evenings the family used to spend around the fire telling stories of the olden days.  There was one story that the Houghtons were living on a farm in northern Maine or Vermont at the time England retook Quebec.  The farm was split by the new boundary.  A Houghton crossed the Delaware with Washington is another family story.

In Ontario, Canada there is a Houghton Township in Norfolk County, next to Haldimand County, where Grandfather Joshua was born.  There is also a County of Houghton in Michigan on the Keeweenaw Peninsula, which sticks up into Lake Superior organized in 1845.  A Douglas Houghton was drowned off the Eagle River.  The county was named for him.  The county seat eventually became Houghton, Wisconsin.  Douglas Houghton, according to the history, was a cousin to Stephen A. Douglas of Lincoln-debate fame.

Ruth remembers how they told of her grandfather, JOSHUA HOUGHTON, and her grandmother, Miranda Button, moving from Coleberg, Ontario, Canada to St. Clair County, Michigan with 4 children.  Seven more children were born there.  Then the family, with seven of the sons, moved to North Dakota, though not all at the same time.

Ruth's Uncle JOHN, who was born on October 22, 1854, and married to Sarah A. Pike, who came to Griggs County in 1882.  He was a carpenter who had helped to build the first buildings on the Cooper Ranch and also the granary where the county records were kept.  Uncle John and Aunt Sarah had two children, Walter and Willard.  

WALTER, born in July of 1884, married Nellie Barton, born in 1880.  Nellie had taught school in the Houghton School.  Walter farmed in Griggs County, sold insurance, and was a School Clerk.  They had three children:

  1. Robert
  2. Charlott and 
  3. Evelyn who is, at present, residing in the Griggs County Nursing Home.  

Both Nellie and Walter died as a result of an auto accident. 

Willard, born in 1888, worked, for a time, in the Post Office in Cooperstown.

Uncle GEORGE was born in 1856 in Burnside, Ontario and died in 1940.  He and Mrs. Houghton had seven children: 

  1. Lloyd
  2. Harry
  3. Arthur
  4. Luther
  5. Mrs. Basil (Stella) Edmondson Mary Harvey
  6. Grace Harvey
  7. Pearl
Arthur farmed in Griggs County.  Luther was Assistant Postmaster around 1905 and Basil Edmondsons had a meat market in Cooperstown.

Uncle George had come to Griggs County in 1885 and bought land in Section 32-146-59.  The family left Griggs County to homestead in Montana.  In 1915 they moved to Vergas, Minnesota.

Ruth's Uncle WILMOT was born in 1861 in St. Clair County, Michigan.  He had come to Griggs County in 1881 and married Olivia Langford in 1894.  They had no children.  Uncle Wilmot bought land in Section 29-146-59 where they built a home.  Wilmot's parents came to live with them there.

Uncle Wilmot owned the threshing machine that later became the Loudon Steam Rig.  Cora, Ruth's sister, did the cooking for 2 years for the threshing crew in the chuck wagon.  Ruth helped and James Hazard said he sometimes helped Cora dry dishes.Uncle Wilmot had shot a white crane that measured 9 feet across the wings.  He had it taxidermized.

Bertie, Charles and Ruth Houghton.  Ruth's Father, CHARLES HOUGHTON, was born in 1863.  At the age of 14 he went into a lumber camp in Northern Michigan.  He spent 4 years preparing logs to be sent down the river in the spring.  Letters had come from his brothers in North Dakota telling of the opportunities there.  Thus in 1886 he had set out to come to North Dakota and was met at the train station in Cooperstown by his brothers.

Ruth's father homesteaded in 1887, filed on 1/4 of Section 32-146-59, and then pre-empted for a quarter of Section 5 in Bald Hill Township.On March 3, 1892 Charles was married to Alberta Langford and four children were born to them: 
  1. Cora
  2. Milton
  3. Kenneth and 
  4. Ruth
Kenneth died at the age of 2 years.

Charles Houghton served on the City Council of Cooperstown and was active in founding and running the Griggs County Fair.  His wife, Bertie, was an Eastern Star, going through all the offices, a Past Matron, and an active member of the Methodist Church.  Both of Ruth's parents served on the Cooperstown School Board.  Charley used to call for square dancing.  His natural rhythm was apparent, and it was said that one could set one's watch by the times he came and went from his fields.

In 1902 Charles Houghton moved to Cooperstown.  He died in 1931.  His homestead is now owned and farmed by one of his grandsons, Bruce Hazard.

Ruth's sister, Cora, married James Hazard on November 27, 1918.  Before her marriage she taught school in several Townships as well as in the Houghton School.  Milton married Ida Hammer and had no children.  Ruth married Paul Brent.

In 1889 Uncle WESTERN Houghton bought the homestead rights from Charles McDonald who then took over the management of the Palace Hotel.

Uncle Wes married Nina E. Blanchard in 1890 and had three children: 
  1. Laura, born in 1891
  2. Earl, born September 16, 1892 and 
  3. Ethyl.  
Western worked for Hammer-Condy for many years and did much of their collecting.  Nina died at the young age of 36 in 1902 giving birth to twin girls who also died at an early age.

Laura, Ruth's cousin, married Aadne Vigesaa in 1911 and Earl married Jennie Magnuson in 1917.

Uncle HORACE was born on August 15, 1870, came to Griggs County in 1890, and married Sarah L. Wilson in 1902.  They had five children: Howard, Wilton, Alfred, Mrs. Sig (Edith) Vigesaa, and Mrs. Glen McCumber.  Horace homesteaded on Section 28-146-59.  They moved to Cooperstown where he worked for the E. W. Blackwell Lumber Yard.

Uncle DOUGLAS, the youngest of the Houghton boys, was born in 1875.  He came to Griggs County in 1892 and worked for R. C. Cooper.  He later farmed.  Douglas married Alice Blanchard and Ruth's cousins from that family were Blanchard, Margaret, Nina, and Lucille.

  1. Blanchard married Jean Barton and lived on the John Houghton homestead until they moved to St. Paul, Minnesota.  
  2. Margaret married Gerald Nierenberg and they continued to live on the home farm for many years.  
  3. Nina married Clarence Olein and 
  4. Lucille married Emil Magnuson

Is this Uncle Douglas a namesake of the Douglas Houghton of Houghton County, Michigan?  These Houghtons lived in Northern Michigan.  Ruth wonders:  "Does it all tie together?  Are they related?"

Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 273