William Byron Hough and Henrietta Stanley Hough, Bullitt County, KY Article / FALL Issue 1998 Submitted by Arnitta Mattingly William Byron Hough and Henrietta Stanley Hough William Byron Hough was born on the third day of June, 1785 in Loudoun County, Virginia. He was one of six known children born to Moses Hough (Huff) and his wife, Elizabeth Handley Hough. When William was a youth of about nine he traveled from Virginia with his parents into the young new State of Kentucky, there to become one of the very early pioneers into that place. The Hough family was at Woodford County at The Forks Of The Elkhorn River by 1800 according to written histories. Then it was Fayette County, Kentucky. Moses, Elizabeth, their children, and also other persons with the name of Hough, (Huff), possibly cousins, nephews, and other kin, came along with this party to settle in the new regions. Some members of the family used the spelling of Huff, while others, Moses and Elizabeth being of this latter group, had changed spelling of the name to read 'Hough' sometime while they were in Virginia. From then on mostly the name reads Hough in records everywhere in written records. The story of this family's trip to Kentucky is written in the book called, "KENTUCKY HERITAGE" published in 1978 and compiled by Mr James Hough of Cincinnati, Ohio. William Byron Hough learned the trade of blacksmithing as a young man, followed that trade all his life in Kentucky, as well as being a farmer along with his trade. He was a slave-holder, as can be seen by his will recorded in 1850 at the Hardin County Courthouse in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. He died before the start of the Civil War, but the question of slavery, which was going on long before the actual start of fighting, had started the ruin of farmers who had run-away slaves, or had already turned the slaves free to leave. By William Byron Hough's will, probated in 1850, his holdings are left equally to be divided amongst his children. It was the end of an era in history and the time would never be the same. There was famine, want and sickness throughout the land then, and many of these people only knew how to manage farms and not how to tend them. They were land-poor. From Fayette County, Kentucky William's father and mother, Moses Hough and Elizabeth Handley Hough and moved on into Bullitt County, Kentucky right close to the Spencer County line. There are many accounts of land deals in both the Spencer County and the Bullitt County Courthouses of record. Mr James Hough of Cincinnati, Ohio has established for us the boundaries of parcels of land owned at one time or another by Moses Hough, or by one of his sons there in Bullitt and Spencer Counties, Kentucky. On the 16th day of February, 1808 in Bullitt County, Kentucky, William Byron Hough married Miss Henrietta Stanley, who was also born in Virginia and who came into Kentucky with her pioneer parents when she was very young. After their marriage in Bullitt County, William and Henrietta Stanley Hough, with two young children born in Bullitt County, removed to a farm in Hardin County, Kentucky at a Flippin Creek area, where seven more children were born to them. They reared a family of nine children and Nelson Hough, the sixth, child is our ancestor. Henrietta Stanley was born on the 27th day of January, 1785, in an unknown county in Virginia. She was the daughter of William Stanley and his wife, Sarah Burch Stanley of Virginia also. She came into Kentucky at an early date with her parents, who settled in Bullitt County near Mount Washington, Kentucky. William Byron Hough and Henrietta Stanley Hough reared a large family of nine children. The first two were born in Bullitt County, Kentucky near Mount Washington, while all the rest were born in Hardin County around the Vine Grove area. The first child and eldest daughter was named Parthenia Hough, born 17th of July, 1809 at the Hough Run and Dutchman's Creek area in Bullitt County, Kentucky. Parthenia never married and died at the Flippin Creek home in January, 1830. She is probably buried either at the farm homeplace or in the churchyard at Howell Methodist Church Cemetery near Vine Grove, Hardin County, Kentucky. The second child born to William Byron and Henrietta Stanley Hough was their first son. Harrison Hough was born on the 1st day of October, 1811 also near Mount Washington, Bullitt County, Kentucky. Harrison grew into a man with a passion for learning, became a lawyer, a politician, was elected a judge in Hardin County, had a law office on the square in Elizabethtown, married a beautiful and wealthy daughter of a large plantation near Boston, Nelson County, Kentucky by the name of Lucinda Cotton. Harrison Hough and Lucinda Cotton Hough removed to Missouri where Lucinda's father owned large parcels of land. Here Harrison Hough was also elected as County Judge of Wolf Island Township, Mississippi County, Missouri. That became the home of all members of the Harrison Hough descendants. Harrison Hough is buried there, and he was not mentioned in his father, William Byron Hough's 1850 will. The story is also in the book entitled, "KENTUCKY HERITAGE', by Mr James Hough, who is descended from Harrison Hough and Lucinda Cotton Hough. The third child born to William Byron Hough and Henrietta Stanley Hough was named Moses Craig Hough. He was the first child born to them in Hardin County, Kentucky. His story is one tragedy after another tragedy. Moses Craig Hough was born on the 13th day of December, 1813 at the Flippin Creek address. He was named for his grandfather, Moses Hough, and his great grandfather, Moses Craig, of New Jersey. Moses Hough married Elizabeth Howell, a daughter of Claiborne Howell, who donated land upon which the Howell Methodist Church and Cemetery are located near Vine Grove, Hardin County, Kentucky. Moses Craig Hough and Elizabeth Howell Hough were married on the 17th day of April, 1837 in Hardin County, Kentucky. They were the parents of six young daughters by the year 1846. But, for the tragedy - - Moses Hough died on the 13th day of October 1845, and his wife, Elizabeth Howell Hough was pregnant with their sixth child, another daughter, born 26th day of June in 1846, long after her father, Moses Craig Hough was buried in the Howell Church Cemetery. There is a crude large sandstone for his head stone, with his age at death scratched into it. Elizabeth Howell Hough, left with six small daughters to raise in 1846, with no help, within three months, was dead. She died on the 14th day of September, 1846 of typhoid fever which was raging through the countryside then. The youngest daughter of Moses Hough and Elizabeth Howell Hough was named Rox Anne Hough. Her sisters names were; 1st. Mary Minerva Hough 2nd. Martha Ann Hough 3rd. Temperance Holliday Hough 4th. Sarah Henrietta Hough (the one who has caused us all a lot of trouble in research) and 5th Matilda Elizabeth Hough. After the death of Elizabeth Howell Hough in 1846, there were six girlchild orphans to be looked after. Their grandfather William Byron Hough was old and ill in health. Their grandmother, Henrietta Stanley Hough was dead and their grandfather had remarried to a Mrs Rebecca 'Boling' Sheets Hough. In a letter William Byron Hough wrote to his son, Judge Harrison Hough, of Missouri, he referred to the six daughters of Moses Craig Hough and Elizabeth Howell Hough. This letter helped us greatly in researching the Hough family. We did not know of Harrison Hough, much less about him being a son of William Byron Hough and a brother to Nelson Hough, the writer's ancestor. Harrison Hough was not mentioned in his father's will of 1850. Also the 1850 census of Hardin County showed several daughters living with Nelson Hough, who were too old to be his own according to his marriage date. We knew some of these girls were taken in by William Byron Hough and his wife, Rebecca 'Sheets' Hough and we knew some of them were living with Claiborne Howell, but which ones were which we did not know. One of the daughters of Nelson Hough was named Sarah Henrietta Hough and she had married a Thomas Edward Holland. The Sarah Henrietta Hough living with Nelson Hough and Mary Agnes Tarpley in the census was ten years younger than the one that was listed as the daughter of Moses and Elizabeth Howell, but Mr James Hough had her listed as the daughter of Nelson and Mary Agnes Tarpley and his mind was made up. There was only one daughter named Sarah Henrietta and she was the daughter of Moses and Elizabeth Howell Hough. After much corres-pondence with different persons who were the grandchildren and great- grandchildren of Thomas Edward Holland and Sarah Henrietta Hough Holland (the real daughter of Nelson Hough and Mary Agnes 'Tarpley' Hough) Mr James Hough was proved wrong, but by that time his book had been published and the information in that book is already different than it should be, so there are several pages that must be changed to show both the Sarah Henrietta Hough girls, who were first cousins with the same name, but about nine or ten years different in age. Sarah Henrietta Hough, the daughter of Moses Craig and Elizabeth Howell Hough, as yet have not been turned in by any of her descendants. A descendant of Sarah Henrietta Hough Holland, the daughter of Nelson Hough and Mary Agnes 'Tarpley' Houg, who knew this to be correct, couldn't persuade Mr James Hough to put her under Nelson Hough as her father on that page which showed his family line. This descendant, Mrs Cathy Hafner, sent off for Sarah Henrietta's death certificate. It came and there was the proof needed, but to late to be included right. There is no tombstone in the Howell Church Cemetery for Elizabeth 'Howell' Hough, but it can be presumed that she is buried there, mainly because it was her father, Claiborne Howell who donated a parcel off the corner of his farm where the Howell Methodist Church and cemetery are located. People in those days were being killed by the deadly typhoid fever, leaving many too ill to pay attention to such things as buryings and gravestones. Also, the money situation was getting very poor during these days and years of grief; it was just as the songs of Stephen Foster about the old Kentucky homes. Twins then were born next to William Byron and Henrietta 'Stanley' Hough, making their fourth and fifth children, both being sons. The boy twins were born on the 10th day of May, 1816 at the Flippin Creek farm. They were named William Hough and Joseph Hough. William Hough died at the age of seven years in 1823, while Joseph Hough, the surviving twin son, lived to adulthood, married and reared a large family. Joseph Hough was born at the Flippin Creek farmplace in Hardin County, Kentucky. He seemed to be the one son who enjoyed visiting his cousins and family who were still in the Mount Washington, Bullitt County, Kentucky area. Here he met a daughter of the minister who had married his father and mother years before, and Joseph Hough and Miss Emily Hall, daughter of Reverend Simeon Hall, were married in church at Mount Washington, Bullitt County, Kentucky on 7th November, 1844. Joseph Hough and Emily Hall Hough raised a family there around Mount Washington, Bullitt County, Kentucky and they were parents of six children. Joseph Hough became a prosperous merchant of a general merchandise store in the town of Mount Wash-ington. One descendant of Joseph Hough, Mrs. Lurlene 'Owens' Hall, who lives as of 1981, still in the Mount Washington area, furnished all the information to the writer, to the writer's sister, then to Mr James Hough of Cincinnati, Ohio so Joseph Hough's family is included in the book entitled 'KENTUCKY HERITAGE'. Pictures of the Hough Home on Bardstown Road and pictures of Joseph Hough and Emily 'Hall' Hough also were furnished by her. The only known picture of my ancestor, Nelson Hough, Joseph's brother, also was in possession of these Hough's of Mount Washington, and a copy of that picture is in Hr Hough's book, and also a copy is included with this history as Lurlene 'Owens' Hall was kind enough to send me a copy from which I had a negative made for my records. You see, you do meet the nicest people in this research. Joseph Hough died interstate (without will) and Nelson Hough was appointed to become the executor of Joseph's estate. In the Bullitt County Courthouse was found the proof that these two were brothers and sons of William Byron Hough and Henrietta 'Stanley' Hough. The sixth child, a son, born to William Byron Hough and Henrietta 'Stanley' Hough was the great, great grand-father of this writer, Arnita Ruth 'Biggs' Mattingly. His name was Nelson Hough. Nelson Hough was born at the Flippin Creek area in Hardin County, Kentucky on the 3rd day of May, 1819. In the book "KENTUCKY HERITAGE" by Mr James Hough of Cincinnati, Ohio Nelson Hough captioned as the 'ANCHORAGE' chapter is because Nelson Hough was the one son who, after he was married, stayed close to home in Hardin County, Kentucky at the Flippin Creek farm and opened up a farm on land adjoining that of his father and mother, William Byron Hough and Henrietta 'Stanley' Hough. Nelson Hough had the 'staying power' in holding the family ties that bind closely and kept the family a close-knit Kentucky clan during times when most of the families were falling apart, or being torn apart by the Civil War, and afterwards, people were rushing to 'go west' in droves. Nelson Hough never left the Hardin County area. He was a farmer and probably plied the blacksmith trade along with his father. Nelson Hough married Miss Mary Agnes Tarpley, a daughter of two more early pioneers into Hardin County, Kentucky, from North Carolina this time instead of Virginia. Mary Agnes Tarpley was a daughter of William Tarpley and Sarah Pendleton Tarpley, who came into Kentucky to Hardin County when Sarah was a young girl from an unknown place in North Carolina (as of 1981). William Tarpley was born in the year 1785 in North Carolina, and Sarah Pendleton was a daughter of a William Pendleton and Sarah was born in North Carolina in the same year of 1785 and came into Kentucky when young. Nelson Hough and his wife of a few years, Mary Agnes 'Tarpley' Hough took several of Moses Craig Hough and Elizabeth Howell Hough's orphaned girls into their home to raise along with their own children after the death of William Byron Hough in 1850. They also had their own family of ten children. Family sheets and charts are enclosed with the Nelson Hough chapter of this history. The seventh child of William Byron Hough and Henrietta 'Stanley' Hough was a son, born in 1822, and who died in the same year, 1822. He was named Samuel Hough. The eighth child of William Byron Hough and Henrietta 'Stanley' Hough was another son, born in 1823, and died the same year, 1823. He was named James Hough. The last, and ninth child of William Byron Hough and Henrietta 'Stanley' Hough was their second daughter, born on the 15th day of November, 1824 at the Flippin Creek farmplace of her parents. She was the ninth child and the only daughter to reach adulthood and marriage. Henrietta Hough was her name. Henrietta Hough was the least known of all William Byron Hough and Henrietta 'Stanley' Hough's children. She was twenty-six, single and living at home when her father, William Byron died. She had lived through some terrible times, having to play nursemaid to several small cousins, orphaned, and nursing the sick to health, or to their deaths, then attend all the funerals or buryings. She was home when her mother died; she was home when her aunt and uncle died; she was home when her father remarried and had a step-mother; she was home when the step-mother died; last, she was home by herself when her father, William Byron Hough died in April, 1850. After his death Henrietta Hough went to her brother, Joseph Hough and his wife Emily 'Hall' Hough's home on Bardstown Road, Bullitt County, where she lived with them and their family, helped with their children and also helped her Uncle Joseph in his store in Mount Washington, Kentucky. While working there she met a young man named James Nelson Paris. They were married on the 15th day of November, 1855 in the Mount Washington Methodist Church, Bullitt County, Kentucky. Henrietta 'Hough' Paris and her husband raised a family. Their first child was born in Bullitt County, Kentucky and then as Henrietta was pregnant again, they removed to McLean County, Kentucky to a place called 'Long Falls'. This fact was discovered in a letter written by Henrietta to her brother, Judge Harrison Hough, at Wolf Island Township, Mississippi County, Missouri. A copy was presented to Mr James Hough of Cincinnati, Ohio, who traced the owners ancestors, and finally found there was a Hough Bible. He found the present day owners of the Bible, who allowed him to have the vital statistic pages copy-machined, and Mr James Hough kindly sent copies to me.