Assor S. Houg Assor S. Houg has been a resident of Marion township from the time of his birth to the present and during his entire adult life he has here been actively associated with the fundamental and all-important industries of agriculture and stock-raising, of which he is now a prominent and influential exponent. He is a man of strop mentality and in his honorable and useful career he has contribute to the civic and industrial advancement and prosperity of his native county; the while he has been the recipient of unqualified popular esteem and has been influential in community affairs in his home township. He represented Marion township on the count board of supervisors for two terms and his total period of service as township clerk has covered more than twenty years, he being the incumbent of this position at the present time and having served continuously as secretary of the school board of his district since 1882. He is director and vice president of the Elgin Savings Bank and the vice president of the Elgin Farmers' Dairy Co. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party and both he and his wife are zealous communicants of the Norwegian Lutheran church at Clermont. Mr. Houg was born in Marion township, of this county, on the 4th of September, 1857, and is a son of Svend and Margaret (Groth) Houg, both natives of Norway, where they we reared and educated and where their marriage was solemnize They came to the United States in the year 1852 and established a home in Clayton county, where the death of the devoted wife and mother occurred in March, 1878. Svend Houg was born December 4, 1814, and upon numbering himself among the pioneers of Clayton county he purchased of his brother-in-law, Ole Groth, a tract of one hundred and ninety-five acres of land, in Marion township. With the passing years large and well merited prosperity attended his efforts and he became one of the substantial farmers and influential citizens of Marion township, a devout and zealous worker in and communicant of the Norwegian Lutheran church, as was also his wife, and for many years he served as a member of the church board of trustees. This honored pioneer, now one of the most patriarchal citizens of Iowa, retains remarkable mental and physical vigor, though he is one hundred and one years of age at the time of this writing, in the summer of 1916. Revered in the county that has long been his place of residence, he is cared for with deep filial solicitude in the home of his son Assor S., the immediate subject of this sketch. The first three children, Lars, Ragnild and Halsten, are deceased; Ole is a resident of Emmett county, this state; Kittle and Knudt are residents of Elgin, Iowa; Ingeri is a resident of Climax, Minnesota; the subject of this sketch was the sixth child; Olaf is a prosperous farmer of Fayette county; Ragnild (second of the name) is the wife of F.E. Gladen, of St. Paul, Minnesota; Elling is another of the representative farmers of Marion township; and Guri resides at Reynolds, Grand Forks county, North Dakota. Assor S. Houg was reared to manhood on the old homestead farm of his father. He made good use of the advantages afforded in the public schools of the locality and period and since 1882 he has had the active supervision of the splendid estate, as the present owner of three hundred and fifteen acres of most fertile and productive land, in Sections 17 and 20, Marion township, the property being improved with substantial and modern buildings and being maintained at the best modern standard in both the agricultural and stock-raising departments. Mr. Houg has kept himself in close touch with the thought and action of the day, is well fortified in his convictions concerning governmental and economc affairs, and been an appreciative student and reader, his early education having included a course of one year in college. At the age of 33 years he wedded Miss Bertina Rear, and her death occurred on July 28, 1901. Of the three children of this union the eldest, Elmer Martin, is now a resident of Clermont, Fayette county; and Sylvan Arthur and Elizabeth Ruth remain at the paternal home. On the 15th of November, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Houg to Miss Emma Rear, who likewise was born and reared in this county, and the three children of this marriage are Signy Margrethe, Gerhard Myron and Anna Esther. source: History of Clayton
County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical Times Down to
the Present; by Realto E. Price, Vol. II; page
180-181 |