Franklin Benjamin Hough ("huff" ; July 20, 1822 – June 11, 1885) was a scientist, historian and the first chief of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Division of Forestry The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

, the predecessor of the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

. He was among the first to call attention to the depletion of forests in the U.S. and is sometimes called the "father of American

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

Biography

Franklin Benjamin Hough was born in

Martinsburg, New York Martinsburg is a town in Lewis County, New York, United States. The population was 1,433 at the 2010 census. The town is named after its founding father, General Walter Martin. Martinsburg is in the west-central part of the county, south of Low ...

on July 20, 1822 to Dr. Horatio Gates Hough and Martha Pitcher Hough. Martha was a descendant of Andrew Pitcher and Margaret Russell, early settlers of Milton, MA in 1634. Horatio, a physician from

Meriden, Connecticut Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located halfway between the regional cities of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 2020, the population of the city was 60,850.Lewis County, in the west of the

Adirondack Mountains The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular ...

. Horatio Hough died in 1830 when Benjamin was eight years old, at which point he began to go by his middle name, Franklin; he was also a scientist and author: As a young man, Franklin showed an interest in

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proces ...

and long hikes. He graduated with a degree from

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

in 1843, and in 1846 he was married to Maria Eggleston of Champion, New York, and a daughter was born, Lola. He also published the first of his major scientific writings, ''A Catalogue of Indigenous, Naturalized, and Filicord Plants of Lewis Counties, New York''. In 1848, he received an M.D. from Western Reserve College. The same year, Maria died. In 1857, he had a son, Romeyn Beck Hough, who would also go on to pursue a career in botany and medicine. He was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1882.

Medical career

Hough set up a medical practice in

Somerville Somerville may refer to: *Somerville College, Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford Places *Somerville, Victoria, Australia * Somerville, Western Australia, a suburb of Kalgoorlie, Australia * Somerville, New Zealand, a subur ...

St. Lawrence County, New York St. Lawrence County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 108,505. The county seat is Canton. The county is named for the Saint Lawrence River, which in turn was named for the Christian saint La ...

. He devoted his spare time to natural history, and it was during this period that he discovered a mineral that would bear his name, houghite, a local variety of

hydrotalcite Hydrotalcite or formerly also Völknerite is a layered double hydroxide (LDH) of general formula ·4, whose name is derived from its resemblance with talc and its high water content. Multiple structures containing loosely bound carbonate ions ex ...

. In 1849, he married Mariah Kilham, who in 1850 bore him a second daughter, Mary Ellen. Seven additional children were born to the couple between 1854 and 1872. In 1852, Hough stepped down from the practice of medicine to concentrate on research and literary pursuits. He lived in Brownville and Albany and published ''A History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, New York'' (1853) and ''A History of Jefferson County in the State of New York'' (1854). He wrote prolifically, keeping three or more different manuscripts in progress at the same time in different rooms of his house. Explaining his work habits, he said, "I seek repose in labor." In 1854, Hough was appointed as superintendent of the 1855

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

census, the first complete census of the state. He returned to Lewis County in 1860 to settle in

Lowville, New York Lowville is a town in Lewis County, New York, United States. The population was 4,888 at the 2020 census,

. The same year, he published ''A history of Lewis County, in the state of New York''. In 1862, he started a periodical, ''The American Journal of Forestry''. Due to a lack of subscribers, he retired it after only a year. In 1861, with the advent of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, Hough worked as an inspector for the

United States Sanitary Commission The United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) was a private relief agency created by federal legislation on June 18, 1861, to support sick and wounded soldiers of the United States Army (Federal / Northern / Union Army) during the American Civil W ...

. In 1862, he enlisted as a surgeon in the

97th New York Volunteer Infantry The 97th New York Infantry Regiment ("Conkling Rifles") was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 97th New York Infantry was organized at Boonville, New York and mustered in for three years service o ...

. The same year, he translated French military surgeon

Lucien Baudens Lucien Jean-Baptiste Baudens ( – ) was a French military surgeon. Biography He was born in Aire-sur-la-Lys in the northern France from Jean-Louis Baudens, sheet merchant, and Marie-Adélaïde Baelen at the end of the Consulate and one month bef ...

' account of medical conditions during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

, publishing it as ''On Military and Camp Hospitals''. He published an account of his war experiences in ''History of Duryee's Brigade'' (1864). Brigadier General

Abram Duryée Abram Duryée (; April 29, 1815 – September 27, 1890) was a Union Army general during the American Civil War, the commander of one of the most famous Zouave regiments, the 5th New York Volunteer Infantry. After the war he was New York Cit ...

had commanded the 97th, 104th and 105th New York Infantry Regiments and the 107th Pennsylvania Infantry.

Father of American forestry

Ten years after supervising the 1855 New York State census, Hough returned to the job of overseeing the 1865 state census. Reviewing the returns, he noted with alarm a declining trend in the availability of timber. Finding additional evidence in the federal census of 1870, which he also supervised, he presented a paper entitled ''On the Duty of Governments in the Preservation of Forests'' to the 1873 meeting of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

. Hough argued that

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

countries had harmed the environment by excessive harvests of trees, and that a similar problem faced the United States. He proposed regulation of the use of forests and the establishment of forestry schools. As a result of Hough's presentation, the Association formed a committee to educate Congress and state legislatures on the dangers of

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

, and to recommend legislation to avoid i

Hough was appointed to chair the committee. In 1876, as a result of the Association's lobbying, Congress created the office of Special Agent in the

U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

to assess the state of the forests and lumber in the United States. USDA Commissioner

Frederick Watts Frederick Watts (May 9, 1801 – August 17, 1889), was an agricultural reformer, lawyer and businessman. He is termed the “Father of the Pennsylvania State University”. He headed the U.S. Department of Agriculture as Commissioner of Agricul ...

appointed Hough to fill the new position. Hough traveled widely to compile his official 1877 ''Report on Forestry''. Congress ordered the publication of 25,000 copies of the 650-page volume. In 1881, the Division of Forestry was created within the Department of Agriculture, with Hough as its first chief. In 1883, Secretary of Agriculture George B. Loring replaced Hough, whom he dislike

with Nathaniel Egleston. Hough resumed his previous role as special agent. Hough died in Lowville on June 11, 1885. His home, the Franklin B. Hough House, was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1963.

Major works

* ''A Catalogue of Indigenous, Naturalized, and Filicord Plants of Lewis Counties, New York'' (1846) * ''A History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, New York'' (1853) * ''A History of Jefferson County in the State of New York from the Earliest Period to the Present Time'' (1854) * ''A Narrative of the causes which led to Philip's Indian War of 1675 and 1676. With other documents concerning this event; prepared from the originals with an introduction and notes'' (1858), see

John Easton John Easton (1624–1705) was a political leader in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, devoting decades to public service before eventually becoming governor of the colony. Born in Hampshire, England, he sailed to New England ...

, of Rhode Island * ''A History of Lewis County in the State of New York from the Beginning of its Settlement to the Present Time'' (1860) * ''On Military and Camp Hospitals'' (translation, 1862) * ''History of Duryee's Brigade'' (1864) * ''Washingtoniana: Or, Memorials of the Death of George Washington'' (1865) * ''American Biographical Notes'' (1875) * ''Elements of Forestry'' (1882)

Notes

References

*
Finding Aid to Franklin Benjamin Hough Papers, 1840-1885
at the

New York State Library The New York State Library is a research library in Albany, New York, United States. It was established in 1818 to serve the state government of New York and is part of the New York State Education Department. The library is one of the largest ...

, accessed May 11, 2016. * * "Franklin Benjamin Hough." (1936) ''Dictionary of American Biography'', Charles Scribner's Sons. * "Hough, Franklin B(enjamin)" (2005) ''Encyclopedia of New York State''. Ed. Peter R. Eisenstadt and Laura-Eve Moss. Syracuse University Press, p734. * *

External links

Franklin B. Hough
(

Forest History Society The Forest History Society is an American non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of forest and conservation history."Forest History Society." Echo Project. Center for History and New Media, George Mason University. http://echo.gmu. ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hough, Franklin B. 1822 births 1885 deaths People from Martinsburg, New York American conservationists United States Forest Service officials History of forestry in the United States United States Sanitary Commission people People of New York (state) in the American Civil War Union Army surgeons Union College (New York) alumni American foresters Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine alumni Activists from New York (state) Scientists from New York (state)