Houghton, Douglass

(b. Troy, New York, 21 September 1809; d. Eagle River, Michigan, 13 October 1845)

medicine, geology.

The son of Jacob Houghton, a lawyer originally from Massachusetts, Houghton grew up in Fredonia, near Lake Erie in western New York state. After attending Fredonia Academy, where he early showed a preference for science over the classics, Houghton studied medicine but in 1829 enrolled at the Rensselaer School in Troy, where he remained as an assistant after graduation. In 1830, on Amos Eaton’s recommendation, Houghton was engaged to deliver courses of scientific lectures in Detroit, then a bustling frontier city.

Here Houghton settled down to a busy and varied career. Aside from his somewhat unusual scientific lecturing, he practiced medicine and engaged in profitable real estate enterprises. He served twice as mayor of Detroit and became one of the city’s leading boosters. Somewhat mysteriously, Houghton returned to his earlier scientific interests in 1837, when he was named to two key positions in the recently created state of Michigan: he became the first state geologist and professor of geology, mineralogy, and chemistry at the newly established University of Michigan.

For the brief remainder of his life, Houghton carried on extensive surveys of the state, particularly in the mineral-rich Upper Peninsula. He put science to practical use on the frontier, and his reports became part of the record of American geological and geographical exploration. He won national honors and recognition for his work. At the age of thirty-six Houghton drowned in Lake Superior while on a survey. Thus ended prematurely the career of one whose combination of pragmatic and scientific qualities was peculiarly suited to early nineteenth-century America.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. Best preserved are the Houghton Papers, Michigan Historical Collections, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Houghton letters and diary in the Detroit Public Library; and Geological Reports of Douglass Houghton 1837–1845, George N. Fuller, ed. (Lansing, Mich., 1928). In addition, Alvah Bradish, Memoir of Douglass Houghton (Detroit, 1889), has an appendix containing some letters and reports by Houghton as state geologist.

II. Secondary Literature. Aside from Bradish’s Memoir (see above), there are a few brief writings about Houghton: Bela Hubbard, “Obituary: Douglass Houghton,” in American Journal of Science, 2nd ser., 1 (1846), 150–152; and “A Memoir of Dr. Douglass Houghton,” ibid., 5 (1848), 217–227; Edsel K. Rintala, Douglas Houghton, Michigan’s Pioneer Geologist (Detroit, 1954); and Helen Wallin, Biographical Sketch of Douglass Houghton, Michigan’s First State Geologist, Michigan Geological Survey pamphlet 1 (Lansing, Mich., 1966; rev. ed., 1970). See also Dictionary of American Biography, IX, 254–255; and two MS articles in the archives of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Franklin H. Morgan (Houghton’s great-grandson), “Douglass Houghton, 1809–1845, Educator, Doctor, Geologist, Chemist, Botanist, Humanitarian, and Reluctant Politician,” prepared for a commemorative meeting at Eagle River, Mich. (1 Aug. 1961); and Donald R. Hays, “Douglass Houghton, Michigan’s First Chemist”(1966).

On Houghton’s role in early American geology, see G. P. Merrill, Contributions to a History of American State Geological and Natural History Surveys, U.S. National Museum Bulletin 109 (1920), pp. 158–203; J. M. Nickles, Geologic Literature in North America, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 746 (1923), p. 529; and Alexander Winchell, “Douglass Houghton,” in American Geologist,4 (1889), 129–139.

Samuel Rezneck