DOUGLASS HOUGHTON was born in Troy New York, September 21, 1809. He was educated for a physician at the Rensselaer Institute and graduated in 1829. The following year he was appointed Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Natural History in the Institute, and while occupying this position he came to Detroit, by request of a number of citizens, to deliver a course of lectures on scientific subjects. In 1831 he was appointed surgeon and botanist to the expedition sent out by the Government to explore the sources of the Mississippi River. On his return he settled in Detroit and practised as a physician. In 1833 he was elected President of the Young Men's Society, and in 1837 was appointed State Geologist, and continued to hold the position until his death, doing much to develop the resources of the State, and being instrumental in attracting the attention of many capitalists to its mineral wealth. He also served as one of the Professors in the University. He was a member of the National Institute in Washington, of the Boston Society of Natural History, and an honorary member of the Royal Amiquarian Society of Copenhagen and of many other scientific and literary associations. He served a Mayor of the city in 1842. He was drowned in Lake Superior, near the mouth of Eagle River, during a violent storm on October 13, 1845. The body was recovered and he was buried at Detroit on May 15, 1846. His death was deemed a great public loss. Houghton County in Michigan is named after him and fitly perpetuates his memory. Three children are living - 1. Douglass Houghton Jr. of Detroit 2. Mary Houghton married William S. Harroun, of Santa Fe, New Mexico 3. Harriet Houghton married F. Embury Morgan, of Coldwater 8 Dec 1863 Source: History of Detroit and Wayne County and Early Michigan By Silas Farmer 1890 Douglass Houghton was the s/o Jacob and Lydia (Douglas) Houghton. He married Harriet Stevens in 1833. 2nd Biography Detroit Mayor, Scientist. He was Michigan's first geologist and naturalist, coming to Detroit in 1830 at the request of Territorial Governor Lewis Cass as well as John Biddle and Lucius Lyon, the Territorial Delegates to Congress. In 1831, he joined his friend Henry Rowe Schoolcraft on a federal expedition to discover the source of the Mississippi River. Not only did he report on new plants discovered along the difficult canoe voyage, but he also gave smallpox vaccinations to hundreds of Indians. His reports regarding the copper regions of Keweenaw played an important role in the economic development of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. During his absence in the wilderness in 1841, he received word that he had been elected mayor of Detroit, and office he served in in 1842. In 1844, he came very close to being elected Governor during another absence in the northern wilds. On October 13, 1845, he and four others lost their lives en route from Eagle Harbor to Eagle River in the Keweenaw Peninsula when a sudden storm overturned their boat. His body was found the following spring on the Lake Superior shoreline and was brought back to Detroit. He was buried in the Family Plot that would eventually include his Jacob. Jacob led an expedition that discovered many iron ore deposits in the remote regions of the Upper Peninsula in 1842.In 1852, Jacob Houghton sold Andrew Carnegie, also in the exploration party, his first iron mine. Biography by Mark Gade at Find-A-Grave