[Granville-Hough] 7 Jun 2009 - confederates - Brazil

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Sun, 07 Jun 2009 07:15:06 -0700
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: Re: confederates- Brazil -7 June 2009

  This was an exchange with Cousin  Maxine several years ago.

(Cousin) Maxine Watts wrote:

> 3 or 4 years ago someone gave me a copy of a newspaper about 20,000 
> confederates going to Brazil after the civil war.  I'm sure you knew 
> about that but I did't.  I have a copy of their celebration annually 
> in Brazil.  If you don't know about it, I will send you a copy.  It is 
> really interesting. I am straigtening up my files (if that is 
> possible) and came across it.   Very interesting to me.   Maxine

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 Yes, the Brazilian Confederates are the subject of several books.  
Because of intermarriage with the local population, they are little 
different from other Brazilians.  There are undoubtedly 20,000 
descendants today, but I do not believe there were that many original 
settlers.  The majority actually returned to the U. S. after finding 
Brazil not to their liking.  They were mostly from Southern Alabama, 
though there were probably some from other areas.
    My own great great uncle from Wayne County, MS,  had been so 
severely wounded at Shiloh as a Lieutenant that he was sent home to 
die.  He later served in the Confederate secret service as a private, 
along with his trusty personal servant, Joseph Hough, and worked in 
Kentucky and other border regions.  Joseph Hough applied for pension 
from the State of Mississippi after 1900, based on his service to 
Alhanan Gibbs Hough, but he was denied as he was not a free black, but 
rather a slave at the time of the service.  At that time, and today, the 
only Hough families in Wayne County are descendants of Joseph Hough.  
Some who went to the Gulf Coast and later to Texas became white, or 
passed over, as the colored folks used to say.  Now, I do not know who 
the parents of Joseph Hough were.  I corresponded with a descendant in 
KY last year, and she did not know either.  I took it from our 
correspondence that she was herself a "high yaller,' passing for white 
most or all of the time.  She would have to get a male Hough relative to 
get a YDNA test to see if we are related.
    A long-winded answer, but the plantation owners and slave holders of 
the 1860s sought their fortunes far and wide away from the ruined 
South.  Alhanan Gibbs Hough went to Cuba for some time, then settled in 
KY.  Richmond Nollis Hough, older brother of Alhanan Gibbs, who had been 
a State Senator from Jasper and Clarke Counties voting against 
secession, sold out and moved to Louisiana, thence to California.  Dr. 
Leonard Hough, another brother, moved to New Orleans and died in an 
epidemic while serving others afflicted..  Dr. Thomas Hough, another 
brother, moved to the Manatee River in Florida, and established a 
medical practice there, also serving in County government.  Those who 
remained, like our folks, were too poor to leave.  My great grandfather, 
Zeno Hough, had sold out in 1860 and had died on a move to property in 
Louisiana.  His wife, Charlotte "Lottie" (Watts) Hough could never 
collect for the slaves and land.  With my regards, Granville.