Houghton was born into a poor family in Sutton, Vermont in 1823. He was the youngest but one of the twelve children of Capt. William and Marilla (Clay) Houghton. He was descended from John Houghton who settled at Lancaster, Massachussets, in 1650. His father, a tanner by trade, was instinctively a rover and rarely remained long in any community.
At Bradford, on the upper Connecticut River, Henry attended the local academy, but at thirteen he became a printer's apprentice in the office of the Burlington Free Press, in Burlington, Vt. Here he once met Noah Webster, whose dictionaries he was later to publish. He studied evenings and in 1839, through the initiative of his older brother Daniel, he was allowed to prepare himself for the University of Vermont, which he entered at the age of nineteen. He worked his way in part, being assisted also by his brother-in-law, David Scott. He graduated in 1846, with a debt of three hundred dollars to pay off.
He secured employment in Boston as a newspaper reporter and proof-reader and eventually joined with his friend Bolles in establishing a printing office on Remington Street, in Cambridge. In 1852 the firm became H. O. Houghton & Company, with headquarters on the Charles River, at what was soon known as the Riverside Press. For the remainder of his life, Houghton was a printer and publisher and made a special study of artistic typography. Because of his good taste and high standards of craftsmanship, he built up a large and lucrative business. He actively opposed the movement for the free admission of foreign books into the United States.
Houghton's fondness for everything relating to books led him to form in 1864 a partnership with Melancthon M. Hurd, of New York, under the firm name of Hurd & Houghton. Various changes in personnel were effected until 1878, when, with Hurd's retirement, the business was merged with James R. Osgood & Company, as Houghton, Osgood, & Company. This, in turn, after Osgood's withdrawal in 1880, became Houghton, Mifflin, & Company, and eventually, Houghton Mifflin Company. The firm acquired many literary franchises formerly controlled by Ticknor & Fields, including rights to the works of Longfellow, Whittier, Emerson, Holmes, Lowell, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, and also published the Riverside Classics and other series.
He was greatly interested in local affairs in Cambridge, serving on the school committee, as a member of the common council, and as alderman and mayor (1872). In his later life he traveled extensively, both in the United States and abroad. Infirmities came upon him gradually, but he courageously resisted them and was still active in business at the time of his death. He died in North Andover, Massachussets, at the country home of his partner, George H. Mifflin. He established by his will a fund for the relief of the worthy poor of Cambridge.
He possessed a vigorous and positive personality and in business relations was somewhat autocratic and watchful of small details.
Houghton was married, on September 12, 1854, to Nanna W. Manning, by whom he had one son, Henry Oscar Houghton, Jr. , who became a partner in the firm, and three daughters.
