Gwendolyn Lily Irish

F, #90571, b. 9 November 1920, d. 11 May 2016

Family: William Leonard Houghton b. 1 Oct 1916, d. 11 Aug 1995

Biography

Corresponded with authorN
A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
BirthNov 9, 1920Mendocino, CA, USA, age 19 in 1940 census
Marriage
1940 Census1940San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA, USA, age 23, steel warehouse, steel handler1
1950 US Census1950San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA, USA, age 33, drayage co. teamster
DivorceNov, 1966San Mateo Co., CA, USA2
DivorceNov, 1966San Mateo Co., CA, USA
Living2005San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA, USA
DeathMay 11, 2016Colma, CA, USA
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1479] 1940 U.S. Federal Census , San Francisco, San Francisco, California; Roll: T627_308; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 38-277; line 74, dwl 157.
  2. [S882] Ancestry.Com, online www.ancestry.com, California, U.S., Divorce Index, 1966-1984.
  3. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 6 Feb 1938; Birth County: San Francisco.
  4. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 12 Jan 1945; Birth County: San Francisco.

Jack Allen Houghton1

M, #90572, b. 12 January 1945

Biography

Corresponded with authorN
A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
BirthJan 12, 1945San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA, USA1
Living2005AZ, USA
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 12 Jan 1945; Birth County: San Francisco.

(?) Brassfie1

F, #90573

Family:

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 10 Oct 1922; Birth County: Los Angeles.

Jack Leonard Houghton1,2

M, #90574, b. 6 July 1924, d. 24 April 2010

Family: Bernice Mary Grimm b. 11 Nov 1929, d. 26 Nov 1998

Biography

Corresponded with authorN
A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
BirthJul 6, 1924San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA, USA, age 5 in 1930 census; age 16 in 1940 census1
Research
Mil. DraftDec 17, 1942San Francisco, CA, USA, age 18, teamster hall
Mil. Serv.A decorated veteran of World War II. He fought in West Africa and the Battle of the Bulge.
Marriage3
1950 US Census1950San Francisco, CA, USA, age 25, short and long distance hauling co., truck driver
DeathApr 24, 2010Grass Valley, CA, USA3
ObituaryApr 30, 2010Grass Valley, CA, USA, HOUGHTON, Jack Leonard; ; CA; Grass Valley U; 2010-4-30
Jack Leonard Houghton, a San Francisco native, went home to be with the Lord on April 24.

A private memorial will be held per his request.

He is survived by his daughter Donna Lee Farley of Marin; sons James Allen Houghton of Laguna Beach and Jack

William Houghton of Penn Valley; granddaugthers Renee Lynn Farley, Janet Marie Farley, and Angela Ashley Houghton.

He was preceded in death by his wife Bernice Mary Houghton, sons Daniel Leonard Houghton and Ricky Steven Houghton.

A decorated veteran of World War II. He fought in West Africa and the Battle of the Bulge.

Beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.3
Grandchild
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 6 Jul 1924; Birth County: San Francisco.
  2. [S93] Newspaper Obituary.
  3. [S93] Newspaper Obituary, HOUGHTON, Jack Leonard; CA; Grass Valley U; 2010-4-30.

Jack William Houghton1

M, #90575, b. 30 September 1963

Biography

Corresponded with authorN
A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
BirthSep 30, 1963San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA, USA1
Living2010Penn Valley, CA, USA2
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 30 Sep 1963; Birth County: San Francisco.
  2. [S93] Newspaper Obituary, HOUGHTON, Jack Leonard; CA; Grass Valley U; 2010-4-30.

Rosalie Ann Bright1

F, #90576, b. 10 November 1928

Family 1: Elbert V. Houghton b. 24 Apr 1922

Family 2: Charles E. Cole b. 10 Sep 1918, d. 22 Apr 2012

Biography

Corresponded with authorN
A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
BirthNov 10, 1928Los Angeles Co., CA, USA2
Marriage
MarriageOct 17, 1964Los Angeles Co., CA, USA2
Residence2009Sun City, CA, USA2
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 30 Sep 1963; Birth County: San Francisco.
  2. [S1369] California Marriage Index, 1960-1985, online Ancestry. Com, State of California. California Marriage Index, 1960-1985. Microfiche. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California.
  3. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 11 Jul 1951; Birth County: Los Angeles.
  4. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 1 Oct 1954; Birth County: Los Angeles.

Jacki Lynn Houghton1

F, #90577, b. 11 July 1951

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
BirthJul 11, 1951Los Angeles Co., CA, USA1
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 11 Jul 1951; Birth County: Los Angeles.

Jaclyn Suzann Houghton1

F, #90578, b. 24 October 1983

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
BirthOct 24, 1983Kern Co., CA, USA1
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 24 Oct 1983; Birth County: Kern.

Jacquelyn Marie Houghton1

F, #90579, b. 24 September 1981

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
BirthSep 24, 1981San Mateo Co., CA, USA1
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 24 Sep 1981; Birth County: San Mateo.

Jake Morgan Houghton1

M, #90580, b. 26 May 1991

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
BirthMay 26, 1991Los Angeles Co., CA, USA1
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 26 May 1991; Birth County: Los Angeles.

James Allen Houghton1

M, #90581, b. 30 September 1954

Biography

Corresponded with authorN
A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
BirthSep 30, 1954San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA, USA1
Living2010Laguna Beach, CA, USA2
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 30 Sep 1954; Birth County: San Francisco.
  2. [S93] Newspaper Obituary, HOUGHTON, Jack Leonard; CA; Grass Valley U; 2010-4-30.

Mary E. Dailey

F, #90582, b. 12 May 1922

Family: James Daniel Houghton b. 15 Dec 1915, d. 12 Jul 1999

Biography

Corresponded with authorN
A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
BirthMay 12, 1922Los Angeles Co., CA, USA
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 23 Feb 1946; Birth County: Los Angeles.
  2. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 23 Jul 1951; Birth County: Los Angeles.

James Daniel Houghton1

M, #90583, b. 23 July 1951

Family: Kathleen M. Coleman b. c 1955

Biography

Corresponded with authorN
A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
BirthJul 23, 1951Los Angeles Co., CA, USA1
MarriageMar 21, 1981Los Angeles Co., CA, USA2
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 23 Jul 1951; Birth County: Los Angeles.
  2. [S1369] California Marriage Index, 1960-1985, online Ancestry. Com, State of California. California Marriage Index, 1960-1985. Microfiche. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California.

James Dawson Houghton1

M, #90584, b. 7 December 1950

Family: Casey (?)

  • Marriage*: James Dawson Houghton married Casey (?)2

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
BirthDec 7, 1950Los Angeles Co., CA, USA1
Marriage2
Living2011
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 7 Dec 1950; Birth County: Los Angeles.
  2. [S93] Newspaper Obituary, http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/pasadenastarnews/…

(?) Telleen1

F, #90585

Family:

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 21 Oct 1949; Birth County: Los Angeles.

James Edward Houghton1

M, #90586, b. 21 October 1949

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
BirthOct 21, 1949Los Angeles Co., CA, USA1
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 21 Oct 1949; Birth County: Los Angeles.

(?) Tuney1

F, #90587

Family:

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 6 Nov 1969; Birth County: Santa Clara.

James F. Houghton1

M, #90588, b. 6 November 1969

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
BirthNov 6, 1969Santa Clara Co., CA, USA1
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 6 Nov 1969; Birth County: Santa Clara.

Joan May Heaney1

F, #90589, b. 28 May 1929

Family: Sherrill Francis Houghton b. 7 Mar 1928, d. 2 Jan 2021

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
BirthMay 28, 1929
MarriageOct 7, 1950San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA, USA, age 22 and 21
Occupationa dental assistant and a preschool teacher.
Living2020
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 4 Sep 1958; Birth County: San Francisco.
  2. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 5 Apr 1953; Birth County: San Francisco.
  3. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 16 Nov 1954; Birth County: San Francisco.
  4. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 28 Jun 1960; Birth County: San Francisco.
  5. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 16 Sep 1963; Birth County: San Francisco.

James Joseph Houghton1

M, #90590, b. 4 September 1958, d. 2 August 2016

Family: Joyce L. O'Conner b. c 1960

Biography

Corresponded with authorN
A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
BirthSep 4, 1958San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA, USA1
Graduation1981Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, USA, B.F.A.
Residence1986Daly City, San Mateo Co., CA, USA
MarriageNov 18, 1986Indianapolis, Marion Co., IN, USA, age 28 and 26, actor and actress
Note2013Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, USA, honorary PhD
NewspaperMar 11, 2015Signature Theater’s Artistic Director to Depart
By Michael Paulson March 11, 2015 3:00 pm March 11, 2015 3:00 pm
Photo
James Houghton
James HoughtonCredit Chad Batka for The New York Times

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James Houghton, one of the leading figures in the Off Broadway theater world, is resigning after a quarter-century running the Signature Theater in New York.

Mr. Houghton, 56, has learned he has stomach cancer, and will step down to focus on his health and his family, according to the theater, a nonprofit. He plans to end his tenure as artistic director at the end of the 2015-16 season, but he will continue working as the director of the drama division at the Juilliard School.

Signature is best-known for two initiatives: it has repeatedly dedicated seasons to works by a single playwright, and it has maintained an unusual focus on affordability, offering a high number of subsidized tickets. Under his leadership, Signature built and moved into a Frank Gehry-designed three-theater space on 42nd Street in 2012.

Mr. Houghton, who started his career with the Acting Company, founded Signature in 1991 and has overseen its considerable financial, physical and reputational growth. Signature was singled out for the regional theater Tony Award last year.

Signature and Mr. Houghton declined requests for an interview. In a statement, Mr. Houghton said that he was confident that “a bright future lies ahead” for Signature. The film actor Edward Norton, who has been a major champion of Signature and serves as the chairman of its board, praised Mr. Houghton in the statement, saying that “Jim has been an incredible leader with remarkable vision,” and also expressed confidence in the theater’s future.

Signature said it would begin a search for a new artistic director, and hoped to have that person in place by July 1, 2016.
DeathAug 2, 2016Manhattan, NY, USA
ObituaryAug 3, 2016New York Times, James Houghton, Founder of Signature Theater Company, Dies at 57

By BRUCE WEBERAUG. 3, 2016
James Houghton, the founder of the Signature Theater Company, in June. Credit Jesse Dittmar for The New York Times

James Houghton, the founder and, until recently, the artistic director of the Signature Theater Company, one of Off Broadway’s essential nonprofit theaters and perhaps the nation’s leading safe house for playwrights, died on Tuesday at his home in Manhattan. He was 57.

The cause was stomach cancer, his brother, Scott, said.

A former actor, Mr. Houghton (pronounced HOW-ton) was in his early 30s when he started Signature in 1991 with the idea of presenting annual, season-long programs featuring the work of just one playwright. The initial season was devoted to Romulus Linney, a prolific and daring but largely unsung dramatist whose play “Heathen Valley” Mr. Houghton had appeared in a few years earlier.

In an 85-seat space, Mr. Houghton produced six plays by Mr. Linney, who died in 2011, for a total of $35,000.

Over the next quarter-century, playwrights as formidable and famous as Arthur Miller, Sam Shepard, August Wilson and John Guare, and others as formidable and not so famous as Lee Blessing, Adrienne Kennedy and María Irene Fornés, had the spectrum of their careers — often including new works — showcased in multiple productions.

During the 1994-95 season, devoted to Horton Foote, Signature presented a world premiere play, “The Young Man From Atlanta,” which transferred to Broadway and won a Pulitzer Prize.

As the theater grew in artistic power, it gained in financial muscle as well. It moved to bigger spaces, most recently to the Pershing Square Signature Center on West 42nd Street, a three-theater, 75,000-square-foot compound designed by Frank Gehry Architects, for which the theater raised $70 million.

Signature’s annual budget now hovers around $13 million, which underwrites an expanded mission: The company sponsors three separate programs that support the residency of 10 playwrights, including rising talents like Annie Baker and Katori Hall, midcareer artists like Kenneth Lonergan and Regina Taylor, and at least one éminence grise, Athol Fugard.

A year ago, after learning of his cancer, Mr. Houghton announced that he would step down at Signature after the 2015-16 season. Paige Evans, formerly the artistic director of LCT3, the new-play development program at Lincoln Center Theater, succeeded him.

A few weeks ago, interviewed as he was moving out of his office, Mr. Houghton told Ben Brantley of The New York Times that it was working with Mr. Linney as an actor that had spurred the idea for a playwrights’ theater.

“I just fell in love with this process with Romulus,” he said. “There was just something so spontaneous — anything could happen in the room. New lines would come, a cut would come, just because of something you either inhabited the script with, or because you asked a question. At the same time, Romulus, at 60, was folding his own programs and hanging his own lights, and it just felt like it wasn’t right that he was still pushing so hard, pushing a boulder up the mountain. Anyway, that planted seeds.”

James Joseph Houghton was born in San Francisco on Sept. 4, 1958, and grew up in the Bay Area. His mother, the former Joan Heaney, worked as a dental assistant and a preschool teacher. His father, Sherrill, was a school administrator.

James fell in love with the theater at St. Ignatius College Preparatory, a Jesuit school in San Francisco, and with friends he started a theater company, Overeasy Productions, when he was 18. He earned a B.F.A. at Santa Clara University, and an M.F.A. from the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

In 1986, he won a place in the Acting Company, the touring classical-theater troupe whose co-founder, John Houseman, became a mentor. Its other alumni include Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, David Ogden Stiers, Frances Conroy, Jeffrey Wright, Harriet Harris, Hamish Linklater and Keith David.

That same year he married Joyce O’Connor, who survives him. In addition to her and his brother, he is survived by his parents; three sisters, Susan Devine, Lynne Houghton and Trish Line; a son, Henry; and a daughter, Lily.

From 2000 to 2003, Mr. Houghton was also the artistic director of the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Conn., developing new plays by Kia Corthron, Gina Gionfriddo, David Lindsay-Abaire, Adam Rapp and many others.

From 2006 until his death, he was director of the drama division at the Juilliard School, which was founded in 1968, also by John Houseman. Like Professor Kingsfield, the Harvard law scholar famously played by Houseman in the 1973 film “The Paper Chase,” the drama division was long known for its emphasis on discipline and for upholding rigorous standards that kept the pressure on the small number of students who were admitted after auditions. (In 2016 there 2,000 applicants for 18 spots.)

Mr. Houghton altered the Juilliard audition process and is credited with relaxing the atmosphere of the program. During his tenure, Juilliard added a Master of Fine Arts degree program in drama for the first time and created a partnership with Signature to enable students to work in a professional theater setting.

“I don’t think there was anyone in the theater community more beloved than Jim,” the playwright Tony Kushner, whose work was featured in Signature’s 2010-11 season, wrote in an email. “He had a great soul and a grand capacity for friendship and love. He was smart and passionate. He built his singular legacy, founded on his devotion to playwrights’ work and to playwrights themselves, with a uniquely sweet, generous spirit; with unflagging optimism; and with grace.”
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James Houghton: The ‘Samurai Spirit’ of Signature Theater JULY 1, 20162
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 4 Sep 1958; Birth County: San Francisco.
  2. [S93] Newspaper Obituary, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/theater/…

(?) Elder1

F, #90591

Family:

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 13 Nov 1961; Birth County: San Diego.

James L. Houghton1

M, #90592, b. 13 November 1961

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
BirthNov 13, 1961San Deigo Co., CA, USA1
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 13 Nov 1961; Birth County: San Diego.

(?) Barker1

F, #90593

Family:

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 13 Jul 1967; Birth County: Orange.
  2. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 31 Dec 1969; Birth County: Orange.

James R. Houghton1

M, #90594, b. 13 July 1967

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
BirthJul 13, 1967Orange Co., CA, USA1
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 13 Jul 1967; Birth County: Orange.

(?) Buchner1

F, #90595

Family:

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
Research
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 24 Jan 1946; Birth County: Los Angeles.

James Raymond Houghton1

M, #90596, b. 24 January 1946

Biography

Corresponded with authorN
A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
BirthJan 24, 1946Los Angeles Co., CA, USA1
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 24 Jan 1946; Birth County: Los Angeles.

James Scot Houghton1

M, #90597, b. 5 January 1958

Family: Candace (?)

Biography

Corresponded with authorN
A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
BirthJan 5, 1958Butte Co., CA, USA1
Marriage2
Living2012
ResearchRebecca Marie Houghton
Pamela Ann Houghton
Mathew S Houghton
John W Houghton
Donald Lee Houghton
ResidenceOroville, CA
Chico, CA
Durham, CA
Paradise, CA
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 5 Jan 1958; Birth County: Butte.
  2. [S93] Newspaper Obituary, http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chicoer/obituary.aspx

(?) Brown1

F, #90598

Family:

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
Duplicate
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 15 Feb 1954; Birth County: Los Angeles.
  2. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 11 Oct 1951; Birth County: Los Angeles.

James Sherman Houghton1

M, #90599, b. 15 February 1954

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
BirthFeb 15, 1954Los Angeles Co., CA, USA1
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 15 Feb 1954; Birth County: Los Angeles.

Helen Louise Belles

F, #90600, b. 1 March 1924, d. 8 December 2004

Family: Cecil Leroy Houghton b. 11 Jun 1922, d. 27 Nov 2010

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname ProjectN
Corresponded with authorN
BirthMar 1, 1924Indianapolis, IN, USA
MarriageJun 25, 1945CA, USA
DeathDec 8, 2004Kingman, Mohave Co., AZ, USA
BurialMountain View Cemetery, Kingman, Mojave Co., AZ, USA
Pedigree

Citations

  1. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 25 Nov 1946; Birth County: Los Angeles.
  2. [S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 14 Jun 1951; Birth County: Los Angeles.