Introduction

Biography

Orson was the son of James Will­iam Hu­ish and Hel­en Nib­lett Hu­ish, and hus­band of Ann Ma­rin­tha Pick­er­ing.

At age nine, he em­i­grated with his mo­ther and sib­lings to join his fa­ther in St. Lou­is, Mis­sou­ri. In 1861, the fa­mi­ly went to the Utah Ter­ri­tory and set­tled in Pay­son, where he worked in farm­ing and ranch­ing as a youth. He lat­er ran ge­ne­ral stores in Mo­ab, Utah; Eu­gene, Or­eg­on; and Al­bu­quer­que, New Mex­ico. He al­so opened Hu­ish Drug.

Huish was a com­pos­er, but was al­so trained in com­mer­cial pho­to­gra­phy, mak­ing some con­tri­bu­tions in this field and op­erat­ing the firm Huish and Hin­shaw. They did most of their work in Utah and Ari­zo­na.

In 1880, Hu­ish formed the Hu­ish Band with his bro­thers Ed­ward, Jo­seph, Frank, James, and Fred­er­ick, and their sister Flor­ette. They tra­veled through­out the Utah Ter­ri­to­ry, oft­en per­form­ing for dances. Huish had been trained to per­form in a band with an­oth­er Pay­son re­si­dent, John D. Stark.

Works

Huish wrote ov­er 300 songs, most of which are un­pub­lished. He al­so wrote the Pay­son High School song, The Sil­ver and the Green.