Eugene F. Hug, Sr. was one of five children born in Santa Clara, Utah, to Henry Hug (1829—1902) and Anna Muller (1836—1934).  Henry was the last of John Jacob Hug’s (1793-1860) children to immigrate to the United States as Mormon converts.  Eugene’s brothers and sisters were Julius Caesar (1862-1941), Walter Fridoline (1864-1944), Natallia (1866-1880), Henry H. (1869-194__), and Hulda (1875-1953).  After giving up the Mormon faith, Henry, his brothers (Jacob, David, John, and Rudolph), and sister (Rachel) moved to the Blue Mountains of Northeastern Oregon between 1878 and 1886. Eugene had one son, Eugene F. Hug, Jr. from his marriage to Fay James Monroe.  Eugene adopted two children, Orien and Florence Monroe from a previous marriage of Fay.  He continued to raise the three children after his divorce from Fay who subsequently wed Sam Moore.

The Hug brothers and their offspring were influential citizens of Elgin and Union County.  Their German-Swiss heritage promoted a strong moral ethic and a love for art, music, literature, and other cultural activities.  The family members were hard working, talented, and enterprising.  The Hug brothers and their father were founding members of the Blue Mountain Theosophical Society.  This group believed in studying the “good” in all religions, which seemed to set the philosophical tone of the family.

The many talents and achievements of Eugene were well known in the Elgin community.  With his brothers, he worked in and helped manage the stores in the Hug Building.  Built in 1902, the Hug Building was the major commercial building in Elgin for the next forty years.  At least half of this time, Eugene and his brother Henry operated the Hug Brothers Department Store.  Later, Eugene owned and operated a Ford garage which gave him much satisfaction, since, from early boyhood, Eugene could fix most anything mechanical.  The front end of the Garage had large plate glass windows, which provided light for a winter harvest of tomatoes.  The garage is where Eugene kept his machines, built his inventions, and generally provided a meeting place for townspeople.  The front of the garage also held his brother Henry’s bindery and Eugene’s watch repair business.  Today (2001), his garage houses the Elgin Fire Department.

Eugene considered himself an inventor.  He patented at least two devices: one for measuring rope later to be used to measure cloth; and, a second patent was for a mobile electric light that could swing around to any place in the room where light was needed.  Eugene was fascinated with phenomena such as perpetual motion and tried to develop a machine that could run forever.  He believed in and practiced water witching.  This helped develop his interest in developing a “witch” to find metals.  The witch could be set to find different kinds of metal. The hands of the dial on the witch were calibrated to correspond to a metal’s atomic weight.  Eugene and a friend spent a year mapping the mineral deposits of the Columbia plateau using his invention. The map and findings were lost or stolen.  After World War II, Eugene developed a wooden toy-factory.  He made or modified existing machines, designed cutting instruments, developed vats to die toy parts, and so on.  The war had made metal toys scarce.  Eugene believed that his factory could fill this need.

Eugene built an elaborate touring car with everything on board for extended camping trips.  As a boy, he built several pieces of wood working machinery, which he powered by a windmill.  He became a skilled woodworker, making inlaid Victorian furniture.  Eugene could play several musical instruments and even made a few violins.  He established and directed several musical groups around Elgin, owned and operated a photographic studio at the turn of the twentieth century, and took many of the best photographs of early life in Elgin.

Eugene had a busy, productive life in spite of a handicap.  At about two years of age, Eugene fell from his high chair and injured his back.  The injury developed into a large lump, and his growth was stunted. He never gained the full stature of his father or brothers.  Even with this handicap, Eugene was a good-natured well-respected member of the community.  A wide spread belief in the community was that “if Eugene can’t fix it, it can’t be fixed.”  He spent his last years living with his son (Eugene F., Jr.), daughter-in-law (Opal), and grandson (William E.).