Martha Ogle remembered being told that her father left home at an early age and became a "jack-of-all trades." He worked in restaurants in Oakland and Quincey, IL, and was a good cook. He was a cabinet maker and a farm worker among other tilings. He worked with a company from Robinson, IL, and helped build a house at 1304 South Main, and the house next to it, in Paris, IL. Later, after his marriage to Kate Hipple, they purchased the house at 1304 because he knew it was well-built. (After their divorce, Kate got the house in the settlement. She rented the house to a Mr. Sensenbrenner for awhile. Walt & Martha Ogle lived there with Kate briefly, though Kate was living with Dane and Virginia at the time of her death. Walt and Martha took a mortgage to purchase Dane's part of the house after Kate's death. They lived there with their four children until 1955. The mortgage was defaulted and the house was sold at auction. Mr. Charles Lewis purchased the house and extensively remodeled it.) Before 1929, Hugh worked for Cummings Car & Coach Company, builders of Chicago streetcars. After the Crash of 1929, he rented a woodwork shop on Roberts St., Paris, IL. He was good at working on cars, carpentry, gardening, cooking and farming.
