James Edwin Lough was born in Eaton, Ohio, in 1871, the son of W. H. Lough, Sr. After graduating from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1891, Lough worked as a teacher in Eaton, Ohio, and as a principal in Stockton, Ohio. In 1893, he began his doctoral studies in psychology at Harvard University, during which time he taught courses at Harvard, Radcliffe College, and Wellesley College. He received his Ph.D. in 1898 and taught at the State Normal School in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, until 1901, when he became Professor of Psychology at the New York University School of Pedagogy. In the summer of 1900, he married Dorothy Albonetta Bailey ("Dora"); they had four children: Edwin Bailey (b. 1905), Barbara Esther (b. 1908), Richard Colburn (b. 1912), and Dorothea (b. 1914).
From the guide to the James Lough papers, Lough, James papers, 1897-1905, 1899-1901, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
