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Mark E. Hubbell

Mark E. Hubbell, a retired farmer now residing in Fayette, was numbered among the successful agriculturalists of the county, and by the exercise of good management, industry, and enterprise won the competence which now enables him to lay aside business cares. He was born in Dover, Litchfield, Conn., June 23, 1818, his parents being Ephraim and Luna (Agard) Hubbell. His father was born in 1786, in Litchfield, County, Conn., and was brought up at Schatticoke of the same State. His father was Abijah Hubbell, also a native of Connecticut, but born of Welsh parentage. The family was originally from Hubbellton, Wales, where the ancestors of our subject were prominent iron manufacturers. Ephraim Hubbell died in Oswego County, N. Y., in 1873, at the age of eighty-seven years. His wife was born in Kent, Litchfield County, Conn., in 1793, and her mother's maiden name was Judd, while the family on both sides was descended from old New England families. Mrs. Hubbell died in Oswego County, N. Y., in 1865, aged seventy-two years.

Our subject was a lad of seven years when with his parents he removed to the Empire State, where he was reared on a farm and received a common-school education. On the 18th of March, 1840, in Trenton Falls, Oneida County, he led to the marriage altar Miss Elizabeth Sherman, daughter of John and Abigail (Perkins) Sherman, daughter of John and Abigail (Perkins) Sherman. She was born in Trenton Falls, September 28, 1816, and her father, who was born in New Haven, Conn., in 1772, was a grandson of Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and assistant Governor of Connecticut nineteen years, Judge of Common Pleas and Superior Court twenty-three years, Treasurer of Yale College ten years, a member of the Continental Congress until his death. He was also Mayor of New Haven nine years and served his State and county several times on important commissions. He was unexcelled in practical wisdom and Christian integrity. He died at New Haven, July 23, 1793, at the age of seventy-two years, his birth having occurred April 19, 1721, in Newton, Mass. John Sherman, Mrs. Hubbell's father, was a graduate of Yale College and was the oldest son in his family while his father was the oldest son of the oldest son of Roger Sherman. He built the first public house in Trenton Falls, N. Y., and was the first to bring to public notice that now popular pleasure resort. His death occurred in 1828 at the age of fifty-six years. His wife, whose maiden name was Abigail Perkins, was born in Norwich, Conn., in 1776, and died in 1862, aged eighty-six years. Her family was related to the Huntingtons and other historic families of Connecticut.

We now return to the history of our subject, Mr. Hubbell, who was engaged in farming in his native county for the next two years following his marriage. He then removed to New York City, where he was in the grocery business one year, after which he returned to Oneida County, where with his brother-in-law M. Moore, as clerk, they engaged in the hotel business in Trenton Falls until 1860, when he came to Fayette, Iowa, reaching this place on the 18th of March. He purchased a farm one mile north of Fayette, where he resided until 1884, when he sold to his son, the present owner, and removed to the city, where he has since resided.

Mr. and Mrs. Hubbell have two children. The daughter, Abbie Caroline, who was born in New York City, June 25, 1842, is the wife of H. J. Grannis, County Recorder of Fayette County, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work, and unto them have been born four children. Mark Sherman, born in Trenton Falls, October 18, 1843, married Miss Jennie Sherman, a distant relative and resides on the old home farm in Westfield Township. They have four daughters and a son - Cora May, aged ten years; Edith aged eight; Minnie Ida, aged six; Bertha Esther, four years of age; and Roger Sherman, a year and a half old.

In politics Mr. Hubbell was a Democrat in early but joined the Republican party at its organization, voting for John C. Fremont for President in 1856, and for each succeeding Republican candidate for the Presidency up to the time of this writing in November, 1890. He has never been an aspirant for public office but has held various township offices. His wife is a consistent member of the Congregational Church with which she united when fourteen years of age. She has suffered in the later years of her life the terrible affliction of total loss of sight. Her eyes began to trouble her several years ago through neuralgic affliction and her sight failed entirely in 1882. Notwithstanding her misfortune, Mrs. Hubbell is patient and cheerful and makes the most possible of the world. Her genial, kindly ways endear her to family and friends, especially to the little grandchildren some of whom she has never had the pleasure of beholding. Mr. Hubbell selected their present home, which is next door to the Congregational Church, with a view to its convenience for his wife in her infirmity. She has been accustomed to attend divine worship in that church and can now find her way there without difficulty unaided.