FAMILY MEMORIES
Mary Ann Hubbard (1820-1909)
Printed for private circulation
1912
My dear Anna: As you are somewhat given to Antiquarian research, and I as I am
a piece of antiquity that you have an interest in, I will commence writing some
reminiscences for you. I have promised you to write a little sketch of my
life, and if I never begin I shall never end it, and so I will begin. I have
always been doing things that I did not want to do, and generally have been glad
afterwards that I made myself do them; so probably I shall be glad to end the
story, if not to begin it.
THE TUCKER FAMILY
Andrew, the oldest of the eleven children (born Oct 31, 1768), lived and died in
Middleboro. He was a good man and care for his mother and younger sisters.
He was twice married and had two daughters. Sarah, the first wife's child,
married Seth Eaton and cme out to Ottawa. She lived there perhaps two years,
was ill, went home, and died of consumption.
THE HUBBARD FAMILY
I begin now on the Hubbard ancestors, having read the Hubbard history
compiled by Edward M Day, whose wife was a Hubbard and who felt called upon to
write out one thousand years of Hubbard History - for his own benefit, I
suppose; certainly not for that of the Hubbards unless his account of others is
more correct than that of our branch, which is full of mistakes and blunders.
We had a tree with many branches and much fruit compiled for our uncle by Mr.
Edwin Hubbard, which cost about $150; but it waas destroyed in the Chicago fire,
with many other and more valuable records. But I will briefly tell what I have
hard and know about our immediate relatives on the Hubbard side.
THE MIDDLEBORO HOME
We had a pleasant home, with trees and flowers in abundance. The country was
very hilly where we lived, and our house was high with a sloping garden at the
east, with terraces. The house was a story and a half high, and stood back
from the road, with a white fence around the yard, the front door at the side
and the gable end fronting the street. Over the door was a hatchment marked by
figures cut into it - "1772" - the rear front entrance opened into a garden
terraced and cultivated. There was a large flat stone for the doorstep, which
was a favorite place where sister Harriet used to sit and eat her basin of bread
and milk. She was very fond of all animals. Once when mother heard her
talking, she went to find her companion, and it was a snake with whom she was
sharing her frugal meal. A hollow place in the stone made a convenient niche
into which she dipped milk with her spoon, and his snakeship ate or drank it,
she spatting his head with her spoon when she thought him too voracious. She
was about four years old then. On another occasion mother's attention was called
to Harriet, and, looking out of the window, she saw her seated on the head of
one of the cows, between the horns, feet towards the eyes and nose, with a bunch
of hay in her hand, which she was feeding to the cow by wisps, the cow reaching
out her tongue very long to take it in and both seeminly quite contented. This
dear sister was my idol in my childhood, and in fact as long as she lived. She
was six years older than I.
FROM THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOR 1909
Sarah has suggested that I dictate for her to write, but I feel sure that my
thoughts will come out in stiff garments, and not be nearly so natural as if
written in a more easy and imperfect way.
I was born in Middleboro, Mass., on the 2d of November, 1820. My elder
brothers and sisters were all born in Windsor, Vt. We lived about fourteen
miles from Plymouth Rock. Middleboro was bounded on one side by Plymouth, and
I think it was early settled by the Pilgrim Fathers and their descendants, so
they were near to the fountain-head.
The second centennial of the landing of the Pilgrims occurred when I was
about seven weeks old and I have heard mother say that father and Mary
Robinson (her assistant in the household work and the care of the baby and the
older children, three of them under twelve years of age) went to Plymouht on
that occasion, and I think it was then that four kernels of corn were placed
beside each plate at the feast, to remind guests of the sufferings of their
fathers and their reduced diet. Perhaps the custom had prevailed earlier and
was continued later; I do not know.
My mother, Serena Tucker, was born in Middleboro, Mass. Both of her
grandfathers were decons in the Congregational Church -- Deacon Tucker and
Deacon Warren. I think their remains rest in the old graveyard a short
distance from our former home, where, also, my grandmother Tucker was buried
under a large oak tree with a tall white stone marking her grave. Her maiden
name was Hannah Jedidah Warren. The inscription on her gravestone is: "Blessed
are the dead who die in the Lord." She lived to be about seventy.
I think my grandmother Tucker was a woman of force and fine intellect, as
well as a good Christian woman. She was fine looking and a great reader of
good books; in her portrait she shows a volume of Rollin's Ancient History.
It is related that her husband was enrolled as one of the minute men at the
time of the Revolutionary War, liable to be summoned to military duty at a
minute's notice. Some one gave him notice to start, and she, supposeing he
must go, knew nothing until she cam out of her fit and found him at her bedside
and that her baby Paulina was born. A kind neighbor, seeing her situation, had
offered himself as a substitute and gone in grandfather's place.
Grandmother had four portraits painted of herself and distributed them among her
children. The one which I have belonged to mother, who said that as I had
saved it from two fires - one while we were boarding at Judge Goodrich's, and
the Chicago fire of 1871 - I was entitled to it. I have promised it to George
Holt. Mother was the tenth of eleven children, most of them having odd names, as
was the fashion then.
Hannah, the daughter by the second wife, married George Bates of Bridgewater,
and had one son, Andrew Tucker, who died in California, and two daughters,
Ellen, afterward Mrs. Markham, and Sarah, unmarried, who died Feb 13, 1905.
Cyrus, the next one, was born Feb 2, 1770, and died unmarried. I think
there were two sons of my grandmother both named Cyrus, the elder having died
before the birth of the second, who probably died young, as I never heard much
about him.
Bezaleel, called "Beza" (born Sept 3, 1771), was a good man. It was at his
house in Boston that your grandmother was married. This house had been the
governor's residence, and was a fine large building with extensive grounds, in
what was called Roxbury. The neighborhood abounded in huge rocks, and not far
from his house he built a tomb in this rocky place. In later years, when I
visited the house, the grounds were cut up and laid out in streets and squares,
all but the lot on which was the burial place. By the kindness of the inmates,
we were allowed to look through the house, and especially the library, formerly
the children's room, where my cousin George Tucker had written some poetry on
one of the small panes of glass. He died in France, quite young, of
consumption. So far as I know he had none of his family with him. I was told
that he died in the arms of Professor Silliman, who was a friend of his.
There were five daughters of Beza, who mostly died young; one of them,
Ellen, for whom your mother was named, was the first wife of Ralph Waldo
Emerson. She was not over twenty years old when she died of consumption.
Lucy and Mary both died young. The only one who survived to old age was
Paulina, who married Capt. Joshua Nash and lived to be over seventy. They had
two sons. He gave up all employment, escorting his family to various places
for his wife's health, and finally, after living in Europe until their sons had
to enter college, they returned and lived in Cambridge, Mass. he had softening
of the brain, and died in some asylum. The two sons may be living, but the
mother died some years ago.
Salmon was born Aug 13, 1773, and died at Rio de la Plata in 1801. These dates
do not fit the story in the family that he was in the Revolutionary War, and
having been taken prisoner, was confined on a Jersey prison ship, from which he
escaped by jumping overboard and swimming ashore, and then made his way home.
He was so weak that he had to crawl rather than walk, so so afraid of being
retaken prisoner that he hid by day and traveled by night. As the story goes,
he died after his return, from the treatment he had received while a prisoner.
Boadicea (born May 4, 1775) was married before mother was born (sic?
1775-1788) to a man named Hatch, and lived somewhere near Rome, N.Y.
Alanson, (born Jan 25, 1777) was a merchant in Boston. He retired from
business and moved to Derry, N.H., where he died, leaving two sons, Alanson and
William, and four daughters. All of his children married. Susan married
W.R.P.Washburn; Lucy, whose first husband was a Morris and second Judge Savage
of Omaha, had one son; Elizabeth was Mrs. Daniel McGregory, whose husbnad was
Mr. McGregor Adams' uncle; Helen, the youngest, was married to a Mrs.
Radcliffe, and died leaving two daughters. I don't know anything about the
Radcliffes. They went to France - probably are now living in France (Paris).
That ends uncle Alanson's family.
Lucy (born Apr 26, 1779), married a man by the name of Jaquith, and one of her
sons was living in Peoria.
Zelotes (born Apr 19, 1781) was married and lived South, on the Mississippi.
I have seen Uncle Zelotes, but I don't know anything about his family. I
think he lived and died in the state of Louisiana.
Nathaniel (born Sept 9, 1783) married a Miss Kittell (I don't remember what her
first name was) and had six children - three sons and three daughters.
Nathaniel, the oldest son, unmarried, was a doctor, and lived and died in
Peoria, Ill. Henry married, lived in Chicago, and died there; no children.
Martin married and had children. He died: I don't know when. I don't
know what became of them. Eleanor married John HUBBARD - no relation to us -
who died and left her two children, a son and daughter. I think Louise married
a Mr. Harding and lived and died at Exeter, N.H. Eliza died unmarried.
Serena, your grandmother, was born April 17, 1788, and married young to Ahira
HUBBARD of Windsor, Vt.' they had three sons, two of whom died in Windsor, and
five daughters: Henry, Paulina, Harriet, Eliza, Ellen Maria (your beloved
mother), and myself.
Paulina (born July 21, 1790) was the youngest of grandmother's family. She
married Abiel Washburn, whose father was Old General Washburn of Middleboro. The
children of Aunt Washburn were: Mary, the eldest, who married Gideon Nye, a
China merchant, one of old Captain Nye's sons of New Bedford. She lost her
only child. Edward, who was the only son, a handsome, lovable boy, used to spend
some of his summer vacations in Middleboro at his grandfather's, the old
General's, and always preferred visiting at our house. So in our younger days
we saw him often. He was long rector of Calvary Epicopal Church, New York.
Paulina, the next child, married a Mr. George Monroe. They came West for a
time, I think to Cleveland, but went back to the East. Margie married a man by
the name of Watson. Frances married Louis Hopkins of Northampton, and had five
sons and one daughter. Two or three of the sons are dead. One is a professor
at Yale, and another a doctor. The daughter married a German, Dr. Ehrhardt
Messmer, whom she met in Europe, and I think lives there now. Cousin Fannie
Hopkins died a few years since. Lucy Jane and Ellen, both unmarried, died
young.
George Washburn, the president of Robert College, Constantinople, was a son of
old General Washburn's son Philander; his mother was Elizabeth Holmes of Boston
and a very sweet woman, decidedly religious. She entered warmly into the
Temperance movement in about 1834, I think, and when George was a baby signed
the Temperance pledge for him.
A cousin of mine, Susan Tucker, married another son of the old General's,
named William. Another son, and brother of my Uncle Washburn, was George,
whose death and funeral were among my first recollections. I have written more
about these remote branches of the family than I otherwise should have done,
as sometime you may meet some of the descendants, and you will perhaps like to
know the relationship.
My grandfather, George Hubbard, was born in Connecticut, and lived in
Guilford, Conn., married Thankful Hatch, and had a large family:
Calvin, born in 1761; Chloe in 1763; George, 1765; Jonathan Hatch(?), Isaac,
1770 (he was Charlotte Long's grandfather)l Elizur, born 1775, the father of
Gurdon S Hubbard; Ahira, 1779, my father; and Pamela, who was never married
and died of consumption before she was thirty.
Calvin Hubbard, oldest son of grandfather, was a good man, and lived to be
very old. It is said that he voted at every presidential election from
Washington down to Franklin Pierce, and died when he was over ninety years old,
soon after walking about three miles to St. Alban's to deposit his vote for
Pierce. If he had lived longer he might have suffered the moritfication of
having thrown his vote away on such a nonentity and worse. (Carrie Hubbard
told me that a letter of Pierce's to Jeff Davis was published, in which he said
that a great many at the North would go with them.) I had a photograph of this
much beloved uncle that was destroyed in the Chicago fire. I knew his son,
Calvin Hubbard, a physician of Springfield, CT., and his cousin, Dr. Tyler
Hubbard, son of Uncle George. of the daughters of Calvin, I never heard much
excepting that they were very tall and had finely shaped hands and feet. What
they did with these beautiful members I never knew. I suppose they walked and
worked like the rest of us.
There were two sons, Josiah and Horace.
George, grandfather's second son (Fanny Marsh's and Carrie Hubbard's
grandfather), was born in 1765; he entered the Revolutionary army with his
father. Grandfather, being an officer, was allowed a waiter, and as Calvin
was averse to going, he took George with him to serve in that capacity. The
little fellow, but twelve years old, was reard amidst the stirring scenes of the
Revoltuion, for during the entire war of seven and a half years he was at home
but once. On account of ill health, grandfather was obliged to withdraw from teh
army before the close of the war, but George remained and eventually became a
drummer-boy. He was one of the drum corps which was present at the execution
of Major Andre, and he was also with those soldiers wo suffered the severe
winter at Valley Forge, and was a participant in many scenes which form a part
of our nation's history. He was a handsome man, very erect, preserving his
religion in the army. He never cared much about it after tha. He was an
elegant looking man, having fine manners and being very generous-hearted. I
never saw him. He rad Tom Paine and French infidel books until he lost his
faith. At the close of the war he received a tract of bounty land for his
services. This land was located in the far-off country of Ohio. He proceeded
to sell it as speedily as possible, receiving therefor a small sum of
depreciated Continental money. Today, Marietta, Ohio, occupies a site upon
this tract. Had he not been so eager to dispose of the land, it doubtless
would have been far better for some of his numberous impecunious descendants.
He did not understand real estate deals, alas!
Uncle George married and lived in Weathersfield, Vt., on the opposite side of
the Connecticut River from grandfather's home, which was in Claremont, N.H.
His family consisted of five children: Henry Hubbard married and lived in
Ipswich, Mass., for many years, then moved to Claremont, N.H., near
grandfather's home. He had seven children, two by his first wife and five by
his second, all of whom are dead but a son living in Boston, and Carrie Hubbard
of Berwyn, whom your uncle used to call his "beautiful cousin". She certainly
was a beauty and finely educated, and withal was a noble, unselfish woman.
Uncle George's eldest daughter, Fanny Hubbard, for whom Cousin Fannie Marsh was
named, was very handsome and it is said that Cousin Fannie resembled her Aunt
Fannie very closely. Fannie Hubbard married Mr. Marsh. After her death Mr.
Marsh married her sister, Mehitable, wo was the mother of Cousin Fannie Marsh.
Mehitable was very good and very plain looking while Cousin Fannie was an
extremely elegant, handsome, and accomplished woman. mehitable had four
children. John, the eldest, resembled Cousin Fannie Marsh, his sister, and was
a person of handsome presence and great charm of manner. He died at
twenty-five. Sarah Marsh, the second daughter, is Mrs. Patch and resides in
Tennessee. George Hubbard Marsh died immediately after leaving college. Of the
family of Orin Hubbard, the second son of Uncle George, I know but little. He
lived in Lebanon, N.H. I think teh children are all dead, but the descendants
are living in differenet parts of the country. Dr. Tyler Hubbard, the youngest
of Uncle George's family, resided in East Lebanon, N.H. He was a physician of
ability, a cultivated man, of pleasing address, gentle, and beloved by everyone.
He had four children, all of whom, I think, are dead except Mrs. Eldredge of
New York.
Uncle Jonathan Hatch, commonly called by us Uncle Hatch, was a judge and
member of Congress; I think a finely cultivated man. he built and lived in
te house in Windsor, Vt., whre you called to see his grandson, William
Fullerton. You thought he was embarrassed, fearing you had come to visit him,
bit afterwards ascertained thqat his wife was crazy at the time, so I suppose he
was not prepared to entertain company. Uncle Hatch was extremely fond of
flowers, and made a specialty of roses. I have heard that he was very
absent-minded and would leave his dinner table and distinguished guests and walk
out into his rose-garden. His wife as a fine housekeeper and a careful woman,
as she had need to be. To illustrate: on one occasion when he was off on his
circuit, she gave him special orders to bring home his shirts, about four of
them. On his return home not one of them was tob e found in his bag, but when
he retired at night, lo and behold! he had the four on. After he was elected
to Congress they arranged with my father and mother to take their house at
Windsor, for the time of his absence, and board his wife and daughter Maria. My
brother Henry was born in that house at Windsor - Uncle Hatch's house - and I
presume that now the same paper is on the walls as was there then, for they
showed it to me at least fifty years after his birth as being the same. That
on the wide main hall was a landscape paper, probably "a parrot, a poppy, and a
shepherdess", as the old story goes. Mother loved her brother Hatch very much,
and his daughter Maria, who married Mr. Fullerton, and who was a lovely, highly
educated woman. She married the Fullerton man, who was wholly unworthy of her,
against the wishes of her parents. She was the pride of the relatives. Your
mother was named Maria for her.
Uncle had a large beautiful house and grounds at Windsor, and after he died
Fullerton married Maria and took possession. He was so stingy he restricted
her with the money, when it was her own. He made the remark about Uncle
Hatch's widow, that he did not think she would ever die; she was as tough as his
halter.
Grandfather's fouth son, Isaac, was a farmer. His father gave him much land
and the new house which he built for himself but never lived in. It is the
house where you called to see Charlotte Long and her brother. One of his
daughers, Caroline, married Capt. Long. She was very nice. Uncle Isaac's
first wife died, and he married again; by this marriage he had three sons:
Amos, Charles and Isaac, and one daughter, who married Dr. Clapp, an Episcopal
minister of Bellows Falls. We visted them there. He was a simple-minded
clergyman, and she was a kind woman. She died only a couple years ago, and was
the oldest survivor of the grandchildren except out family.
Dr. Isaac Hubbard, son of Uncle Isaac, was a very fine man and an Episcopal
clergyman. He died suddenly. After preaching, he was coming home in the
sleigh with his wife and child. He sat in the back seat with his wife; and
feeling faint and oppressed, he leaned his head on her and died. He left
perhaps three children. I don't know what has become of them.
Cousin Amos cam out not long after to Canada, and settled in Detroit. He was a
florist and sold trees and plants, and had beautiful flowers and green houses.
He bought a great deal of land out of the city, and as the city grew he sold off
the land, gave up the greenhouses, and became rich. He was a devout
Episcopalian, and died at the age of thirty. His widow married his partner,
Mr. Davis, who had been living with them. After her husband's death she did
not weant him there, so they divided the property and he moved away. But he
was so unhapy and miserable that she took pity on him and married him, and he
went to live with her. He was very good to her, but she did not seem to care
much for him. She was a good deal smarter than he. She was engaged to Cousin
Amos when very young, and was devoted to him. She was a good woman.
Next came Elizur, Gurdon's father, who married Abigail Sage of the renowned Sage
family of Middletown, Conn. He was a lawyer and an amiable, pleasant man, I
think; but unfortunately he went into business in Windsor and, during the War of
1812, became a bankrupt. Afterwards he moved with his family to Montreal,
intending to practice law; but hen there he found that before he could be
admitted to the bar he must reside there several years and take the oath of
allegance to the Crown. Meanwhile he earned something in offices and his wife
took boarders; and Gurdon, being the first son and sympathizing with his
parents, became a clerk in a hardware store with low wages, turning over a small
amount to the family support. When he was between fifteen and sixteen, he went
into the employ of the American Fur Company, with headquarters in Mackinac.
His father received an appointment as United States District Judge for Arkansas
Territory. He took his other son, Christopher, with him, and leaving
Christopher at this boarding-house, went out to his judicial duties, was taken
with yellow fever, and died. None of his family was able to find his burial
place. Christopher was out there nearly a year before they could get him back
to New England, so few facilities for traveling were then to be found. He was
finally taken to New Orleans, and from there to New York. I think he was not
twelve years old. Besides Bufdon and Christopher, there were four other
children: Elizabeth, unmarried; Mary, married to Dr. Clark, whose two
daughters were brought up by us; Abby, who married Dr. Castleman; and Hannah,
who married Mr. Jackson of Middletown, Conn. Mrs. Castleman left two
daughters, and Mrs. Jackson left three daughers and two sons.
Elizabeth who never married and lived to be a good old age, was supported
many years by her brother Gurdon. Mary, who married Dr. Wm Clark, lived in
Milwaukee. She was left a widow young and was called quite handsome; she was
always an invalid and was supported by her brother. We brought up her two
daughers, as their mother could not take proper care of them. They grew up
lovely Christian girls, and both, after serving God faithfully, were taken to a
better Home above.
Next to Elizur was my father, Ahira, born in Tolland, Conn., who was the
sixth son, according to my reckoning, but he always said he was the seventh son.
(Note: In another place, Elizur is called the fifth son, Isaac being the
fourth). The mother of these children, my grandmother Hubbard, was a remarkable
woman, and managed her large family with discretion. She was greatly beloved
by her children, and her memory was so precious that my mother was warned never
to speak of her death to my father, it afflicted him so. I have heard that
when the war drew near its close, grandfather directed his wife to take a
quantity of old Continental currency (forth or fifty dollars of which was worth
about one, and was the only kind in circulation ecept Mexian and foreign silver
dollars) and, with her servant, to go to all the towns and farms around and buy
whatever they would sell - wagons, stock, utensils, feather beds, etc. - which
she did; and at the close of the war, the caravan - sons, daughers, servants,
and things - went to the neighborhood of what is now Springfield, Vt., and
Claremont, N.H.
Granfather built a house of logs in Claremont, kept a tavern there, and took up
large tracts of government land. I suppose he paid for them with solderis'
warrants. This land he divided among his sons as they grew up and settled
down, but my father and Elizur did not inherit any of it. Uncle Isaac
persuaded his father that if he gave the other sons land they would sell it and
leave home; so Isaac got more than his share. He had a beautiful farm on both
sides of the Connecticut River and an island in the river. Grandfather built a
fine, large colonial house which he gave to Isaac, who was a disagreeable old
thing. He was very close and his family did not liek him; but I don't want
to remember his faults. I had a photo of him - it was the crossest I ever saw.
Your sister Lila looked at it and said, "Who is this?" She was told (in fun)
that it was her father. She did not like it, and said, "Well, maybe it was
taken for him when he was old." I never saw any of the uncles except Isaac.
To go back to my father: If he was the seventh son, one of his brothers
must have died unmarried. He was a merchqant living qt one time in Newark,
N.J., but after his mother's death he went to live in Windsor, Vt., where he had
a store. He used to buy goods of mother's brothers, who had stores in Boston,
and was invited to dine at their houses. Except for his broken nose, he would
have been a very handsome man. When he was a boy, some men cutting trees on a
hill allowed one to roll over him and broke his nose; but it was not very bad.
he used to wear his hair, which ws very long and fine, in a pigtail queue with
bows down the back. He wore long silk stockings (which he himself darned; and
he did beautiful work) and shoe buckles. The family had the knee buckles since
I remember. He presented his queue to mother through his sister Pamela; it
was very heavy and long and, like mine, a reddish brown. Mother burned it up
and afterwards wished she had not done so. Mother had dark auburn hair when
young, lighter than Ellen's -- redder; Paulina, jet black hair and eyebrows.
Father was highly educated and a great mathematician. he had not studied
surveying, but did that for poeple, and also taught mathematics. He was an
excellent man - a loving, kind father and an indulgent husband. he acted as
though he thought he was not good enough for his wife, and I never heard him
speak a cross word to her. He always called her "My dear," and always said,
"Children, where is your mother?" If she was not in sight when he came in.
It seems to me that he must have had great mechanical talent, as he could make
anything do anything. He married mother in Boston, at her brother Beza's house,
and their journey to Windsor took several days. Not long after, he moved into
my uncle Hatch's house; and when Uncle Hatch went to Congress, father took his
wife and daughter to board. They lived in Windsor until about 1815; but during
the war of 1812 the Embargo was fatal to business, and father lost his money and
failed. In the meantime my mother's mother had become partially parayzed, and,
all her family having married, she was left alone in a large, old-fashioned
double house, with a man and his wife in part of the house to take care of her
and another woman living with her as companion and friend. As her family did
not wish her to live in that way, and as my parents were better able to leave
their home than any others of the family, they left Windsor and came to
Middleboro, bringing with them their three children, Henry, Paulina and Harriet.
They moved into grandmother's house, where they lived until she die.
The house had a hall through the middle, with large room opening into it and
stood back from the street with trees in front - butternut, I think. My uncles,
mother's brothers, were rich for those days, and wanted to set father up in
business again, but he was discouraged by his misfortunes and declined.
However, they bought him a little farm of sixty acres, on which he lived until
he came to Chicago. Mother's brothers and some of their children were very fond
of her and very kind to us, her children.
Our garden sloped quite steeply to a small brook in the meadow below, and
part of this garden was devoted to growing peaches in great variety. Father
was a very successful horiculturist, and got the finest varieties of fruit,
which he grafted and budded, so that we had a succession of fruit from early
spring until late in the fall. Our home was called "The Peach Orchard", because
it was the only place around there where they were raised. On these terraces
were peach trees with fruit very large and fine, of which we had abundance for
ourselves and quantities to give away. I have seen farmers come to the road
side of the peach orchard and carry off in their wagons as many as they chose.
Indeed, I have a faint recolleciton of hearin ghtat when they could not eat them
all they fed them to their pigs. That pigs like peaches I can testify, for
once, in visiting my cousin, Mr. Bates, in later years, I heard of his picking
up fallen peaches and giving them to his pigs, who would eat the pulp and spit
out the stones.
On the sloping roof our our house there was a spreading peach tree of the
Crawford variety, growing as if trained there and bearing luscious fruit;
which, as we lay in our bed, we could sometimes hear breaking from the stem and
rolling down the roof. In the morning we wuld go out and search for them in
the grass.
I remember that before spring came, in the latter part of the winter, father
used to pack snow around each tree, and I think water was poured over it, making
a circle perhaps nine feet in diameter. Then he put straw and boards over the
packed snow and ice and allowed them to remain until the season for frost had
passed. Then, the straw and board being removed, the sun soon settled the
snow, and the sap began to flow. Perhaps being on a hillside may have helped
the icy water to run off instead of penetrating the ground. We did not know
anything about drying peaches, although about the time of our leaving somebody
told mother about eating dried peaches. She tried a few, paring and stoning
them and spreading them on tables in the sun. The result was those rich, juicy
peaches melted down and all ran togehther and were useless; had she known that
the skins should remian on, the result would have been more satisfactory.
We had apples all the year round in the collar, and sometimes in the summer we
dried them. There were some trees not far from the house which gave us very
fine apples late in the season, even after most of the leaves had fallen. I
have never seen any apples that resembled them. The skin was mottled green,
and I think sometimes there was a ablush of red on one side. They were not
very large, but on the inside were quite white and very juicy.
At the back of the house was a very fine young orchard in bearing when we left.
It looked so pretty in blossom. The apples would come on early in the
spring, before those left from the year before had spoiled.
Near the foot of the garden walk there were terraces, over which grew very
fine grapes, sucha s we now get from California. Some were fine white grapes
of different varieities, which had to be laid donw every fall and covered with
straw, boards, and earth through the winter. Around the farther side of the
garden was a stone wall, so covered with grape vines that it did not show the
stones when the grape leaves and stems were green, but looked like some grassy
fortification. These grapes were something like our Concords. (this is just
part of the book).
ABOUT Mary Ann Hubbard, who wrote the memories:
(NOTE: she was born a
HUBBARD and also married a HUBBARD):
Mrs. Mary Ann Hubbard, an Honorary Life Member since 1907, died at her home in
Chicago, July 19, 1909. She was the widow of Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard, a
member of this Society almost since its foundation, being elected to membership
in 1857, whose life was interwoven with almost every phase of the history of
Chicago from the time of his first visit here in 1818 until his death in 1886.
Born November 2, 1820, in Middleboro, Massachusetts, fouteen miles from Plymouth
Rock, of Pilgrim ancestry and environment, she brought with her to the West,
whether she came in her sixteenth year, New England dieals and standards of
religion and education. She came with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ahira Hubbard,
to Chicago in 1836, making the long journey by stage, steam and canal-boat,
varied by a railroad ride from Troy to Schenectady on cars drawn by horses over
flat, iron rails screwed to the ties. At Buffalo they embarked on a large
steamer, the first side-wheeler to navigate the Lakes. Leaving the boat at
Detroit, they made the journey across Michgan to St. Joseph by private
conveyances. After this long, wearisome journey they arrived in Chicago one
Sunday morning, and in true New England spirit, after breakfasting at Col.
Richard J. Hamilton's, some of the family went at once to church; and Monday
morning found the children at school. Mrs. Hubbard's first place of residence
in Chicago was the Lake House, the Auditorium of that day. Married in 1843, Mrs.
Hubbard became a leader in the simple social life of the days when the Kinzies,
Doles, Russells, Hamiltons, Skinners and others entertained with gracious
hospitlaity, independent of the caterer's aid. In 1868, when Mr. and Mrs.
Hubbard celebrated both their silver anniversary and the fifieth anniversary of
Mr. Hubbard's coming to Chicago, the guests were requested to register their
names with the dates of birth and arrival in Chicago. This album is now in the
possession of the Society and will serve future generations not only as a roster
of Chcago's "four hunderd" at that time, but as a roll of honor of those who
made possible the Chicago of today. Mrs. Hubbard was a devoted member of the
Presbyterian Church and deeply interested in the moral uplift of the city which
was her residence for seventy-three years. Reticent by nature and training,
her unostentatious charities reached out in many directions. She believed
Christian teaching to be a basal factor in the assimilation of our foreign
population, and gave largely to city missions, building a chapel for the
Italians, and supporting workers among them. In her earlier life woman's
activities were narrowed by custom, and in later years physicial infirmities
kept her in bonds, but her kind heart, clear judgment and open hand will long be
remembered by those she comforted. Truly "the cause she knew not, she searched
out." No one could know Mrs. Hubbard even slightly without becoming conscious
of her almost masculine understanding and grasp of affairs generally, and this,
with a passionate love for truth, and her many other qualities, made her a
monumental figure in Chicago history. Mrs. Hubbard's last visit to the Society's
Rooms upon a public occasion was as guest of honor on the evening of April 16,
1907, when her gift of a bronze memorial tablet to her husband was formally
unveiled. This massive tablet, the work of Julia Bracken-Wendt, bears an
admirable bas-relief of Gurdon S. Hubbard, with tasteful decorations emblematic
of his sturdy character, his long life, and his early coming to Chicago. It is
permanenently installed in the upper hall of the Society's Building. Upon this
occasion Mr. Henry E. Hamilton delivered as the address of the evening, a
biographical sketch of Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard, afterward published by the
Society. Mrs. Hubbard was the last of her generation, having attained her
eighty-ninth year, her old age was a happy and useful one, a source of great
pleasure to those about her. Her death takes from us one more of those whose
lives link Chicago of today with the frontier town of the early forties.
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