Jay Abel Hubbell (September 15, 1829 – October 13, 1900) was a politician and judge from the U.S. state of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

, who served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Hubbell was born in Avon (now Rochester Hills), Michigan. He graduated from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

at Ann Arbor in 1853, studied law and was admitted to the

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in 1855. He was elected

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a ...

of the Upper Peninsula in 1857 and 1859. Two years later, he began serving as prosecuting attorney of Houghton County from 1861 to 1867. In 1872, Hubbell was elected as a Republican to the 43rd and to the four succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1873, to March 3, 1883, becoming the first to represent

Michigan's 9th congressional district Michigan's 9th congressional district is a United States congressional district located in parts of Oakland County and Macomb County in the southeast areas of the State of Michigan. It includes the communities of Ferndale, Royal Oak, Hazel P ...

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

John J. Bagley John Judson Bagley (July 24, 1832 – July 27, 1881) was a politician from the US state of Michigan, as well as the 16th governor of Michigan. Early life in New York and Michigan Bagley was born in Medina, New York to John and Mary M. (Smith) ...

appointed Hubbell as state commissioner to the

1876 Centennial International Exhibition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of ...

, in which capacity he collected and prepared the state exhibit of

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. During the

47th Congress The 47th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1881, ...

he chaired the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior. Hubbell is, perhaps, best known for his creation of the "Grand Army Journal" newspaper. This libelous publication was almost universally denounced. Its sole purpose was to defame Senator Thomas Ferry. Ferry was a powerful Senator who was well regarded in Michigan and across the country. Hubbell sought (unsuccessfully) to take his place in the Senate by throwing slanderous headlines in his "Journal" which he mailed out by the thousands. After leaving Congress, he served in the

Michigan Senate The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. Along with the Michigan House of Representatives, it composes the state legislature, which has powers, roles and duties defined by Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, ad ...

from 1885 to 1887, was a

presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia app ...

for Michigan in the 1892 election, and served as circuit judge of the twelfth judicial circuit from 1894 until his resignation in 1899. He died in Houghton, Michigan, and is interred there at Forest Hill Cemetery. Hubbell is the figure most responsible for getting the state legislature to establish a school of mines for the training of mine engineers in Houghton. Hubbell donated land for the school's first buildings in 1885.Willis F. Dunbar and George S. May, ''Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdman's, 1995), 359. The school of mines eventually expanded into

Michigan Technological University Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Upper Peninsula of Michiga ...

. Jay Abel Hubbell is the eponym of Hubbell, an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Houghton County.

Notes

References

The Political Graveyard

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbell, Jay Abel 1829 births 1900 deaths People from Rochester Hills, Michigan District attorneys Michigan lawyers Republican Party Michigan state senators Michigan state court judges University of Michigan Law School alumni Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers