Elijah M. Hubbard

Constitution Delegate. Born: May 15, 1828, Green County, Kentucky. Married:Anna E. Shields, January 20, 1852.

Born in Green County, Kentucky, on May 15, 1828, E. M. Hubbard was raised on a farm and educated in his native county. He taught school until 1852, when he became a merchant at Campbellsville, Kentucky, and on January 20 of that year married Anna E. Shields, also a native of the Bluegrass State-Warren County. They moved their young family (two daughters, ages three and one) to Kansas in 1856, where Hubbard served as superintendent and teacher at the Kickapoo Mission school. Hubbard was elected to the 1857 territorial legislature and settled in Highland in 1858 where he ran a hotel, served as postmaster, and became a county commissioner. At the Wyandotte Convention, according to fellow delegate B.F. Simpson, Hubbard accused William Hutchinson of offering him "a good lot [in the town of Lawrence] if he would vote for Lawrence as the temporary capital of the State." The affair ended with an inconclusive investigation, after both delegates accused the other of being a "liar." Hubbard served on the executive department and militia committees, but otherwise was, in his own words, "one of the silent members of this body." After completing his convention service, Hubbard moved his family to Claytonville, Brown County, where he worked as a merchant. Hubbard spent a couple years (1860-1862) mining in Colorado, and then moved back to Highland and the merchandising business, became a traveling salesman for a few years, and then returned to Highland and merchandising (Campbell & Hubbard) in about 1880.

Entry: Hubbard, Elijah M.

Author: Kansas Historical Society

Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.

Date Created: June 2011

Date Modified: January 2013

The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.

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