Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hubbard, William
HUBBARD, WILLIAM (1621?–1704), historian of New England, born in 1621 or 1622, was the eldest son of William Hubbard, husbandman, of Tendring, Essex, by his wife, Judith, daughter of John and Martha (Blosse) Knapp of Ipswich, Suffolk (Visitation of Suffolk, ed. Metcalf, 1882, p. 149). He accompanied his father to New England in July 1635, and graduated at Harvard in 1642 (Savage, Genealogical Dict. ii. 486-7). On 17 Nov. 1658 he was ordained, and became first assistant, and subsequently pastor, of the congregational church in Ipswich, Massachusetts, which post he held until 6 May 1703. During the absence of Increase Mather in England in 1688 he was appointed by Sir Edmund Andros to act as president of Harvard. He died at Ipswich, Massachusetts, on 14 Sept. 1704, aged 83. He married first Mary (not Margaret), only daughter of the Rev. Nathaniel Rogers of Ipswich, Massachusetts, by whom he had two sons and a daughter. His second marriage, in 1694, to Mary, widow of Samuel Pearce, who survived him without issue, gave offence to his congregation on account of her supposed social inferiority. During John Dunton's stay in Ipswich he was entertained by Hubbard, of whose learning and virtues he has left an eccentric account (Life and Errors, ii. 134). A manuscript copy of his 'History of New England,' for which the state of Massachusetts promised, but probably did not pay him, 50l., is believed to have been rescued from the flames by Dr. Andrew Eliot in the attack on Governor Thomas Hutchinson's house by the mob in August 1765, and presented by Eliot's son John to the Massachusetts Historical Society, by whom it was wretchedly printed in 1815. Another edition appeared in 1848, forming vols. v-vi. of the second series of the society's 'Historical Collections;' a few copies were also struck off separately.
Hubbard was also author of:
- 'The Happiness of a People in the wisdome of their rulers directing, and in the obedience of their brethren attending, unto what Israel ought to do: recommended in a Sermon [on 1 Cor. xii. 32] … preached at Boston,' 4to, Boston, 1676.
- 'A Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New England, from … 1607 to … 1677.… To which is added a Discourse about the Warre with the Pequods in … 1637. (A Postscript, &c.) [With a Map of New-England, being the first that ever was here cut],' 2 pts., 4to, Boston, 1677; another edition, under the title of 'The Present State of New England,' &c., 2 pts., 4to, London, 1677. The American editions in 8vo and 12mo are worthless. A beautifully printed edition, with a life of the author and notes by Samuel G. Drake, was issued as Nos. iii. and iv. of W. E. Woodward's 'Historical Series,' 4to, Roxbury, Mass., 1865.
During 1682 Hubbard delivered a 'Fast Sermon' and a 'Funeral Discourse' on the death of General Daniel Denison. These, it is said, were also printed.
[H. F. Waters's Genealogical Gleanings in England, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 228; Sibley's Harvard Graduates, i. 54-62; Drake's life referred to.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.162
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 136 | i | 44-45 | Hubbard, William: for is believed to have been rescued read was rescued |
| 14-13 f.e. | for presented by Eliot's son John to the Massachusetts read was subsequently restored to the governor. It was sold to the British Museum by the latter's great-grandson Peter Orlando Hutchinson in 1884. A copy came into the possession of the Massachusetts |