Hon. Jay A. Hubbell
Of Houghton, was born in Avon, Michigan,
September 15, 1829. His father, Samuel Hubbell, was a native of the State of New
York, and went to Oakland County,
Michigan, about 1820, being one of the earliest
settlers in that section. He lived on a farm until his death, which occurred in
1870. Jay A. Hubbell attended the common schools and worked on a farm until he
was eighteen years of age. After two years of preparatory study at Romeo and
Rochester, Michigan, at times interrupted by a
painful disease of the eyes, he entered the Sophomore Class of the University of
Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and graduated in 1853. He
then read law for two years at Pontiac and Detroit; and, in 1855, was admitted
to practice by the Supreme Court, at Adrian. Immediately afterwards, he went to
Ontonagon, Michigan; and formed a law partnership
with Hon. A. H. Hanscom, which continued for a year. He subsequently became
associated with George C. Jones. He continued in active practice, taking a
prominent part in all the public affairs of the county,
and forming an extensive acquaintance with the citizens and business interests,
until 1860, when he removed to Houghton County, in
which the mines were just beginning to be developed. About the year 1863, he
formed a partnership with the late Hon. Clarence E. Eddy, who was afterwards
Judge of the Circuit Court for the Upper Peninsula. He was subsequently in
partnership with Hon. James O'Grady, who also became Judge of the same circuit;
and, later, with Thomas L. Chadbourne. In 1858 he was elected Prosecuting
Attorney of Ontonagon County and District Attorney
of the Upper Peninsula. He was again made District Attorney of the Upper
Peninsula in 1870, and Prosecuting Attorney of Houghton County
for three successive terms. He took an active part in politics; and, during the
Presidential campaign of 1868, made political speeches in several counties. In
the same year, he was sent to Washington, by the people of the copper-mining
district, to aid in securing a higher tariff upon copper, in which he was
successful. Upon the formation of the Ninth District, comprising the upper
counties and nineteen of those in the Lower Peninsula, he was nominated at
Ludington, in 1872. In the exciting campaign of that year, he addressed
political meetings in nearly every county in the
district; and was elected over S. P. Ely, of Marquette, the Democratic
candidate, by a majority of six thousand four hundred and five votes. He was
reelected in 1874, and again in 1876, serving in the forty-third, forty-fourth,
and forty-fifth sessions of Congress. In the Presidential canvass of 1876, he
took a very prominent part, and made speeches quite generally throughout the
district. In the Forty-third Congress, he served on the committees on Mines and
Mining, Banking and Commerce, and the special committee to inquire into the
affairs of the District of Columbia. In the Forty-fourth Congress, he was
appointed a member of the Committee on Banking and Commerce, by a Democratic
Speaker. Mr. Hubbell has given considerable attention and study to questions of
finance and tariff, and has spoken upon both subjects in Congress, analyzing the
Morrison tariff bill in a speech at the first session of the Forty-fourth
Congress. In the year 1875, he was appointed, by Governor Bagley, a member of
the State Board of Centennial Commissioners, and procured the mineral collection
of the State, of which he had charge at the Centennial Exhibition. Through a
profitable legal practice, and a judicious investment of money in many of the
leading and most prosperous enterprises of his section, he has acquired so
considerable a property as to make a further application to his professional
duties unnecessary. His energy, industry, and extensive acquaintance render him
a most useful Representative of a district composed of all the copper and iron
mines, and a large portion of the lumber interests of the State.
Source: American Biographical History of
Eminent and Self-Made Men with Portrait Illustrations on Steel, Volumes I-II
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