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By SUSAN M. COVER
Staff Writer Monday, July 30, 2007

He believed in the value of educating women.

He tried to find a compromise on the issue of slavery, more than a decade before the Civil War would claim the lives of thousands, including one of his sons.

He is a fascinating former governor.

"There were many governors in the 19th century who served responsibly, but it strikes me as though he was enlightened," said State Historian Earle Shettleworth. "He was very much aware of using government for reforming society."

Shettleworth and other historians named him as one of the most interesting former governors. Starting today, the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel will revisit one governor a month through December to take a look at the men -- all Maine governors have been men -- who've shaped the state through their political service and personal lives.

Hubbard, who served as governor from 1850 to1853, was one of 12 children.

He has the kind of up-from-the-bootstraps beginning that makes for a good story.

'$15 AND A HORSE'

Born in Readfield in 1794, John Hubbard was the oldest son of Dr. John Hubbard and Olive Wilson Hubbard.

After working on his father's farm and studying as much as he could, he headed for New Hampshire as a young man, according to an account of his life published in a book called "Representative Men of Maine."

"In 1813, then in his twentieth year, his father gave him fifteen dollars and a horse," according to the book. "With this outfit, John started for Dartmouth College..."

When he got to Dartmouth, he found out what kind of requirements he would need to get accepted to the school. From there, he headed for New York where he studied under a tutor so he could pass the entrance exam.

"As a young man, he was driven to be successful, and he had to work hard to get into Dartmouth," said Sam Webber, Hallowell city historian.

He graduated from Dartmouth in 1816, then came to Hallowell for two years to serve as principal of the Academy at Hallowell, according to the book.

He needed to make some money to pay off his Dartmouth debts, and also worked an additional two years at a school in Virginia.

Then he went to medical school and worked in Virginia as a physician.

In 1830, he and his wife, Sarah Barrett of Dresden, moved to Hallowell where he set up his medical practice in a building near his home on Winthrop Street.

NO 'COUNTRY DOCTOR'

Photos of Hubbard as an adult show a large man -- reportedly 6'2" tall -- with long, scraggly sideburns who amply fills out his vest and suit jacket.

In writing about Hubbard in 1989, former Hallowell librarian K.H. Snell described him this way:

"This large, imposing broad shouldered man with his black hair and dark eyes, sympathetic and responding whatever the weather, or the hour to calls, had a boundless energy and endurance."

That energy was no doubt put to use in his medical practice.

At a time when river drivers used the Kennebec River to move lumber, Hubbard saw more than his share of injuries, Shettleworth said.

"Men were dragged up Winthrop hill with a broken arm, leg or deep cut and he would take care of them right there," he said. "You can, to this day, see marks in the floor boards of the spikes of the river drivers."

Hubbard also established himself as an accomplished physician who was called in on difficult cases by other doctors, often traveling many miles, Webber said.

"He was a well educated doctor," he said. "He wasn't a country doctor at all."

Today, his 16-by-20-foot office stands on Second Street in Hallowell near the corner of Central Street. The office was relocated in 1988 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

During a tour of the small office, Webber pointed out the rudimentary tools in use during Hubbard's day. There's a display of amputation equipment that consists of large knives and a small saw -- something like a modern day hack saw.

There's a pill roller, tools for pulling teeth and dozens of medical books, such as "Burns' Anatomy," "Hunter on the Blood" and "Gooch on Women."

Hubbard and other area doctors agreed on a price list that included everything from dressing wounds ($1-$5) to a hernia operation ($30).

SENATOR, THEN GOVERNOR

Hubbard entered politics in 1843 when he was elected to the state Senate.

A Democrat, he was selected by his party in 1849 to run for governor and won, defeating Whig E.L. Hamlin.

In an address to lawmakers on May 14, 1850, Hubbard spoke of the need for "a well endowed seminary for the education of females."

"Our daughters, in order to acquire any degree of education beyond that of the village school, must go to Massachusetts or elsewhere, at an expense of from three to five hundred dollars a year, when all desirable facilities might be furnished to them within the limits of the state at less than half that sum," he said.

On the law and order front, he said reforming criminals should always be the goal.

"But the reformation of the youthful criminal can hardly be expected when he is subjected for a series of years to the influence of experienced and accomplished villains, nor will society readily admit into its bosom those whose moral nature has been exposed to the malaria of the state prison," he said.

His governorship may be best remembered for a bill he signed on June 2, 1851 -- An Act for the Suppression of Drinking Houses and Tippling Shops.

It was the state's first prohibition law.

The law's only exception was for "medicinal and mechanical purposes."

According to a book called "Maine's War Upon the Liquor Traffic" by Henry A. Wing, Hubbard signed the law because he felt a majority of Mainers supported it. It passed the Legislature with "about two-thirds" support.

"There could be no doubt that the people, through their representatives, have a right to enact a law to abate or suppress so monstrous a scourge as intemperance," Hubbard said.

His decision to sign the law, which had been vetoed by his predecessor, likely led to his ouster, Shettleworth said. Back then, governors served only one-year terms and the election results of 1852 were so close, the election was sent to the Legislature for disposition.

There, a coalition of Whigs and anti-prohibition Democrats voted to support Whig William Crosby of Belfast, ending Hubbard's tenure in January of 1853.

Nationally, Prohibition would not come to pass until 1920, with a constitutional amendment that was repealed in 1933.

On the issue of slavery, Hubbard tried to broker a middle ground, and was not unlike most Democrats of his day, Shettleworth said.

"He was against slavery, but he felt emancipation in the South should be gradual and consistent with laws and the constitution," he said.

Years later, one of his sons, John Barrett Hubbard, was killed in the Civil War, a death from which the former governor never fully recovered.

The Hubbard house at 42 Winthrop St. -- now privately owned -- features large lilacs which historians believe were planted by Hubbard in memory of his fallen son, and after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Webber said.

Just a few years later, on Feb. 6, 1869, Hubbard died in his office at age 74.

'AN ENERGY OF PURPOSE'

The Kennebec Journal of Feb. 10, 1869, reported the details of Hubbard's death and his life accomplishments.

Hubbard had apparently been suffering from pneumonia and collapsed in his office.

"The death of a gentleman so highly and universally esteemed as was Dr. Hubbard, carries a full measure of sadness to the people of Hallowell, to whom his lofty qualities as a private citizen are best known and who can appreciate most fully his eminent attainments as a medical practitioner," the story said.

A week later, the paper reported on comments made on the House floor about the governor and carried a description of his funeral at the Baptist Church in Hallowell.

The Rev. A.R. Crane, pastor of the church, delivered a eulogy that recounted Hubbard's difficult beginnings and accomplishments.

"His intellect was vigorous, his discernment quick, his judgment exact and his memory retentive," he said. "United with these intellectual endowments was an inflexible will, an energy of purpose, which enabled him to accomplish apparent impossibilities."

Crane said Hubbard would be best remembered for his integrity.

In a speech on the floor of the House, Rep. A.B. Fowler of Augusta said he loved and admired Hubbard, and described his "manly bearing, his kindly nature and his pre-eminent manhood."

And he explained Hubbard's decision to sign Maine's early version of prohibition.

"Hence it was that, when the overshadowing evil, intemperance, like the plow share of fate, was uprooting the morals of youth and upturning the happiness of firesides, he gave the sanction of his great name and high authority to that law without a precedent, which made Maine the pioneer in the yet uncompleted work of prohibition," he said.

Susan Cover -- 623-1056

scover@centralmaine.com

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