Читать книгу History of Bridgeport and Vicinity, Volume 2: Biographical - George Curtis Waldo jr. - Страница 4

Dr. Robert Hubbard, of Bridgeport, was born April 27, 1826, in Upper Middletown, now the town of Cromwell, in Middlesex county, Connecticut. He was a descendant of a prominent pioneer family, the first American Hubbard having come from England to the Connecticut colony about 1660. His father, Jeremiah Hubbard, was also a native of Upper Middletown and for many years sailed a vessel in the West Indies trade and also engaged in farming in this state. He married Elizabeth Roberts, a native of Middletown and a daughter of Winkham Roberts, who was a farmer. To this marriage were born eight sons and two daughters.

Robert Hubbard was the eldest of the family and in his boyhood attended the district schools but spent most of his time in work on the farm, his services being badly needed in the cultivation of the fields, so that his educational opportunities were therefore somewhat limited. Finally, however, he entered the academy and worked his way through that institution. In 1846, at the age of twenty years, he had finished his preparatory course and was then admitted to Yale College. At the close of his freshman year he accepted the position of principal in the academy at Durham, Connecticut, and a year later he was induced to take up the study of medicine. After two years as principal of the academy he entered the office of Dr. Benjamin F. Fowler, who directed his reading for about a year, when he became a student under Dr. Nathan B. Ives, of New Haven. During the two years spent under Dr. Ives he also attended the Yale Medical School and in 1851 was graduated with the M. D. degree, winning the valedictorian honors of his class.

In February, 1851, Dr. Hubbard removed to Bridgeport and opened an office on Wall street. He was without capital and in fact had incurred an indebtedness of two thousand dollars in meeting his expenses while pursuing his education. With resolute energy, however, he set to work and soon won a good practice, early demonstrating his ability to successfully cope with the complex and intricate problems that continually confront the physician. In May, 1854, he entered into partnership with David H. Nash and that relationship was maintained for seventeen years. In 1861 Dr. Hubbard was appointed by Governor Buckingham a member of the board of medical examiners to examine every applicant for surgical work in connection with the Connecticut regiments and in 1862 he went to the field as a surgeon of the Seventeenth Regiment of Connecticut Infantry. Later he was promoted to the position of brigade surgeon in General Sigel's Corps and following the battle of Chancellorsville was made division surgeon in General Devin's command. He was next given the rank of medical inspector on the staff of General Howard and at Gettysburg he served as medical director in chief of the Eleventh Corps, which he also accompanied to Lookout Mountain, where he was staff surgeon to General Hooker. He participated in the battles of Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and Ringgold and won high professional honors through his splendid service there. On account of ill health he resigned from the army and returned to Bridgeport, where he resumed practice, but suffered greatly from sciatica and in search of relief he took three trips abroad, incidentally studying in Europe. Something of his standing among his professional colleagues is indicated by the fact that in 1879 he was elected to the presidency of the Connecticut State Medical Society.

This, however, was but one phase of his activity. His powers of leadership were recognized in other directions and in 1874 he was elected from Bridgeport to the state legislature. The following year he was nominated for congress but was defeated by William H. Barnum. In 1876 he was again sent to the legislature and in the following year was again nominated for congress but was defeated by Levi Warner.

On the 15th of April, 1855, Dr. Hubbard was married to Miss Cornelia Boardman, a daughter of Sherman and Sophia (Hartwell) Boardman, of Bridgeport. She passed away in 1871, leaving a son and two daughters. Sherman Hartwell, a Yale graduate, who engaged in the practice of law, died in 1891. He had married Comete Ludeling and they had one son, John T. Ludeling Hubbard. Sophia Todd Hubbard became the wife of Charles M. Everett, of Rochester, New York. Cornelia E. Hubbard became the wife of Courtlandt H. Trowbridge, a ship owner and trader of New Haven.

Dr. Robert Hubbard on the 18th of July, 1897, while ascending his office steps fell to the sidewalk, fracturing his skull, and passed away the next morning at the home of his daughter-in-law, Mrs. C. F. Stead, of Bridgeport.