Richard W. Hubbell

Born in Ithaca, New York, Hubbell moved with his parents to Wisconsin Territory in 1844 and settled in Milwaukee. Hubbell's father was a prominent lawyer and judge in these days, and afforded a good education for his sons. Hubbell attended a college preparatory course in 1853, and then attended the University of Wisconsin from 1854 through 1858, graduating with a bachelor's degree. Hubbell flourished at the university and was one of the charter members there of the Hesperia literary society, along with his lifelong friend William Freeman Vilas.{{Cite magazine| url = https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AN5KRKAT5C2UII8Y/full/AJASK6XPXMTQK28V |title= Colonel Vilas as a Student |last= Hubbell |first= Richard W. |magazine= Wisconsin Alumni Magazine |volume= 10 |number=1 |date= October 1908 |pages=31–32 |accessdate= August 27, 2022 }} Hubbell subsequently earned his master's degree in 1861, and was admitted to the bar in 1862.

In the second year of the war, as new calls were being made for volunteers to the Union Army, Hubbell saw several of his university classmates joining the service. William F. Vilas recruited a company for the 23rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, which Hubbell sought to join, but was too late to register a spot. He instead joined a company for the 24th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, and was enrolled as a sergeant in Company I of that regiment.{{cite report|url= https://archive.org/details/rosterofwisconsi02wisco/ |title= Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861–1865 |volume= 2 |year= 1886 |publisher= Officer of the Adjutant General of Wisconsin |chapter= Twenty-Fourth Regiment Infantry |page= [https://archive.org/details/rosterofwisconsi02wisco/page/277 277] |accessdate= August 27, 2022 }}

He served only a few months with the 24th Wisconsin Infantry, but saw serious combat with them at the Battle of Perryville. In the Winter of 1862–1863, he accepted a commission to become a first lieutenant in the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery Regiment. With the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery, he served with Battery B, which was stationed for the rest of the war at forts in Kentucky and Tennessee. He was promoted to captain of his battery in July 1864, and was then made a major in the regiment in September 1864. He mustered out with the rest of the regiment in June 1865.{{cite report|url= https://archive.org/details/rosterofwisconsi01wisc/ |title= Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861–1865 |year= 1886 |publisher= Office of the Adjutant General of Wisconsin |volume= 1 |chapter= First Regiment Heavy Artillery |pages= [https://archive.org/details/rosterofwisconsi01wisc/page/254 254], [https://archive.org/details/rosterofwisconsi01wisc/page/260 260] |accessdate= August 27, 2022 }}

After the war, Hubbell moved to Oconto, Wisconsin, and established a legal practice. Hubbell became active with the Republican Party of Wisconsin and first ran for Wisconsin State Assembly in 1867. He failed in that campaign, but was subsequently elected to two consecutive terms, serving in the 1872 and 1873 sessions.{{cite report|url= https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/24WHLX6BCVY3A9C |title= The Legislative Manual of Wisconsin |year= 1873 |publisher= State of Wisconsin |chapter= Official Directory |page= [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A24WHLX6BCVY3A9C/full/A6TWGOLCIPR4UC86 449]–[https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A24WHLX6BCVY3A9C/full/A47WMVADMVKAPA8H 450] |accessdate= August 28, 2022 }} In the meantime, he was also elected to two four-year terms as county judge for Oconto County, serving in that office from 1870 through 1878. In the 1877 election, rather than running again for judge, he ran for and was elected district attorney, for a two year term.

In 1890, Hubbell moved to Wautoma, Wisconsin, without his family and continued to practice law.{{cite magazine|url= https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AUTO2UQ63UACCU8R/full/A5NTW63DOTQBWB8G |title= News of the Alumni |magazine= Wisconsin Alumni Magazine |volume= 7 |number= 1 |date= October 1905 |page= 8 |accessdate= August 27, 2022 }} He died at his home in Wautoma in 1910, he had been in ill health.{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108423587/richard-w-hubbell-obit/ |title= Death of Major Hubbell |newspaper= Stevens Point Journal |date= April 16, 1910 |page= 1 |accessdate= August 27, 2022 |via= Newspapers.com }}

Richard Hubbell was one of at least four children of Levi Hubbell, a Wisconsin pioneer lawyer and judge who served in Wisconsin's first state supreme court and was the first state official to be impeached by the Wisconsin Legislature. He was not convicted in his impeachment trial, and later served as United States Attorney for Wisconsin.{{Cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/historyofhubbell00hubb/ |title= History of the Hubbell Family |year= 1915 |publisher= Walter Hubbell |last= Hubbell |first= Walter |pages= [https://archive.org/details/historyofhubbell00hubb/page/121/ 121–122], [https://archive.org/details/historyofhubbell00hubb/page/252 252] |accessdate= August 27, 2022 }}

Richard's grandfather, Abijah Hubbell, served in the American Revolutionary War. The Hubbells were descendants of Richard Hubbell, an English immigrant who came to the Connecticut Colony about 1650.

Richard W. Hubbell married Emily Snover in 1871.{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/genealogydoremu00nelsgoog/ |title= Genealogy of the Doremus Family in America |year= 1897 |publisher= The Press Printing and Publishing Company |first= William |last= Nelson |pages= [https://archive.org/details/genealogydoremu00nelsgoog/page/n097 68]–[https://archive.org/details/genealogydoremu00nelsgoog/page/n100 69] |accessdate= August 27, 2022 }} They had at least six children, but at least one died in infancy.

In addition to his legal career, Hubbell was a lifelong literary enthusiast and wrote his own poetry and prose. For much of his life, including his final years, Hubbell wrote for and edited the Wisconsin Alumni Magazine in its various incarnations. Near the end of his life, he published several of his poems in the magazine.{{cite magazine|url= https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AL4VEMG3DRZPUU8G/full/AA4YDO5S7ONAH286 |title= Mendota |last= Hubbell |first= R. W. |magazine= Wisconsin Alumni Magazine |volume=10 |number= 4 |date= January 1909 |page= 169 |accessdate= August 27, 2022 }}{{cite magazine|url= https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A7IVLMAK3GZSFB8C/full/ASGFQQTUPMWQQC83 |title= Alma Mater |last= Hubbell |first= R. W. |magazine= Wisconsin Alumni Magazine |volume= 10 |number= 8 |date= May 1909 |page= 340 |accessdate= August 27, 2022 }}{{cite magazine|url= https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AX4UJK54FT5QYG8K/full/ABEIE7PIIQIFCJ8U |title= Grand Review at Arlington|last= Hubbell |first= R. W. |magazine= Wisconsin Alumni Magazine |volume= 7 |number= 8 |date= May 1906 |pages= 359–360 |accessdate= August 27, 2022 }}

He was also apparently a fishing enthusiast, and authored a pamphlet on fly fishing, titled Hints on Fly Fishing.{{cite magazine|url= https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AT7HJVY4DKLGXX8F/full/AAD7HGI4QLDJ4A8U |title= News of the Alumni |magazine= Wisconsin Alumni Magazine |volume= 7 |number= 5 |date= February 1906 |page= 206 |accessdate= August 27, 2022 }}

{{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin Assembly, Oconto District Election, 1871{{Cite report|url= https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/3PZNSAQ7F7WRA85 |title= The Legislative Manual of the State of Wisconsin |year= 1872 |publisher= State of Wisconsin |chapter= Official Directory |pages= [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A3PZNSAQ7F7WRA85/full/AHX7FKSBN3JM6Y8S 453]–[https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A3PZNSAQ7F7WRA85/full/A327PDVSLDHK3P8S 454] |accessdate= August 28, 2022 }}}}

| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 7, 1871

{{Election box winning candidate with party link|

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = Richard W. Hubbell

|votes = 646

|percentage = 66.05%

|change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Democratic Party (United States)

|candidate = J. W. Couillard

|votes = 332

|percentage = 33.95%

|change =

}}

{{Election box plurality

|votes = 314

|percentage = 32.11%

|change =

}}

{{Election box total

|votes = 978

|percentage = 100.0%

|change =

}}

{{Election box new seat win|

|winner = Republican Party (United States)

}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin Assembly, Oconto District Election, 1872}}

| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 5, 1872

{{Election box winning candidate with party link|

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = Richard W. Hubbell (incumbent)

|votes = 945

|percentage = 64.95%

|change = -1.10%

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Democratic Party (United States)

|candidate = Ely Wright

|votes = 510

|percentage = 35.05%

|change =

}}

{{Election box plurality

|votes = 435

|percentage = 29.90%

|change = -2.21%

}}

{{Election box total

|votes = 1,455

|percentage = 100.0%

|change = +48.77%

}}

{{Election box hold with party link no swing|

|winner = Republican Party (United States)

}}

{{Election box end}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Find a Grave|112824245|Richard Walter Hubbell}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-par|us-wi-hs}}

{{s-bef|before = Parlan Semple {{nowrap|(Oconto–Shawano)}} }}

{{s-ttl|title = {{nowrap|Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly}} {{nowrap|from the Oconto district}} |years= January 1, 1872{{spaced ndash}}January 5, 1874 }}

{{s-aft|after = Henry M. Royce }}

{{s-legal}}

{{s-bef|before = Joseph Hall }}

{{s-ttl|title = County Judge of Oconto County, Wisconsin |years= January 1, 1870{{spaced ndash}}January 1, 1878 }}

{{s-aft|after = Albert Reinhart }}

{{s-bef|before = H. M. Woodmansee }}

{{s-ttl|title = District Attorney of Oconto County, Wisconsin |years= January 1, 1878{{spaced ndash}}January 1, 1880 }}

{{s-aft|after = O. F. Trudell}}

{{s-end}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbell, Richard W.}}

Category:1840 births

Category:1910 deaths

Category:Politicians from Ithaca, New York

Category:Politicians from Milwaukee

Category:People from Oconto, Wisconsin

Category:People from Wautoma, Wisconsin

Category:People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War

Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni

Category:Wisconsin lawyers

Category:Wisconsin state court judges

Category:County officials in Wisconsin

Category:Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly

Category:Writers from Ithaca, New York

Category:Writers from Wisconsin

Category:Union army officers

Category:19th-century Wisconsin state court judges

Category:19th-century American lawyers

Category:19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature