Hubbard, William

Hubbard, William a Congregational minister, was born in England in 1621, and came to this country with his parents in 1630. He was educated at Harvard College, where he graduated in 1642, a member of the first class. He is said to have pursued a course of theological studies with the Rev. Mr. Cobbet, of Ipswich, whom he also assisted in the pulpit. He was ordained about 1656. In 1685 Mr. Cobbet died, and Hubbard became his successor. In 1686 he served as assistant to the Rev. John Dennison, grandson of Major General Dennison, who was also a graduate of Harvard (1684). In 1689 Dennison died, and, about three years after, the Rev. John Rogers, son of the president of Harvard, became Hubbard's colleague. In 1703, enfeebled by age, Hubbard was obliged to resign his charge, and the people voted him sixty pounds as a gratuity. He died Sept. 14, 1704. His writings were mainly on the history of New England, and he left a work in MS. which has been of service to American historians. He published a Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians from 1607-1677, with a Discourse (Boston 1677, 4to) — Sermons (1676, 1682, 1684) — and, in connection with the Rev. John Higginson, of Salem, Testimony to the Order of the Gospel in the Churches (1701). Hubbard is represented by his contemporaries to have been "for many years the most eminent minister in the county of Essex, equal to any in the province for learning and candor, and superior to all his contemporaries as a writer." — Sprague, Annals Amer. Pulpit, 1, 148 sq.; Allibone, Dictionary of Authors, 1, 909.