Thomas J. Hubbard

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Thomas J. Hubbard
Born 1806
Kinderhook, New York
Died April 24, 1877
Oregon
Occupation gunsmith
Spouse Mary Sommata

Thomas Jefferson Hubbard (1806-April 24, 1877) was an Oregon pioneer and politician who was acquitted of murder charges in the first American murder trial in what is now the state of Oregon. At the trial the murder was determined to be justifiable homicide.

[edit] Early life

Thomas Hubbard was born in Kinderhook, New York, in 1806.[1] By 1834 he had left New York and joined Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth’s expedition to Oregon Country where Wyeth attempted to set up a fur trading network.[1]

[edit] Oregon

In September of 1834 the Wyeth party reached Fort Vancouver and they began constructing Fort William down river on Wapato Island.[2] Here Hubbard served as the fur post’s gunsmith. Then the next year Hubbard was accused of murdering the fort’s tailor, Thornburgh.[3] In the subsequent trial overseen by Wyeth’s friend and naturalist John Kirk Townsend, Hubbard was found not guilty as the death was ruled justifiable homicide.[1] The fight that lead to the death had been over a native girl named Mary Sommata, who he would then marry on April 3, 1837, with the Reverend Jason Lee presiding over the nuptials.[1]

Next in 1841 he participated in cattle venture where he and others built a ship, and then sailed it to California where they sold it and purchased cattle to drive back to Oregon.[4] Then in 1843 Hubbard participated in the Champoeg Meetings where he served on several committees and voted for the creation of the Provisional Government of Oregon.[1] When war with the Native Americans came in 1847 after the Whitman massacre, Hubbard built and donated a rifle and pistol to the government.[1] Later he moved to Yamhill County where he built a sawmill before dying on April 24, 1877.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Corning, Howard M. (1956). Dictionary of Oregon History. Binfords & Mort Publishing. p. 119.
  2. ^ Narrative of a Journey. New and Recent OSU Press Books. OSU Press. Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
  3. ^ Bevan, Dane. Public Meeting at Champoeg, 1843. Oregon History Project. Oregon Historical Society. Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
  4. ^ Collins, Dean (1943). Stars of Oregon. Binford & Mort. 45.