Papers of Thomas Hubbard and Mary Jackson Hubbard
Overview
This collection contains papers of Thomas Hubbard, Harvard Treasurer and Commissary General of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and his wife, Mary Jackson Hubbard. The papers document financial and legal transactions and include deeds of sale for land in Maine, detailed accounts of bonds and notes in the estates of the Hubbards following their deaths in 1773 and 1774, and other documents related to the settlement of their estates.
Dates
- Creation: 1729-1779
Researcher Access
The Papers of Thomas Hubbard and Mary Jackson Hubbard are open for research.
Copying Restriction
Copying of fragile materials may be limited.
Extent
.19 cubic feet (1 boxes)This collection contains papers of Thomas Hubbard, Harvard Treasurer and Commissary General of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and his wife, Mary Jackson Hubbard. The papers document financial and legal transactions and include deeds of sale for land in Maine, detailed accounts of bonds and notes in the estates of the Hubbards following their deaths in 1773 and 1774, and other documents related to the settlement of their estates.
Biographical Note: Thomas Hubbard
Thomas Hubbard (1702-1773), who served as Treasurer of Harvard University from 1752 to 1773 and as Commissary General of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1759 to 1771, was the first son of Joseph and Thankful (Brown) Hubbard. He was born in Boston on August 4, 1702 and attended Harvard College, where he received an A.B. in 1721 and an A.M. in 1724. He married Mary Jackson on September 10, 1724; they would have two daughters, Mary and Thankful. Following graduation, Hubbard opened a brazier's shop in Boston; he proved a successful businessman and quickly accumulated sufficient funds to invest. Among his investments were land purchases in Maine and on the western frontier of the New England colonies.
Hubbard was active in civic and religious affairs in Boston throughout his adult life. He served as a deacon of Old South Church for twenty-five years and as the church's treasurer for some of that time. He acted as an organizer for the Massachusetts Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge among the Indians of North America, and he was a generous supporter of efforts to help the poor. In 1739, Hubbard was appointed justice of the peace, and in 1746 he was elected to the General Court. From 1759 to 1771, he served as Commissary General of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay. In addition, Hubbard served as Treasurer of Harvard from 1752 to 1773; he greatly improved the College's financial condition during these years. He became ill in 1773 and moved to Waltham, Massachusetts in hopes of restoring his health. Thomas Hubbard died in Waltham on July 14, 1773.
Biographical Note: Mary Jackson Hubbard
Biographical information about Mary Jackson Hubbard (d. 1774) is relatively scarce. She was born in Boston in an unknown year, to Jonathan and Mary (Salter) Jackson. Her brother, Edward, graduated from Harvard College with the Class of 1726, and their father was a successful merchant. Mary and Thomas Hubbard were married on September 10, 1724 and had two daughters together, Mary (who would marry William Blair Townsend) and Thankful (who would marry Thomas Leonard). In an obituary published in The Boston Gazette on February 28, 1774, Mary Jackson Hubbard was praised for her piety and described as being of a "naturally calm, even, placid, and sedate disposition." She died in Boston on February 15, 1774.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in two series:
- Papers of Thomas Hubbard, 1729-1773
- Papers of Mary Jackson Hubbard, 1773-1779
Materials within each series are arranged chronologically. It should be noted that the first series includes papers created after Thomas Hubbard's death and the second series includes papers created after Mary Jackson Hubbard's death. These posthumous papers relate to the settlement of their respective estates.
Acquisition information
The provenance of these papers is unknown; a note on the folder in which they were previously housed referred to the "Harlow donation list." The papers were previously classified as "HU 337" and stored in a folder of other materials related to eighteenth century Harvard College graduates, labeled "HUD 100 PF."
Online access
All of the papers have been digitized and are available online. Links accompany detailed descriptions.
Inventory update
This document last updated 2018 November 26.
Superseded call numbers
The call number for all material in the Papers of Thomas Hubbard and Mary Jackson Hubbard has been changed from HU 337 PF to HUM 38. Please use the current call number, HUM 38, with the appropriate box and folder number in place of the superseded call number when citing material from this collection.
Processing Information
These papers were previously unprocessed. Processing included involved a collection survey, arrangement of the papers into two series, re-housing in appropriate archival folders and boxes, and the creation of this finding aid.
This finding aid was created by Laura Morris in June 2010.
Preservation and description of the Papers of Thomas Hubbard and Mary Jackson Hubbard was supported by the Arcadia-funded project Harvard in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.
- Title
- Hubbard, Thomas, 1702-1773. Papers of Thomas Hubbard and Mary Jackson Hubbard, 1729-1779: an inventory
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hua24010
Repository Details
Part of the Harvard University Archives Repository
Holding nearly four centuries of materials, the Harvard University Archives is the principal repository for the institutional records of Harvard University and the personal archives of Harvard faculty, as well as collections related to students, alumni, Harvard-affiliates and other associated topics. The collections document the intellectual, cultural, administrative and social life of Harvard and the influence of the University as it emerged across the globe.
Pusey Library
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Cambridge MA 02138 USA
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archives_reference@harvard.edu