Thomas J. Hubbard

Infobox Person
name= Thomas J. Hubbard


caption=
birth_date= 1806
birth_place= Kinderhook, New York
death_date= April 24 1877
death_place= 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.

Early life

Thomas Hubbard was born in Kinderhook, New York, in 1806.Corning, Howard M. (1956). "Dictionary of Oregon History". Binfords & Mort Publishing. p. 119. ] 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.

Oregon

In September 1834 the Wyeth party reached Fort Vancouver and they began constructing Fort William down river on Wapato Island.cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Narrative of a Journey
work = New and Recent OSU Press Books
publisher = OSU Press
date =
url = http://oregonstate.edu/dept/press/m-n/NaraofaJourneyIntro.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-04-25 ] Here Hubbard served as the fur post’s gunsmith. Then the next year Hubbard was accused of murdering the fort’s tailor, Thornburgh.cite web
last = Bevan
first = Dane
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Public Meeting at Champoeg, 1843
work = Oregon History Project
publisher = Oregon Historical Society
date =
url = http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=40889788-92F9-C578-96471494DA12A34C
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-04-25 ] 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. 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.

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.cite book
last = Collins
first = Dean
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Stars of Oregon
work =
publisher = Binford & Mort
year = 1943
doi =
id = 45 ] 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. When war with the Native Americans came in 1847 after the Whitman massacre, Hubbard built and donated a rifle and pistol to the government. Later he moved to Yamhill County where he built a sawmill before dying on April 24 1877.

References