Hubbard Colby
I must not omit Hubbard Colby in these sketches. Born in New Hampshire more than seventy years ago, a stalwart man as we might expect, a son of the Granite Mountains, he came to Ohio in the early forties; taught school, studied law, wrote editorials, and was first associated with Mordecai Bartley, for a time in the practice of his profession, then with Henry B. Curtis, of Mt. Vernon, and afterward was made cashier of the Farmers Branch of the State Bank of Ohio, and continued in the employment of that bank and its successor in business until 1873. He married in Mansfield, his wife being the daughter of George Armentrout, Esq., and for a brief time was engaged in the mercantile business with his father-in-law. Later on the death of Mrs. Colby he married the daughter of Dr. S.W. Sells. When the firm of Hall & Allen quit business he, with Edward Sturges, Andrew L. Grimes and others, organized the Mansfield Machine Works. He also became interested in the Mansfield Gas Light Co. and for a number of years he was very active in manufacturing and other enterprises of Mansfield. On his becoming a member of the Baptist church, he was largely instrumental in the up building of that denomination of the Christian church in Mansfield, and to him is due the erection of the church building, corner of Park Avenue West and Walnut Streets. He served as mayor of the village in 1850, and associated with him was Wm. Johnson as recorder, the same Johnson who edited the Bugle in 1844 and was Congressman in 1862-1864. He was councilman in 1857-58-59 and again in 1866-67, and was regarded as an active, energetic and careful citizen. His practice of the law was limited, more especially on account of of the business engagements. The financial distress and panic of 1873 carried him down, and shortly thereafter he migrated to the Pacific coast. His first years in California were years of great hardships. He was too old to resume the practice of his profession and too poor to enter on new business engagements, and in time he was appointed to a clerical position in the office of the collector of the Port of San Francisco, which position he filled till his death some two years ago. In politics, a Whig so long as that party continued its organization, and then an ardent Republican. Had he attended to his profession, he might have taken rank there. As a financial man he was consulted, advised with and trusted for many years, but his last years in Mansfield were unsatisfactory, and yet he was ever regarded as a man of ability and brain. He was of commanding figure, good presence and socially much liked. A contemporary of Kirkwood, Burns, Brinkerhoff, Carpenter, Sherman, Ford, Bartley; the junior of Parker, Purdy, John M. May, C.T. Sherman and Mordecai Bartley. He lies buried within sight of the broad Pacific sea in the golden lands of California. Yet the records of Richland's bar would not be complete without mention of Hubbard Colby.
From Richland Shield & Banner: December 22, 1894, Vol. LXXVII, No. 32