Hugh Hubbard was born in Turkey of missionary parents. He was educated in Switzerland and received a B.A. from Amherst College, from which he also later received a D.D. In 1908 Hubbard accepted a short term appointment under the YMCA to Tientsin, China, where he served as a teacher and athletic coach. There he met Mabel Ellis, who was serving under the Women's Board of Missions. Returning to the U.S., Hugh attended Oberlin Seminary, married Mabel Ellis, and returned to China in 1913 under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The Hubbards had four children.
A 1959 tribute to the Hubbards describes their mission work in China as follows:"Assigned to Paoting, the Hubbards began at once to seek for more effective ways of carrying the Good News into all areas of life throughout that station's exceptionally large rural field. Some years later it was the marked success of literacy campaigns in the Paoting field which led Dr. James Yen of "Thousand Character" fame to select one of its county seats as the headquarters of the Mass Education Movement. "The Christian Farmer," a magazine for new literates, was another achievement, as was the North China Christian Rural Service Union, later described by the Agricultural Missions Foundation as the most significant advance in rural evangelism in a quarter of a century. The National Christian Council requisitioned Hugh's services for a time to promote nation-wide literacy efforts; and the Fan Family Village Experiment in evangelism was showing great promise when interrupted by the Japanese invasion of 1937. Pearl Harbor caught Dr. Hubbard serving as Executive Secretary of the Church and Missions. But two years of life in an internment camp only gave their talents for leadership opportunities of a different sort. The Hubbards had barely returned from a post-war furlough when in 1947 Hugh was again requisitioned, this time by UNESCO, to direct for two years a pilot project in Fundamental Education. The Hubbards were the last American Board family to leave China after Communist control was established, staying by under increasing limitations unitl April 1952...."
"Hugh was an ardent hunter, one of the best tennis players in North China, and as an ornithologists published in collaboration wtih Dr. George Wilder the best handbook on the birds of North China. Both Hubbards had exceptional command of the Chinese language, written and spoken."
Hugh and Mabel Hubbard worked for the American Board Office of Communication following their return from China. They retired in January, 1958. Additional biographical documentation can be found in Series II.
From the guide to the Hugh Hubbard Papers, 1943-1974, (Yale University Divinity School Library)
