ABE MARTIN continued from 64
One of the Abe Martin displays upstairs at the Abe Martin Lodge.
was editing a Dayton, Ohio, weekly, the Empire, he was thrown from a two-story window by an angry crowd of opposing political leanings. A well-placed awning of the first story saved him and he moved his family to Bellefontaine and started the Weekly Examiner. The local Democratic citizenry gave him a printing plant so that the Democratic side would be presented in that Republican stronghold. In their new home, neighbors found the family“ the best people on earth but the queerest.”
Sadly, the Hubbard patriarch died around the time that Josephine and Kin first met. Kin was the only Hubbard progeny to marry, and his mother, Sarah, embraced Josephine with warm affection.
At the time of his marriage, Kin’ s salary was increased by $ 5 to $ 35. Shortly after, Abe Martin’ s sayings were compiled in book form in time for the Christmas buying season. This was such a success that it was done annually for twenty-five years
Josephine and Kin made their home in Irvington, with their family expanding with births of son, Thomas, and daughter, Virginia. The couple made their first auto trip to Nashville, county seat of Brown County, shortly after their purchase of a Buick in 1914.
Kin Junior was born in the spring 1918, a mid-life joy to his father. But tragedy occurred on Decoration Day, 1919. On a return trip from Greencastle, the car left the roadway and plunged down a steep embankment into a creek. Little Kin was thrown from the car and drowned. Two years later, another son died at birth. Hubbard’ s life was deeply changed.
After nearly twenty years in Irvington, the Hubbards built a new home on north Meridian Street. It was completed in the autumn of 1929. On the evening of Christmas Day, 1930, Hubbard remarked to his family:“ This has been my happiest Christmas.” The next morning, he had a fatal heart attack after getting out of bed. Flags flew at half mast at the Indianapolis City Hall and the State House.
A lasting tribute to Hubbard is his Abe Martin character is the namesake of the Brown County State Park’ s Lodge, and the dedication of the State Park was an event of May, 1932, on what today is known as Kin Hubbard Ridge, a serious and permanent tip o’ the hat to Abe’ s creator. •
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