Family of Norval August PELTIER and Mary Hubbard DILLON

Mary Hubbard DILLON

Female

Edward Foster DILLON (1857-1937)

Julia Edna HUBBARD (1863-1952)

Dear Karen:

"I will answer your questions to the best of my ability. I got the

information on Giles Hubbard mostly from my mother [Julia Edna Hubbard

Dillon]. She was next to the youngest in her family. Barton Hubbard

was the youngest. Also some information from the Hubbard Bible.

Grandpa Hubbard [Giles] was born in 1817 - died in 1876. Those are

the dates on the monument in the cemetery. November 6 was Election

Day. He was the old-style gentleman (they wore shawls in those days).

They lived on a large farm, which now is almost the center of town in

Mt. Clemens. Also a high top silk hat. After voting he strolled out

to the barn to see the horses (my thoughts are wandering) and was

stricken with a heart attack, and died almost immediately.

"He was a high strung, nervous man -- always afraid that something was

going to happen to the children, a music lover, and enjoyed hearing my

mother play the piano for him. She was very talented, even as a

little girl. My mother often tells about his death -- how they laid

him out on one of the the work tables in the barn with his shawl over

him. She was only 14 years old.

"Their stay in Chicago was only a short time -- that is, a few years.

At the time of the [Chicago] fire, they packed up and came back to Mt.

Clemens. It was the time of horse and buggys. Things moved more

slowly. They had what nowadays we would call an apartment. They

called it a "flat." It must have been large though, for most of the

time a good many of the relatives lived with them. 'Berwin,' I

believe, is the part of Chicago where they lived. In one of the

Macomb history books there is a little piece about Giles Hubbard. I

have read it .... The only thing I remember was that he was asked to

run for Senator but he refused. Lincoln Avenue, where we always

lived, had a row of maple trees down the center that he had planted.

That street formerly was the lane that led to the barn, and a

beautiful street to live on in later years."

(Letter dated June 1, 1970, from Mary Dillon Peltier, granddaughter of

Giles Hubbard, to her great-niece, Karen Winfield.)