Kin Hubbard

Hubbard also originated and illustrated a once-a-week humor essay for the "Short Furrows" column in the Sunday edition of the News that went into syndication in 1911.

A few months after introducing his Abe Martin cartoon in 1904, Hubbard moved the setting of his most famous character to the fictional town of Bloom Center in rural Brown County, Indiana.

His humor and quips remain in use and continue to entertain readers through the Abe Martin books, as well as Hubbard's longer essays, cartoons, and other published works.

[1][2][3] Kin Hubbard was the youngest child in the family that included his five older siblings (three boys: Ed, Horace, and Tom; and two girls: Josephine and Ada).

[10][11] In 1909, the Hubbard family moved into a newly built home in Irvington, a suburban neighborhood of Indianapolis, and remained there for twenty years.

Hubbard tended to avoid public appearances, preferring instead to live a quiet life, but enjoyed traveling, especially in his later years.

[14] Early in his career, Hubbard held several short-term jobs that included work at a paint shop, as a postmaster's clerk for his father, and as an engraver and silhouette artist.

In addition to Hubbard, the department's staff included reporter William Herschell, best known for his poem, "Ain't God Good to Indiana?

After Hubbard gained notoriety for his Abe Martin cartoon, he was given a private office, where he continued to maintain a regular daily work schedule.

[22][23] In addition to his famous Abe Martin cartoons, which were a feature in the News and went into national syndication in 1910, Hubbard wrote and illustrated a once-a-week humor essay for the "Short Furrows" series in the Sunday edition of the newspaper.

[25] The popular cartoon series, which remained the main focus of the cartoonist's work for the remainder of his life, was featured six days a week on the back page of the News for twenty-six years.

[28][29] The scenic locale among the hills of southern Indiana provided Hubbard with additional inspiration to exaggerate Abe Martin's humorous comments.

These characters include, among others, Uncle Niles Turner, Miss Fawn Lippincott, Professor Alexander Tansey, Tell Binkley, and Hon.

[30][31][32] Although Hubbard's characters were composites of various people, rather than a single individual, their characteristics represented stereotypes of local judges, teachers, businessowners, and proprietors, as well as other inhabitants of the fictional town of Bloom Center, and were readily identifiable to his readers.

"[4] Hubbard died from a sudden heart attack at his home on North Meridian Street in Indianapolis, Indiana, on December 26, 1930, at the age of sixty-two.

[4][8] He is best remembered as the humorist who created the Abe Martin cartoon and was described by a fellow News employee as "a genial Dapper Dan with the soul of an imp.

[40][41] Hubbard's quip, "It's no disgrace t' be poor, but it might as well be",[4] was mentioned in Kurt Vonnegut's novels, Slaughterhouse Five and God Bless You Mr.

Signed drawing of Kin Hubbard by Manuel Rosenberg , 1926
First Abe Martin cartoon, published December 17, 1904