36 Facts About Kin Hubbard

Frank McKinney Hubbard, better known as Kin Hubbard, was an American cartoonist, humorist, and journalist.

Kin Hubbard's first published book was Collection of Indiana Lawmaker and Lobbyists, followed by an annual series of Abe Martin-related books between 1906 and 1930, as well as other works such as Short Furrows and Book of Indiana.

Humorist Will Rogers once declared that Kin Hubbard was "America's greatest humorist".

Kin Hubbard added more characters to the cartoon series over the years, typically communicated his many quips and sharp-eyed observations of everyday life by pairing two sentences of humorous, but unrelated observations, in each cartoon.

In 1932, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources dedicated Brown County State Park to Kin Hubbard and named the park's guest accommodations the Abe Martin Lodge.

Kin Hubbard was inducted into the Ohio Journalism Hall of Fame in 1939 and the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame in 1967.

Frank McKinney Hubbard was born in Bellefontaine, Ohio, on September 1,1868, and was always called as "Kin".

Kin Hubbard was the youngest child in the family that included his five older siblings.

Kin Hubbard was the only one of the children to marry.

Kin Hubbard began drawing around the age of ten or eleven and became a self-taught artist and writer.

Kin Hubbard had little formal education beyond elementary school and almost no art training.

Kin Hubbard left the Bellefontaine schools at the age of thirteen before finishing the seventh grade.

Kin Hubbard graduated from Indianapolis's Shortridge High School and met Hubbard a short time later, when he was thirty-four years old.

Kin Hubbard nicknamed his wife "Tiny" although she was not small in stature.

Kin and Josephine Hubbard were the parents of two surviving children: a son named Thomas, born in 1907, and a daughter named Virginia, who was born in 1909.

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

Kin Hubbard loved the theater throughout his life and frequently attended theatrical performances and circus performances.

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

Kin Hubbard took a cruise to the Bahamas in 1923 and joined an around-the-world voyage aboard the Samaria in 1924.

Kin and Josephine Hubbard took trips to Miami, Florida, during the winter months.

Early in his career, Kin 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 1891 Hubbard began working as illustrator at The Indianapolis News, but he left after three years to return home to Ohio.

Kin Hubbard wrote and performed for the Grand Bellefontaine Operatic Minstrels and Professor Tom Wright's Operatic Solo Orchestra.

Kin Hubbard stayed at the Sun for two years, but rejoined the Indianapolis News staff in 1901.

Kin Hubbard's initial pay was a meager $12 per week.

Kin Hubbard rejoined the staff of the Indianapolis News in the fall of 1901 and continued to work at the newspaper for the remainder of his career.

Kin Hubbard became well known for his political caricatures, especially those of Indiana legislators and lobbyists, signing his political drawings as "Hub".

Kin Hubbard was known for his humor, as well as his practical jokes around the office.

Kin Hubbard initially worked in a News department that other newspaper workers dubbed the "Idle Ward" because they thought its workers had plenty of leisure time to talk.

Kin Hubbard selected essays for his book of the same title, which was published in 1912.

Kin Hubbard moved his Abe Martin character to rural Brown County, Indiana, on February 3,1905.

Portions of the names for the characters came from people that Kin Hubbard knew in Ohio.

Kin Hubbard found inspiration for names of his characters from Kentucky jury lists.

The cartoons began to reach a wider newspaper audience in 1910 after Kin Hubbard signed with the George Matthey Adams Syndicate.

Kin 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.

Kin Hubbard's humor continues to entertain readers through his Abe Martin books, as well as Kin Hubbard's longer essays and other works that were published between 1903 and 1930.