HistoryBenjamin Hubbard (1763-1823) came to Wilkes from Halifax County, Va., and married Rosannah Dyer in 1784 in Wilkes. He acquired property on Moravian Creek that includes the original two-story log portion of the home still standing from his wife’s family. The couple farmed the land until Benjamin’s death in 1823. County records show Benjamin was overseer of the “road jurors,” who maintained the Burke Road (road from Wilkesboro to Morganton). This old sunken road bed remains today on the Foothills Heritage Farm. |
Benjamin and Rosannah Marriage 1784 |
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Joel Hubbard (1801-1825) was Benjamin and Rosannah’s sixth child. He married Sarah (Sallie) Gilreath (1805-1841) and they inherited his father’s farm. Although he died young, he and Sallie bore one son, William Henry Hubbard (1824-1897). William Henry and his wife, Jane Elizabeth Saner Hubbard (1830-1901), raised eleven children on the farm from 1846 until Henry’s death in 1897. William Henry was community-minded, progressive in farming practices on his large farm and never owned slaves. He was on the Wilkes County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions (county governing body and lower court) and was a Justice of the Peace for decades, including during the Civil War. Oral history tells us he ruled on small claims cases and married people on his front porch. He co-founded Moravian Falls Academy (1875-1906) and Beulah Methodist Church (later Moravian Falls UMC, 1876-2003), where he was Sunday School Superintendent until his death. |
 William Henry and Jane Saner Hubbard, 1870s |
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William Henry and Jane’s ninth child, William (Will) Rufus Jackson Hubbard (1871-1955), inherited the property after his father’s death. He and his wife, Ella Joanna Chatham Hubbard (1868-1952), raised ten children on the same farm. Between 1906 and 1908, Will and Ella moved their family closer to Moravian Falls to access the luxuries of running water and electricity. |
 Will & Ella Hubbard
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In the early 1960’s, Will sold the farm property to his nephew, Dr. Frederick Cecil Hubbard (1893-1986), the founder of the Wilkes Hospital in 1923 and the Wilkes General Hospital in 1952. Upon his death, the farm was entrusted to three grandchildren: Richard Finley Hubbard, Ann Hubbard Carter, and Michael Williams Hubbard. The Benjamin Hubbard Farm remained in the Hubbard family until 2008, when it was donated to establish the non-profit, Foothills Heritage Farm, Inc. |
Dr. Fred Hubbard |
Early Life on the Farm
As efforts to preserve the farmhouse and outbuildings continue, it must be remembered that life evolved and flourished on this farm. All together, thirty Hubbard kinsmen were born in the house Benjamin Hubbard purchased in 1784.
Mary Bohlen, former FHF Board Member and active with the Daniel Boone Heritage Trail, describes activity on the Hubbard Farm best:
“My opinion, which is only that, is that a well-rounded and adequate story of the Hubbard family gives life and meaning to the farm. This place is more than just logs and chimneys and tools and furnishings. It is a place where people lived and breathed. A place where they got up each morning and prepared breakfast at the hearth or on a wood stove, washed dishes, plowed the fields, fed the animals, saddled up a horse or hitched the wagon. Children were born, babies were rocked, sickness reared its ugly head, butter was churned, apples were picked. The sound of a rooster announced a new day, cows bellowed, horses snorted, hay was stored, little chicks roamed the yard and the strike on the anvil rang across the farm and coal smoke from the forge drifted through the air on the hottest days and the icy cold winter. Work was done by the seasons and by the needs of those who called this home. Wagons and coaches passed by going and coming. Sewing was done by the fire, and maybe homework was done by the children at the kitchen table. Life was here and we have a challenge to bring it back for those who missed it, so they can imagine and appreciate it. I love the life that was here so long ago.”
More information on the family of William Henry and Jane Saner Hubbard is forthcoming.