Napoleon F Hubert

HUBERT PEPIN ROBIN

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 9/22/2010 at 17:29:43

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Napoleon F Hubert
By Paul Hubert

N F Hubert was born at Salix, Iowa, son of Napoleon J and Rosanna Pepin Hubert, Lakeport Township, April 19, 1887. He farmed for a time with his father and in 1913, he bought a farm east of Salix, and built a house and necessary farm buildings.

On June 2, 1914, he married Miss Ella Robin, daughter of Leon Robin and Blanche David Robin. She was born April 9, 1890, at Salix.

In 1925, he sold the farm to N W Topf, and moved to Salix in the spring of 1926. While living in Salix, he worked for Louis Murray at the hatchery.

In the fall of 1926, he bought a farm at Luverne, Minnesota, and moved there in October. The corn crop in 1927 was poor due to the infestation of white grub worms. There were no chemicals in those days and the only way to fight such pest infestations was by crop rotation.

In 1928, he sold the farm and moved to a rented farm west of Luverne, Minnesota. This was a modern farm with large barns and a modern house with plumbing, furnace and electricity. They only lived here one year as the place was sold. They had a farm sale in the fall and in January 1929, moved to Sioux City. During the stay in Minnesota, the children’s schooling was from country schools. There were five children in one school and thirteen in the other.

While living in Sioux City, he again worked in the hatchery for Murray. In the winter of 1929, they moved to Hartington, Nebraska, where he opened a hatchery to Jack Boothy of Worthington, Minnesota, and the family moved back to Salix.

In the spring of 1931, they moved on a farm east of Salix, owned by Leon Robin. During the thirties, the big depression was on, and things were really tough. Corn sold for ten cents a bushel, hogs at $3.00 per one hundred pounds. If you were lucky enough to have a job, the pay was fifty cents to one dollar per day. The WPA got started during these days. The unemployed worked for sixty dollars a month and were glad to have work.

The economy improved during the forties and fifties, brought on by World War II.

The road was graveled and they got electricity all the same year, 1946, a year not to be forgotten after being on gumbo roads and kerosene lamps for sixteen years.

Nap and Ella lived on the farm until he passed away in October 1953. Ella built a house in Salix, and moved in December 1954. She passed away in November 1961.

N F Hubert and Ella Robin Hubert were the paints of three children: Paul, born May 25, 1916, at Salix, who lives on a farm east of Salix; Mrs Yvonne Carpenter, born July 29, 1918, who lives at Mission Viejo, California; and Francis, born February 6, 1923, who lives in Salix.