ABSTRACT
Elbert Green Hubbard, son of Dr. Silas and Juliana Frances Hubbard, was born June 19, 1856, in Bloomington, Illinois, the third of five children. His love of the outdoors, physical labor, and horses first turned him toward farming, but his cousin introduced him to the soap-selling business and he spent twenty years at that work. However, in his hunger for knowledge and culture, and in his search for an identity, he also read widely, attended numerous Chautauqua groups, and began writing. In 1881 Hubbard married Bertha Crawford and moved to Buffalo, New York, where his experience, charisma, and innovative sales techniques helped lead J. D. Larkin & Company, a seller of soap products, to financial success. By 1891, Hubbard had published his first novel under the name of Aspasia Hobbs, and a year later he sold his interest in the successful soap business to become a writer. Elbert and Alice were married in 1904.
