Oceana, Mason and Manistee, with thirteen other counties, occupying the whole northeastern portion of the Lower Peninsula, with a population of 205,277 was called the Ninth Congressional District, until 1882, when the boundaries were changed by taking Muskegon from the Fifth District and excluding Benzie, Grand Traverse, Leelanaw, Otsego and Crawford Counties and all the Upper Peninsula. The Ninth District, therefore, consists of Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Manistee, Wexford, Lake, Newaygo, Mecosta, Osceola, Missaukee, Kalkaska, Antrim and Charlevoix. The population was in 1880, 125,108, of which the congressional vote was, Republican 14,885, Democratic 9,292, and Greenback 1,063. The representative is Jay A. Hubbell, of Houghton, who was born at Avon, Mich., September 15, 1829; graduated at the university in 1853; removed to Ontanagon in November 1855; was elected district attorney of the Upper Peninsula in 1857, and re-elected in 1859; removed to Houghton in February, 1860; was elected prosecuting attorney of Houghton County in 1861, 1863 and 1865. He practiced law until 1870, being also interested in mining enterprises. In 1876 he was appointed state commissioner to the centennial exposition, for which he prepared the state exhibit of minerals. He was representative in the Forty-third, Forty-fourth and forty-sixth Congresses, and was re-elected to the Forty-seventh Congress as a Republican by a vote of 23,487 to 14,642 for E. S. Pratt, (Democratic); and 800 for George Parmlee (National). He received this mark of confidence without any personal attention to his canvass, having devoted his entire time to his duties as chairman of the national Republican congressional committee.
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