Winfield Scott Hubbard was born on July 1, 1851, in Indiana to George Hubbard and Charlotte Stewart. His father was a blacksmith who owned $400 of real estate by 1850. He lived in Washington County, Indiana, until the 1860s, when the family moved to Franklin, Indiana. By 1870, Hubbard was working as a farmhand. He married Frances A. Writesman on December 28, 1876, and their son Harold was born around 1878. They settled in Darlington, Indiana, and Hubbard worked as a blacksmith. By 1900, they were living in Kirklin, Indiana, and he was earning a living as a merchant. They moved to Frankfort, Indiana, in the 1910s. He died in Clinton, Indiana, on November 27, 1938.