Son of Syl­ves­ter Main, Hu­bert at­tend­ed sing­ing school un­til 1854, when he went to New York Ci­ty and worked as an er­rand boy in a wall­pa­per house. In Ap­ril 1855, he be­came an er­rand boy in the Bris­tow & Morse pi­a­no com­pa­ny. That same year, he helped his fa­ther edit the Sun­day School Lute song­book by Isaac Wood­bu­ry. In 1867, Main was called to fill a po­si­tion in Wil­liam Brad­bu­ry’s pub­lish­ing house. Fol­low­ing Brad­bu­ry’s death in 1868, the Big­low & Main pub­lish­ers were formed as its suc­cess­or. In ad­di­tion to pub­lish­ing, Main wrote over 1,000 pieces of mu­sic—part song, sing­ing school songs, Sun­day School mu­sic, hymns, an­thems, etc. He al­so col­lect­ed mu­sic books; in 1891, he sold his col­lect­ion of over 3,500 vol­umes to the New­ber­ry Library in Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois, where they were known as the “Main Lib­ra­ry.” Main’s works in­clude:

• Book of Praise for the Sun­day School (with George A. Bell) (New York: Big­low & Main, 1875)
• Little Pil­grim Songs (with Mrs. Wil­bur F. Crafts) (New York: Big­low & Main, 1884)
• Hymns of Praise (with George A. Bell) (New York: Big­low & Main, 1884)
• Gems of Song for the Sun­day School (with Ira Sank­ey) (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: The Big­low & Main Co., 1901)

Sources

Music

1. Blessed Cross of Jesus
2. Blessed Homeland
3. Bright Forever, The
4. Ellesdie
5. Happy Little Pilgrims
6. Hear, and Live!
7. Hold Thou My Hand
8. Jesus, Jesus Only
9. Jewett
10. Let Me Lean on Thee
11. Little Friends of Jesus
12. My Ain Countrie
13. O My Savior, Hear Me
14. Only Trust the Savior’s Promise
15. Praise the Rock of Our Salva­tion
16. Save Me at the Cross
17. Tell the Blessed News
18. Thy Word Is a Lamp
19. Webster Groves
20. We’re Traveling Home
21. What a Friend Thou Art to Me!
22. Yes, There Is Par­don for You