Here is what Wikipedia says, who knows if this is true or not since anyone can edit a Wikipedia entry.
Hobart was platted in 1849.[1] George Earle, an English immigrant bought land from the Potawatomi Native American tribe, who built a dam on Deep River, creating Lake George. He named the settlement that later developed into Hobart, after his brother, Frederick Hobart Earle, who never left England. The first school of the city was built in 1878.[6]