San
Joaquin County
Biographies
STEPHEN D. HILDEBRAND
The name of Stephen D. Hildebrand is
closely connected with the history of pioneer days in California, for he was
but a lad of nine years when his parents came to the west. He was born in Indiana on March 10, 1844, a
son of Abraham W. and Matilda (Heck) Hildebrand, both of Holland ancestry, who
settled in Pennsylvania. Later the
parents removed to Indiana, and were early settlers in that state; in 1848 they
removed to Iowa, and remained there until 1853, when the family crossed the
plains to California, taking seven months to complete the journey from
Muscatine. They came via the Salt Lake
route and Strawberry Valley into California.
The father, Abraham W. Hildebrand, engaged in mining in the placer mines
at Shaws Flat; but not meeting with much success, he
removed Santa Clara County, located near Gilroy, and engaged in stockraising
and grain farming there.
The education of Stephen D.
Hildebrand was obtained in the school in Gilroy. When he was twenty years old he went to work
in a dairy and later he conducted a dairy of his own near Gilroy. During 1874 he left for Calaveras County,
where he purchased a sixty-five-acre grain and fruit ranch near Milton; his
residence on this ranch covered a period of forty years. In 1913 he disposed of his holdings at Milton
and removed to his present home three miles northeast of Lodi. His place consists of twenty acres, twelve
acres in vineyard, five acres in orchard and the balance in alfalfa. His property is improved and is irrigated by
a four-inch centrifugal pump propelled by a ten-horsepower engine.
In Stockton, California, on February
22, 1870, occurred the marriage of Mr. Hildebrand and Miss Ella Powers, a
daughter of Richard Powers. Her parents
came to California across the plains to Salt Springs Valley, Calaveras County,
in 1854. Mrs. Hildebrand received her
education in Tuolumne City. When she was
five years old, her mother passed away in Salt Springs Valley. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs.
Hildebrand. Irene, the widow of William
H. Dickhaut, is teaching school in Butte County; Desse is Mrs. Thomas Gill, and resides at Stockton; Stephen
R. is interested with his father in the ranch, and assists in operating the place. Mrs. Hildebrand passed away on January 22,
1912. While residing in Milton, Mr.
Hildebrand was road master for four years.
Fraternally he is a past master of Keystone Lodge No. 161, F. & A.
M., at Milton, being master of the lodge for four years.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George H., History of San
Joaquin County, California , Page
1469. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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