This article is to explore the possibility that Benjamin was a relative to the Hildebrands of Jefferson County, Missouri.

Benjamin's family is listed in "The Hildabrand Family of Kentucky and Oklahoma and Allied Families" by Herbert L. Hildebrand and James P. Hildabrand. 1986.

BENJAMIN HILDEBRAND, b. @ 1777 d. 1844 in Madison Co., MO, md 1) 29 Jan 1805 to Miss Ground in Cape Girardeau Co., MO; and 2) 31 Mar 1833 to Mary Moyers in Madison Co., MO

1: FANNIE HILDEBRAND, md to Mathias Bollinger and living in Cape Girardeau Co. MO when her father's estate was probated. She may have previously been married to Peter Gross.

2: CATHERINE HILDEBRAND, d. before 1844, md to Samuel Duncan. They were living in Washington Co., MO. when father's estate was sttled in 1844.

3. GEORGE HILDEBRAND, b. ca 1809, md 1) to Joanah Murray, dau of Edward Murray 21 June 1832 in Madison Co., MO. Md 2) Margaret Higdon 2 May 1839 in Madison Co. She was b. 1813 in NC. Their children listed as:

4. BARBARA ANNA HILDEBRAND, b. 1813; md to Griffith Stegall 1840/2. They were in Madison Co. in 1844. He was from Washington Co., MO. They resided in Reynolds Co. by 1850. They have a family story that Sam's wife and daughters spent the night with Anna's daughter, Frances, when they were hiding out. They were of the opinion that the food they prepared was for Sam while he was in hiding. Frances and Sam would have been 2nd cousins according to researcher, Shirley Blanton, researcher for Anna. This would tie Benjamin to the John Hildebrand line in Jefferson Co., MO.

5. HENRY D. HILDEBRAND b. 1816; d. 1893; md 22 Oct 1839 to Sarah White in Madison Co., MO. she was b. 1820 in AL or TN. Their children are listed as:
     1) Nancy M.E. b. ca 1840, md to Wilkenson
     2) David D. B. b. ca 1842
     3) Frances L. b. ca 1845 md to Venable
     4) Julia A. b. ca 1848, md to Peace. Child: Lillie B. Peace
     5) George Joseph b. ca 1851
     6) Isaac Luke b. ca 1855
     7) John H. b. ca 1857; d. before 1880

Benjamin bought property in Logan Co., KY in 1801 but apparently didn't stay there long.

We found the following land claim record interesting:

Benjamin Helderbrand claiming 640 acres of land, situated on the waters of White Water, Cape Girardeau, see Minutes Book No. 4, p. 269. State of Missourie, County of Madison.
Peter Ground, aged about 73 years being duly sworn as the law directs, deposeth and saith that he has been in this country about 33 years. That he is well acquainted with Benjamin Hilderbrand, the original claimant. That he came to this country, then the province of Upper Louisiana, in the fall of the year 1803. That the claimant had a wife and settled on the land claimed in the spring of 1804. that he built a house. This witness helped to hew the logs and put up the house, and then claimant went on to clear land and make fences, say some four or five acres, and put in and raised a crop of corn thereon. This witness says he was present and marked the trees when the land was surveyed in 1806 by one Boyd, the Deputy Surveyor, and that the said tract of land has been actually inhabited and cultivated ever since. Sworn and subscribed before me, L.F. Linn, Comm'r., this 31 May 1833.

Peter Ground was probably the father of Benjamin's wife. We are not sure that he meant that Benjamin had a wife when he arrived in 1803 or that he had one when the statement was taken. If he had one in 1803, Miss Grounds would have been his second wife.

Benjamin was on the tax list in Cape Girardeau Co., MO in 1821-23, but in 1830 he was listed in the Madison Co., MO Census.

The writers of the above book give Benjamin as the son of Henry b. 1740/45 in PA; d. 1817 in Lincoln Co., NC or Robertson Co., TN and married to Mary Warlick, dau. of Daniel Warlick.

It is odd that none of the other children of Henry named anyone Benjamin. There were other Daniels and Henrys. Benjamin named his children Henry D., Benjamin and George. When we saw these names on a Madison County record they jumped out as the same names in Jonathan's lines in Jefferson County, Missouri.

The testimony of Barbara Stegall's family was that they were cousins to Samuel S. Hildebrand the civil war renegade and had prepared meals for him when he was on the run. They thought they were second cousins. See Hildebrand Saga in descendants of John the Pioneer. These points would bear a look at the records to see what the relationship might be.

We know that Jonathan, of Jefferson Co.,MO, was born 1783 in Tennessee. His family had left Missouri before that because of Indian troubles. The family had come from Pennsylvania so what was the connection to the NC/TN area? Of course in 1783 the area that became Tennessee was Washington Co., NC. Washington Co. was formed in 1779 but records may not be extant because their courthouse was burned three times during the civil war period. We need to check on this. It is possible that John had some land registered as he was there for several years.

The 1790 Census of Rutherford Co., NC lists a Jonathan Hiltebrand with two males, 3 females in the family. This was probably John (The Millright) who lived in Rutherford Co. until he moved in 1794 to Tenn. He was in Polk Co. by 1797 where he married a Cherokee widow. It is interesting that he was called Jonathan in this enumeration.

This John/Jonathan named his sons: Michael, Peter, George W., John, and David

It is also interesting that in the Jefferson Co. John's family they named their sons Henry, George, David, Samuel (Bartholomew was after the Herrington side). John's brother, Peter, named his sons: James, Moses, Isaac, David and Abraham. The first two died but Isaac named his sons Benium Abram and Isaac Jr; David named his Francis, Abraham, William, Phillip Caleb, Peter, David Riley; Abraham named his Peter, John, and David.

We know from testimony of Peter's daughter recorded in the Draper Manuscripts that Peter and John were brothers. From the names given their offspring, it would appear that John's family was closer to Benjamin's than Peter's.

Much work needs yet to be done to put together a genealogy of the descendants of John, b. 1733. There are many uncertainties. One mystery that needs to be solved is the ten years when John took his family back to NC during the 1780s.

The 1830 Census of Madison County shows Benjamin Hilterbrand with two sons and a daughter. He was apparently a widower at the time. His oldest son was born 1800-10 and the second was b. 1815-20. The daughter was b. 1810-15. Benjamin is shown b. in 1760s. We do not have the 1840 enumeration at this time.

Note: Democrat News obituary states that he was born and lived his entire life in the area; also, that he maintained that his cousin, Sam Heltibrand, the legendary Confederate Civil War hero of this area, was "never buried in that grave-yard in St. Francois Co., MO."

HELTIBRAND, SARAH, b. 18 July 1820 and d. 9 Jan 1897 (md Henry Heltibrand 22 Oct 1839)

[Also lists several children of Henry but none for George. It appears that George left the area. We need the 1860 census of Madison Co.]

The oldest daughter mentioned in the 1830 census is Barbara Anna, b. 1813 who married Griffeth Stegall. She also left testimony that they were second cousins to Samuel S. Hildebrand. In their history, they have a story about hiding Sam's wife and daughters one night with Anna's daughter, Frances. They were of the opinion that the food they prepared was for Sam while he was in hiding. Frances and Sam were second cousins according to Shirley Blanton, researcher for Anna.

Early records that mention Benjamin can be found in the Hildebrand Database. He was a signer of petitions from the St. Louis District and Cape Girardeau area. There were only five original counties in Missouri. Madison County was formed in 1818 from Cape Girardeau and Ste. Genevieve. Ste. Genevieve was formed in 1812 as an original county. St. Francois was formed in 1821 from Ste. Genevieve, Jefferson and Washington. Madison County is due south of St. Francois and Ste. Genevieve and west of Cape Girardeau.

It is interesting that George Helterbrand of St. Francois County had moved there in 1832 from Jefferson Co. This George was born about 1806-10 so would be of approximately the same age as Benjamin's George.

4. FRANCES, b. 1830s in Madison Co., MO. Md Mathias Bollinger and lived in Cape Girardeau Co. She may have been md previously to Peter Gross.

5. CATHERINE, b. 1830s (?) in Madison Co., MO. She md Samuel Duncan and lived in Washington Co., MO. Apparently the estate papers of Benjamin indicated she had died before 1844. To have married and died by 1844, she would have been born before 1830. She may have been a step child the second wife brought to the marriage and she took the Heltibrand name as she was not listed in the 1830 census with Benjamin.