Source: "Portrait and Biographical Record - Published 1894 by Excelsior Publishing Co., Chicago" Page 642

Jacob Hildebrand, carpenter, contractor and builder of Sheboygan, was born in the town of Centreville{sic}, Manitowoc County, Wis., November 1, 1855, and is a son of Joseph and Frances (Bernhard) Hildebrand. His parents were born in Germany, the father in Prussia, and the mother in Bavaria, when that country was a kingdom. The parents came to America in their youth and settled in Manitowoc County. The mother is deceased, but the father is still living and resides in Sheboygan, to which place he removed in 1861.

The subject of this sketch came to Sheboygan with his father, and here attended the public schools. While still a child he went to Houghton, Mich., in the copper regions, where he spent four or five years. Returning to Sheboygan, he resumed school work. After leaving school, he learned the trade of cigar-making. At nineteen he began learning the carpenter's trade, at which he was employed for five years, in Sheboygan. At the age of twenty-four, he went to the Rocky Mountains, working at his trade and at mining in Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. He went West in 1879, returning to Sheboygan in 1883. On his return to this city, he at once found employment at carpenter work, and in 1885 became a contractor and builder. Among the numerous buildings erected by him, may be mentioned St. Peter Claver Church and school, on the South Side; North Side Catholic Church; Charles Hanf's store; the St. Nicholas Hospital; a part of the plant of the J. J. Vollrath Manufacturing Company; the residences of H. W. Trester, Joseph P. Herr, Anton Hammes, and many other residences and business houses.

On the 15th of June, 1885, Mr. Hildebrand was married, in Sheboygan, to Miss Emma Selsmeyer, daughter of Anton and Clara Selsmeyer. She was born in Manitowoc, Wis., and died in Sheboygan, January 16, 1892, leaving four children: Antonia Frances, Walter J., Edna and Isabella O. Mrs. Hildebrand was a consistent member of the Catholic Church, in the faith of which Mr. Hildebrand was reared. He is a member of St. Boniface Order of Catholic Knights, and of the Sheboygan Benevolent Society. In politics, Mr. Hildebrand is a Democrat, and is now serving his second term as Alderman from the Eighth Ward. He has proved a faithful and useful member of the City Council, and enjoys the respect and regard of his fellow-citizens in a marked degree.

Return to the Sheboygan Page

Return to Bios page