Michael Hildebrand, Sr.

Biography

Michael Hildebrand was born about 1781 in Lincoln County, North Carolina, to John Hildebrand and his wife, Barbara Eaker. He moved to the Cherokee Nation as a young man, and married Nancy Martin, a Cherokee woman who was the granddaughter of Nancy Ward, about 1800. Michael and Nancy were the parents of twelve children: Elizabeth, John,: Jane/ "Jennie", Margaret "Peggy", Delilah, Eliza, Stephen P., Rachel L., Nancy "Nannie", Joseph Martin, Brice, and Mary Elizabeth "Polly". [1] The 1835 Cherokee census shows Michael, Nancy, and seven children living on Ocoa Creek in the Cherokee Nation (now Polk County, TN). [2] Nancy died in April, 1837.

Grandson John “Jack” Hildebrand Easter Cherokee application #11603 identifies as grandparents Michael Hildebrand and his wife Nancy Martin

Michael remained in Polk County, Tennessee with some of his children at Removal and married a white widow, Lucy Absher, about 1839. [3] Lucy had children of her own when she married Michael, and they had at least one child, Michael, Jr. together. [4]

Michael emigrated to Indian Territory about 1859. [5]

"United States, Native American, Eastern Cherokee Indian Reservation Rolls, 1848-1970", database with images, FamilySearch (ark:/61903/1:1:QGNZ-FLF3 : Tue Feb 14 07:15:24 UTC 2023), Entry for Michael Hilderbrand, from 1848 to 1970.

He died in January, 1863 at North Fork in the Creek Nation (now Eufaula, OK). [6]

"United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8WQ-WC3 : 18 February 2021), Mike Hilterbrand, 1860.

Notes & Narrative from Findagrave.com:[7] Michael had a ferry that went across the Ocoee River and he farmed his land near the ferry. In Polk Co., TN not far from the town of Benton Co. TN.

Michael Hildebrand owned slaves, but he built them cabins in which to live
(Curator Note: the full page story clearly shows a date of April 5, 1923 but a search of the Polk County News for that date does not find this article)

After his first wife died he then Married Lucy Absher Whitson. She had chidren by a previous marriage. Her daughter, Nancy, had children with a son of Michael called Joseph Martin Hildebrand. Nancy and Joseph had two children one was Michael, born in 1842 and the other was Elizabeth born in 1847 in Polk Co., East TN. Nancy Ann Whitson and Joseph Martin Hildebrand never married.

Research Notes

• Listed as White on 1851 Census, Grandson Michael listed as Mixed, Miller Roll #859
• Michael Hilderbrand Sr. was listed as head of household in Canadian District, Indian Territory ,Cherokee Nation

Sources

1. ↑ Hampton, David K. Cherokee Mixed-Bloods. Arc Press of Cane Hill, Lincoln, Arkansas. 2005. pp. 112-113
2. ↑ Tyner, James. Those Who Cried. Transcript of 1835 Cherokee census. Chi-ga-u, Inc. Norman, OK. 1974. p. 188
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1840," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHT1-LNT : 8 September 2017), Michael Hilderbrand, Polk, Tennessee, United States; citing p. 10, NARA microfilm publication M704, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 535; FHL microfilm 24,549.
4. ↑ Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C. , District 3, Polk County, TN. p. 447, family #449.
5. ↑ United States Census 1860, Canadian District, Cherokee Nation, Indian Lands, Arkansas; Roll: M653_52; Page: 1187, #391; Family History Library Film: 803052
6. ↑ Hampton, Mixed-Bloods, p. 112
7. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/73094941/michael-hildebrand

See Also
MyHeritage Family Trees
MyHeritage.com [online database]. Lehi, UT, USA: MyHeritage (USA) Inc. https://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-1/myheritage-family-...

• Family tree: Kukuk Web Site, managed by Kathie Bryant https://www.myheritage.com/site-358661611/kukuk
• Record: https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-1-358661611-1-500823/mic...

Source: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hildebrand-1017
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Michael had a ferry that went across the Ocoee River and he farmed his land near the ferry in Polk Co., TN not far from the town of Benton. Michel lost his land and house to the Federal Government because he was married to an Indian (Nancy "Nannie" Martin, the granddaughter of Nancy Ward).

Hildebrand Cemetery is located on Hildebrand Road behind where the Hildebrand house stood near the Ocoee River, originally built in 1827, but has since been moved several hundred yards across the road (and reconstructed on the top of the hill as a brick house before 1940).

The WPA survey of January 23, 1940 states that the cemetery was started by Michael Hildebrand, or perhaps even by Cherokees before white settlers moved into the area. Their report says that although there were possibly 25 to 50 burials, perhaps many Native Americans, only two names are known of people interred there. James Kilian was the architect who became ill and died there, and Joseph Whitsun or Whitson was the stone mason who built the foundation for the (later) Hildebrand house. Joseph had a barely legible marker in 1941 that gave his birth and death years. A search of this cemetery finds an unmarked grave thought to be the grave of Michael HIldebrand’s Cherokee wife Nancy “Nannie” Martin Hildebrand

He bought it back from the Federal Gov. and lived there until he moved to Indian Territory about 1859 and died there in 1863. After his first wife died, he then married Lucy Absher Whitson. He and his first wife, Nancy Martin, had 12 children. They were as follows:

Elizabeth 1801-1887 John 1803-1838 Jane "Jennie" 1806-1860 Margaret "Peggy" 1811-1882 Delilah 1813-1864 Eliza 1815-1903 Stephen P. 1816-1867 Rachel L. 1818-1888 Nancy "Nannie" 1820 1891 Joseph Martin 1822-1898 Brice 1828-1868 Mary Elizabeth "Polly" 1829-1906

Death location may be Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Source: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/73094941/michael-hildebrand: accessed 05 May 2023), memorial page for Michael Hildebrand (1781–Sep 1863), Find a Grave Memorial ID 73094941; Burial Details Unknown, Probably buried on his land someplace in What is now Muskogee Co., OK; Maintained by Willora Glee Krapf (contributor 47029104). @ http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=73094941
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Opinion: Conasauga River nearly important in Tennessee history

This 1832 map by Matthew Rhea shows the part of Tennessee later organized as Bradley and Polk counties. You can see the general area where the canal might have been built but never was.

As the only river in Tennessee that is not part of the Mississippi River system, the Conasauga River is the answer to an interesting trivia question.

It nearly became a lot more than that.

The Conasauga flows west through Polk and Bradley counties then turns south into Georgia. It later merges with the Oostanaula River, the Coosa River, the Alabama River, and – eventually – into the Gulf of Mexico.

In fact, the Conasauga River’s odd geographic flow made the river quite alluring in the early 1800s.

Before man-made dams, there were serious barriers to navigation on the Tennessee River. Downstream from present-day Chattanooga, there were rapids, shoals and currents with names such as the Suck, the Frying Pan and the Boiling Pot.

A hundred miles further downstream, there was an even more notorious series of barriers known as the Muscle Shoals. There, the river widened and got so shallow that boats would get stuck for weeks at a time.

All of this may make the Tennessee River sound like a kayakers paradise. But rivermen of the 19th century didn’t see it that way.

East Tennessee merchants were constantly looking for an alternative to the long and dangerous trek down the Tennessee River, all the way to the Ohio River, the Mississippi River and New Orleans.

In 1821, some keelboat operators began taking the Tennessee River downstream to the Hiwassee River, then the Hiwassee upstream to the Ocoee, then the Ocoee upstream to a point about five miles south of present-day Benton. Boats and cargo were then lifted onto wagons and dragged nine miles south where they were lowered onto the Conasauga for the long journey to Mobile Bay.

The portage on the Ocoee side was operated by a Cherokee family named Hildebrand, while the portage at the Conasauga end was operated by a Cherokee family named McNair.

Today, you can still find a road named for the Hildebrand family on the north end of the route and the McNair family cemetery on the south end. The road between these two take-out points is known locally as the Old Federal Road.

For about a generation, products such as flour and whiskey were moved with regularity through this route.

The portage was an interesting alternative but not efficient enough from a commercial point of view. No sooner did it start becoming used than talk began of a canal connecting the Ocoee and Conasauga Rivers.

Today, the notion of this canal might seem farfetched. But the 1820s was America’s canal era.

The 336-mile Erie Canal connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean was being built in the early 1820s, and many other less prominent canals were being developed as well. Commercial boats were much smaller then than they are now. And any canal would have made water navigation feasible through a series of locks.

In 1826, the Tennessee General Assembly granted a charter to the Hiwassee Canal Company, whose intent was the development of the canal. About that time, Tennessee Governor Joseph McMinn petitioned Congress to obtain the permission of the Cherokee Nation to build the canal.

Had the Ocoee-Conasauga canal been built, Tennessee history might have turned out differently. East Tennessee might have grown a lot more prior to the Civil War. Bradley and Polk counties might have larger cities today.

However, the canal was never built. One reason was President Andrew Jackson’s lack of enthusiasm for internal improvements subsidized by the federal government.

But the main reason appears to have been the opposition of the Cherokee Nation. It was, after all, Cherokee land at the time. When asked to sell the land through which the canal would be dug, Cherokee chiefs rejected the notion outright.

“The representatives of this nation solemnly pledged themselves in General Council that they would never dispose of one foot more of land again,” said a document signed by 22 Cherokee chiefs (including John Ross) on October 11, 1827.

Today, the Ocoee is known for whitewater rafting. The Conasauga River is notable for the biodiversity of its fish, mussel, snail and crayfish populations.

In fact, the Conasauga has at least 10 species of fish and mussels which are listed as endangered and threatening—and many of them might be gone by now had they once connected the isolated Conasauga system to the Tennessee River system. So maybe it’s just as well that the Ocoee-Conasauga canal was never built.

Source: Carey, Bill. “Conasauga River Nearly Important in Tennessee History.” Herald Chronicle , 18 June 2022.
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Michael Hildebrand was NOT a DAR Patriot Ancestor but he is listed as son of HILDEBRAND, JOHN Ancestor #: A203289
Service: NORTH CAROLINA Rank(s): PATRIOTIC SERVICE
Birth: 2-15-1755 PENNSYLVANIA
Death: 12-20-1847 CHEROKEE NATION, INDIAN TERR
Service Source: HAUN, NC REV ARMY ACCTS, BK A, PART III, PG 1681; HAUN, NC REV ARMY ACCTS, VOL V & VI, PART IV, PG 561
Service Description: 1) FURNISHED SUPPLIES

Daughters of the American Revolution - John Hildebrand, Patriotic Service, DAR Ancestor #A203289
Describe The Record (Notes)
Michael Hildebrand born on - - 1781 at NC

died at Cherokee Nation OK on - - 1863 and his ( 1st ) wife

Nancy Martin born on c - - 1783 at Cherokee Nation, East TN

died at _______________ on - - married on c - - 1801  

married at Cherokee Nation, East TN

8.The Said Michael Hildebrand was the child of
John Hildebrand born on 12 - Feb - 1755 at PA

died at Cherokee Nation IT on 20 - Dec - 1847 and his ( 1st ) wife

Barbara Eaker Warlick born on bp 23 - Dec - 1749 at PA

died at Lincoln Co NC on p - Nov - 1797 married on a 30 - Oct - 1781

Source: Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed May 7, 2023), "Record of John Hildebrand", Ancestor # A203289.
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Further Reading:
1. THE BIRTH OF THE OCOEE’S
“An encapsulated history of the development of the Ocoee River in Polk County, Tennessee.” By Joyce Gaston Reece @ https://sites.rootsweb.com/~tnmcmin2/Ocoee.htm
2. Benjamin Hilderbrand House, by Weaver & Associates, LLC is a full-service cultural resource management (C”R “M) company headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee @ http://www.weaverassociatesllc.com/experience/hilderbrand.html
3. John Hildebrand & Sons, Peter and Michael, Lillard, Roy. “PCGCS Quarterly .” Feb. 2018. From the "History of Polk County, 1839-1999 by Roy Lillard Edited and formatted by Marian Bailey Presswood @ https://www.tngenweb.org/monroe/pchgs%20quarterly%20Feb%20%2718%20p...