Hildebrand family to celebrate 100 years of reunions Sunday at Floyd County fairgrounds

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

When the Hildebrand family gets together on Sunday at the Charles City Fairgrounds, it won’t be your ordinary family reunion.

It will be the 100th year since the family’s first reunion. It is also very likely to be the biggest, and according to organizer John Hildebrand, it could be the last.

“This is going to be our last reunion, unless someone wants to step in and take it over,” Hildebrand said.

Hildebrand said that as many as 140 people could be in attendance at the event, which will be held in the newly-built Swartzrock Community Center at the fairgrounds on Sunday. That’s a turnout that’s four times higher than any of the family’s recent reunions.

Those in attendance will be the descendants of Henry and Maria Hildebrand and Henry’s father, August, who migrated from Mecklenburg (Germany) in about 1853 and settled in Pleasant Grove Township, just west of Powersville.

The three original Charles City Hildebrands are buried at the Pleasant Grove Cemetery, about 1½ miles from the homestead, which is about 8 miles south of the fairgrounds.

Many of their descendants still live in Floyd County, including in Charles City, Rudd, Marble Rock and many rural areas in between.

“Many of our people are spread out all over America and beyond,” said John, age 71, who added that some of the distant branches of the family tree hold their own reunions.

John is retired and lives in Janesville, and has been organizing the annual reunions for about the last 20 years. He said that he began organizing this year’s get-together nearly a year ago, and told relatives near and far that this would be his last year as organizer.

“There are too many groups out there all broken up out in the country,” he said. “This will be our biggest by far, though.”

He said he recalls reunions with as many as 90 people in the late 90s. He is expecting to see relatives Sunday from as far away as Portland and San Diego, and expects the oldest family member in attendance will be Merlyn Hildebrand, who is 97.

Area people with last names such as Chambers and Bills are descended from August Hildebrand. In 1922, the children of Henry and Maria and their families started the series of reunions that continues to this year.

The family has missed a reunion just four times in a century, and the reunions were held at the Floyd County Fairgrounds for 50 years, until 2019 ended the streak. This year marks the families return to the site.