Carson Hildreth, 1857-1926 [RG1670.AM]

HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID

RG1670.AM:  Carson Hildreth, 1857-1926

Papers:  1894-1926

Franklin County and Lincoln, Lancaster County, Neb.:  Banker, businessman

Size:  0.25 cu.ft.; 1 box

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Carson Hildreth, the son of Wilson Hildreth, was born in Livingston County, Michigan, on September 28, 1857. The Hildreth family came to Nebraska in 1873, when Carson’s father took a homestead near Naponee.

After helping on the family farm and serving in various county offices in Franklin County, Carson Hildreth attended the University of Nebraska, receiving an A.B. degree in 1895 and his masters degree in 1896. Returning to Franklin County, Hildreth started a real estate business, married Flora Adele Mowbray in 1900, and, in 1901, opened a bank in Franklin. Some years later he started the Macon State Bank (1907) and the Farmers State Bank in Bloomington (1910). While a resident of Franklin County, he served as president of the boards of the Franklin Academy, the Farmers’ Institute, and the Old Settlers Association. The town of Hildreth, in northwest Franklin County, was built on land that he had owned and was thus named in his honor.

In 1913 he sold out his banking interests and moved to Lincoln. When he died on August 19, 1926, he was working to promote his sleeping robe manufacturing business. (A Hildreth Sleeping Robe is in the Object Collections at the Nebraska History Museum).

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection consists of one box of manuscript material dating from 1894-1926. The materials relate to the business and avocational interests of Carson Hildreth, Franklin County banker and, later, Lincoln businessman. These materials reflect Hildreth’s interests in various Franklin County organizations, such as the Franklin Academy and the Farmers’ Institute, and statewide associations, such as the Nebraska Bankers Association, and in the promotion of his last business endeavor, the Hildreth Sleeping Robe Company.

Note: The photo component of this collection [RG1670.PH] includes family photos, pictures taken in Franklin County, photographs of the Pershing Rifles and the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity at the University of Nebraska, and a photo of the Orpheum Drug Store in Lincoln, Nebraska.

INVENTORY

Box 1

Folder

1. Biographical materials of Carson and Flora Hildreth


2. Hildreth Sleeping Robe Company, 1925-1926


3. Nebraska Bankers Association, 1905-1915


4. Nebraska Bankers Association Agricultural Development Committee, 1913-1915, 1923


5. Franklin Academy, 1894-1912 and undated


6. Hildreth, Nebraska


7. Farmers’ Institute, 1907-1912 and undated


8. Dakota, Kansas, and Gulf Railroad, 1909-1910


9. Boy Scouts of America (Lincoln Council), 1920


10. Miscellany

Subject headings:

Boy Scouts of America (Lincoln, Neb.)

Dakota, Kansas, and Gulf Railroad

Farmers’ Groups

Franklin Academy (Franklin, Neb.)

Franklin County (Neb.) — History

Hildreth (Neb.) — History

Hildreth, Carson, 1857-1926

Hildreth, Flora (Flora Adele Mowbray), 1867-1953

Hildreth Sleeping Robe Company (Lincoln, Neb.)

Nebraska Bankers Association

05-22-2007   Revised TMM/tmm