Charles Franklin Hildebrand

Who was Charles Franklin Hildebrand?

Charles Franklin Hildebrand, usually known as Franklin Hildebrand, was an American journalist who from 1930 to 1957 published the Jeff Davis Parish News, subsequently renamed the Jennings Daily News and located in Jennings, the seat of Jeff Davis Parish in southwestern Louisiana.

Hildebrand was born in Wabash in Wabash County in northern Indiana, the son of Charles Hildebrand and the former Sarah Jane Spencer. He was educated in the Wabash schools, Manchester University in North Manchester, Indiana, and the University of London in London, England. During World War I, Hildebrand served in the Third Infantry Division of the United States Army. He fought in the battles of the Marne and the Argonne Forest and was awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for gallantry in action. On November 10, 1920, he married the former Mildred May Brown in Maryland. She was a daughter of Isaac Theodore Brown and the former Sarah Elizabeth Sibley. The couple had two children, Franklin and Elizabeth.

Hildebrand owned newspapers in Portland, Indiana, and Elkin, North Carolina, prior to his purchase in 1930 of the Jeff Davis Parish News. In 1948, he converted the Jeff Davis newspaper to the Jennings Daily News. He sold the paper in 1957 and retired to New Hampshire. A public lecturer, Hildebrand was also active in civic affairs. He helped to organize the Jennings Production Credit Association. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, the World War II Selective Service System board, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Masonic lodge, Rotary International, and the Jennings Chamber of Commerce. On retirement, Hildebrand wrote 104 newspaper columns about the history of Jefferson Davis Parish, which were published after his death in book form entitled As I Remember. He died in Peterborough in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, and is interred in nearby Temple, also in Hillsborough County.