History of Early Pioneer Families of Hood River, Oregon. Compiled by Mrs. D.M. Coon

HENRY J. HIBBARD AND FAMILY                                             1891

     Mr. Hibbard was born in Vermont July 19, l846. His parents were natives of that state and his ancestors, as far back as known were of English descent.
     The Hibbard family has been prominent in the medical profession in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. In 1850 Mr. Hibbard's parents moved to Wisconsin, then a pioneer state. When he reached manhood he did freighting for a livelihood. On November 1, 1866 he married Miss Emma Axtel, of Maine. His father was born in Massachusetts and was a farmer. In 1887 the family came west locating in Klickitat County, Washington, where he took up government land and engaged in stock and grain raising. In 1891 he sold his farm and moved to Hood River, Oregon, purchased forty acres of land four miles south of town and planted an orchard, and he also raised strawberries and was for many years a director of the Strawberry Union.
     He sold his orchard in 1902. This orchard, at that time being considered one of the best in the valley. He assisted in organizing the I.O.O.F. Lodge in Hood River and was a director and charter member. He was also a Mason while Mrs. Hibbard was a member of the Rebekah and the O.E.S.
     They have one son, W.T. Hibbard. He married Lillian Mabel Richardson in Hood River. They are the parents of four children: Florence Mary L., Frederick Joseph and Ruth. H.J. Hibbard died in the hospital at Dallas, from heart failure, three weeks after an operation. Mrs. Hibbard died several years later.
     Mary married Rev. Earl Ladd, a minister of the Christian Church. Her death occurred in February 1923. She left an infant son.

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