Ernest Hilborn was born in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1876, the son of Celia (Pond) and Edwin Hilborn. His ancestors were famous on both sides of the family back to the Revolutionary War.

Orphaned at eleven years of age, Ernest was taken by his sister and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Sandberg, who lived at Rogers, North Dakota. He attended the State Normal School at Valley City until John Sandberg's death in 1896. He graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1905. Teaching at Enderlin, North Dakota, he met Grace Washburn and they were married August 15, 1908. They settled at Valley City where he had started a nursery, known as the Northwest Nursery. Eventually, he was elected President of the National Association of Nurseries.

Ernest and Grace had two daughters; Ruth Alice, born July 29, 1909, and Edith Harriet, born April 6, 1912.

Alice, with a B.A. in Home Economics, married Raymond A. Nelson.

Edith married Richard Layton on September 5, 1930, in Valley City. Richard was born February 4, 1908. To this couple were born; Grace Mary (August 4, 1931), Richard (February 3, 1933), Donald (April 10, 1935) and Steven Paul (September 19, 1948). '

Grace, the oldest was stricken with Polio in 1950. She married David Sandness on June 1, 1958, and they have adopted seven children. '

Donald married Pauline Giger Hagar and Steven married Diane Christopherson of Bisbee, North Dakota.

Ernest Hilborn died on August 26, 1953. Grace Washburn Hilborn died in 1971.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 102