John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1078

Sorting the Germanna Hofmanns is not easy.  By way of a review of them, the following comments are offered.

The first Germanna Hofmann was Johannes (middle-familiar name unknown), who came in 1714 with the First Germanna Colony.  Since he had two brothers, who came later to America, let’s look more at the Hofmann family in Germany.  The father of the three immigrant brothers was another Johannes, whose occupation was transporting goods.  The elder Johannes became a Siegen citizen in 1690, and the same year he married Gertrud Reichmann, of Siegen.  Later they lived in Eisern, just to the south of Siegen.  Nearby in the valley was Eiserfeld, and the names of these villages show that they were ancient iron mining sites.  The Catholic region of Nassau-Siegen starts about here and there are no Protestant churches in these villages, although there were chapels, and use was made of the Protestant churches in Siegen and in Rödgen.  The Hofmanns were staunch Reformed people.

Apparently Johannes, the son, was trained as a carpenter, for he was hired in Virginia in that occupation; however, because he was only 21 years of age when he came to Virginia, it is doubtful that he had reached the status of Master Carpenter.  Johannes remained unmarried until 1721, when he married Anna Catharina Häger at Germantown.  About eight years later, at just about the time that Anna Catherina died, John Hoffman, or Huffman, moved to the Robinson River Valley amongst the Second Germanna Colony people, where he married Maria Sabina Volck, the stepdaughter of George Utz.  The Huffmans were slow to join with the Lutherans in worship, even though Maria Sabina was a Lutheran.  Instead, they built the Huffman Chapel as a Reformed Church, but it lacked a congregation large enough to support a minister.  As a consequence, they had only occasional ministers.  The history of this chapel is quite vague.

In 1743, John Huffman was joined in Virginia by his younger brother, Johannes Henrich Hofmann, who was born sixteen years after John (and was only 5 years old when John immigrated with the 1st Colony in 1714).  Henry, as he was known, did not come until he was an older man.  Apparently, he had reached the status of Master Carpenter when he was about 28, and at this time he married Elisabetha Catherina Schuster.  In 1743 he came to Virginia and settled near his older brother.

A third, and still younger, brother was Johannes Wilhelm Hofmann, who emigrated in 1741, two years before his three-year older brother Henrich.  Even though William (Wilhelm) did not settle in Virginia, we find him very interesting, as he left a diary and account book, which tells us a lot about life in Germany, and some of the special problems encountered by the Reformed people who lived in a Catholic territory.  He does not mention any training for an occupation except that he implies that he engaged in farming, but then nearly all people did that.  Among the services that he says he had to give to the overlords were mowing, making hay, hauling wood, hunting, and military service.

All three of the Hofmann brothers were educated, and we have written documents in their handwritings.

Only John, the eldest, lived in Germantown, and none of them ever lived in the Little Fork.  I believe it is the case that most of the Hoffmans/Huffmans of the Robinson River Valley were descendants of John or Henry.  I do not know if the Pennsylvania branch, through William, has been followed out or not.  There is no hint that William's descendants moved to Virginia, but this may be an oversight on our part.

(Note from GWD:  Just a bit about the naming customs of German families of this time period.  The first name was usually the name of one of the Church's Saints, in this case Johannes (John).  Each son was given the same first name as his father, then given a "middle" or "familiar" name, by which he was actually known.  Thus, Johannes Heinrich would have been called Heinrich in Germany.  This custom was not always followed in America, as the scribes who took down data for records would often write only the first name, by which a person might be known from that point forward.  This custom was also apparently followed with the naming of female children.  As is usually the case with any custom, this custom was not always followed, and was not used for all time periods.)
(25 Jan 01)