I sympathize with the Huffman/Hoffman researchers because there were several large Huffman/Hoffman families in the neighborhood, and others with the same surname came later, thought not necessarily related. Just seeing the name Hoffman or Huffman does not ensure that another member of the families has been found. (Huffman and Hoffman were/are very common German names.) With some names, the mere appearance of a name is enough to justify saying he or she is a member.
In order of size and number of people, the family of John Huffman, the 1714 immigrant is the most numerous, because he came early and had a very large family -- fifteen living descendants by two wives. This family was very inclined to the Reformed faith, even though there was a Lutheran Church in the neighborhood. It was not entirely the Huffman's fault that they were so clannish. The Lutherans, at that time, restricted communion to baptized Lutherans. As a Reformed member, unless you underwent the baptismal process, you could not take communion at the Lutheran church. (Joseph Holtzclaw, Reformed, married Elizabeth Zimmerman and lived in the Robinson River Valley. He never appears in the Communion Lists, though he could attend church and he could be a sponsor at baptisms.)
John Huffman, the patriarch, seems to have taken the lead in building a Reformed Chapel, where Reformed people could worship. They never had a full time minister, but preachers did come in. It is unfortunate that the Lutherans were so uptight about Communion, and that the Reformed were so inflexible; we might have had more church records.
The second largest Huffman/Hoffman family was also in the Robinson River Valley. This was the Henry Huffman mentioned in the last note. He was a younger brother, by about twenty years, of the 1714 John in the preceding paragraph. Though he had a good sized family, he was later in getting started, so the family was smaller. The members of this family seemed more inclined to switch, or to join, the Lutheran church. Even here, when one of them appears in the Lutheran Church records, he or she may be noted as Calvinist.
The third Germanna Huffman/Hoffman family was that of Henry Hoffman, who lived in the Little Fork. These were mostly Reformed people also. This family is not as well documented. Confusion develops because two of the families are headed by "Henrys". Even after having three Huffman/Hoffman families into which stray Huffmans/Hoffmans can be placed, B. C. Holtzclaw had to have a section in his book entitled "Unplaced Huffmans".
There was a question about a Diana Huffman. The only one that I can find is not even a Huffman but the daughter of Peter Weaver, Jr., and Maria Elizabeth Huffman, the oldest child of Robinson River Valley Henry Huffman. I can find a slightly later Diana Huffman, the granddaughter of 1714 John Huffman, through his son (Rev.) Daniel. She was not born until 1784.
(18 Apr 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.