Henry Huffman who lived in the Robinson River Valley seems to be identical to the Johann Henrich Hofmann who was a younger brother of John Huffman who had moved to the Robinson River Valley from Germantown. In Germany, Henry Huffman had married Catherine Schuster in 1735, where the births of three children at the Roedgen Church are recorded. The Hofmann home was in Eisern, and the residents went to church in Roedgen (or in Siegen) since there was no Protestant (Reformed) church in Eisern. Both John Huffman and his brother Henry seem to have been carpenters by training. Wilhelm, a younger brother, about the same age as Henry, moved to Pennsylvania. Wilhelm’s “diary” leaves one with the impression that life for Protestants in Eisern, where the Catholics controlled the civil government, was not easy. Henry Huffman wrote a letter to Johannes Steinseiffer in Eisern in which he said that he came to America in 1743. The two men both married women of the surname Schuster though no connection has yet been found between the women.
Three daughters of Henrich Hofmann and his wife Catherine are known from the Roedgen church records:
1. Maria Elisabeth, born July 29, 1736,
2. Anna Catherina, born May 18, 1738,
3. Elisabeth, born June 14, 1739.
In Virginia, more children were born. The will of Henry Huffman, probated 14 August 1765, mentions his wife Catherine and that he had recently returned from Germany. This will is recorded in Culpeper Will Book A on page 419. Unfortunately, this will does not mentioned the names of his children or even the number of children. Some of the phrases from the will include:
a. “five pounds to each of the three eldest children”,
b. “the remainder to be divided among all of the children”,
c. “if Catherine dies, the eldest children are to take care of the youngest”,
d. “the land is to go to the boys who are not to sell it except to each other”.
There has been a discussion, almost a debate, about the number and the names of the children. I will defer this question to the next Note.
The sources of information that I have given so far include Germanna Record 3 , Germanna Record 5 , and Beyond Germanna . In particular, the latter has a facsimile of a portion of the letter that Henry Huffman wrote to Johannes Steinseiffer. Also in Beyond Germanna , there is a picture of the bottle, see BG p. 715, that apparently came down from Henrich Hofmann which strongly suggests that he was a master carpenter. This bottle bears the date 1735, which would agree with the first child born in 1736.
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.