The original manuscript of the Johann Wilhelm Hoffman Diary and Account Book is in the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division. A translation by Charles T. Zahn has been made available on microfilm by the Family History Library on film 193014. The existence of the diary and account book was brought to my attention by Ted Walker of Arizona.
After William Hoffman came to Pennsylvania in 1741 (two years before his brother Henry went to Virginia), he arrived in Philadelphia on 1 Oct 1741. Within the year he had moved to York County, across the “Sequahanna” to a place beyond Yorktown.
He records that, on 16 May 1741, he, his wife Anna Cadrina with their sons, Johannes and Johann Heinrich, left the village of Eysern (Eisern) in the Catholic part of the principality of Nassau-Siegen in his fatherland in Europe. He left an incomplete statement, “After I left Europe and the servitude in Siegen, in the form of handwork and money, as the book shows again and again - -”. In another place he gives as the motivation for coming to America, “the hope of being able to live without the burden of war.”
In America, he continued to record some of the same kinds of observations as he had made in Germany, namely, taxes, road building, road maintenance, and war. The war in Pennsylvania was the French and Indian War, which was so hard on the frontier counties. With his fatalistic spirit, he believed that God was punishing America by using war as the means. He records the end of the war on a very happy note with a wish for a peaceful life under our King George the Second of Great Britain.
There are two names that Wilhelm mentions from Germany that may be of interest. In 1739 and 1740, he mentions Pastor Heltsklaw from Wilmetogff. Surely this is a variant spelling of Holtzklau or Holtzclaw. On 5 Jun 1738, he speaks of his brother-in-law Heide of Siegen. Johannes Wilhelm Hoffman’s wife was Catharina Pithan and none of his sisters married a Heide according to B. C. Holtzclaw in
Germanna Record 5
(see page 342). The reference to brother-in-law Heide is unexplained but most likely comes about because “brother-in-law” does not mean what we think it does. Another brother-in-law is Heinrich Schute at Fuecknhette (?) whose relationship is also unexplained. Maybe the references indicate there were more relationships than we know about in Germany.
(25 Aug 06)
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.