Merry Christmas to All

The rather belated holiday issue of the (print) Hoffman Family newsletter has been published. We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year. I've drawn a greeting for you.

Together in San Francisco: Children of Caspar Hoffman

Caspar Hoffman’s four children appear to have been in California together in 1892. That was not clear before but newly available California voter registrations, 1866–1898, at Ancestry.com add a piece to the puzzle. Thanks to Randy Seaver for his Genea-Musings blog entry on these records!

Caspar had four children, all with his first wife Louisa Schmid. The children were:

1. Susanna (Suzie, Suzetta), born 5 September 1863 in Canton Thurgau, Switzerland
2. Heinrich (Henry H.), born 25 December 1865 in Canton Thurgau, Switzerland
3. Albert, born 26 October 1868 in Carroll County, Illinois
4. Louise, born 12 March 1870 in Carroll County, Illinois.

After Caspar’s death in 1877 with an insolvent estate, the children lived with various relatives or connections. Henry worked at the Hanover, Illinois, hotel of his uncle John Hoffman in 1880. He and Albert may have become experienced waiters working for their uncle as that was their later occupation.

In 1881 Suzie married Ohio native Jerry D. Thompson (or Jeremiah) in Carroll County, Illinois. Their daughter Maybelle Alice was born there in 1882. The first California record lists Jerry in the 1889 San Francisco city directory as a plasterer living at 1523 Mission. Henry H. Hoffman was still in Carroll County, Illinois, where he was naturalized on 14 March 1890.

Jerry moved to 534 Ivy Avenue by 1892 when his San Francisco city directory entry lists him as a painter. He is the only resident of that address listed in the directory. In 1895 both he and Henry Hoffman are listed there. A Henry Hoffman is listed in 1892 at 404 Broadway as a waiter, and is probably Henry H. Hoffman.

Louise Hoffman married John B. D. Kelly in Seattle, Washington, 2 November 1892. Her residence on the license is San Francisco. The mystery remains of how she met this Canadian immigrant who homesteaded land north of Seattle, but the marriage license shows she came from San Francisco.

The missing sibling at that time was Albert Hoffman. He married an Irish girl, Katie Nevins, in New York City 1 November 1897. He was a waiter in Manhattan but went to San Francisco with his young daughter after the death of his wife around 1903.

Albert was in San Francisco in 1892! 

Both he and Jerry D. Thompson registered to vote 19 October 1892. They both resided at 534 Ivy Avenue despite Albert's absence from the city directory. Jerry’s occupation was painter and Albert’s was waiter. Albert was twenty-three, born in Illinois. His height was 5’ 5 ¼”. He had a fair complexion, brown eyes and dark hair. Jerry was forty, six foot tall, a painter and had a fair complexion, green eyes and dark hair. Assuming Suzie and Maybelle lived with Jerry, all four of Caspar Hoffman’s children lived in San Francisco at some point in 1892. (Click on the image to see it at a readable size. Albert's line is highlighted in yellow.)

 Henry H. Hoffman registered to vote in 1896 and 1898 but apparently not in 1892. His occupation was waiter; he was 5’ 7” tall and had a dark complexion, dark or black eyes and hair. He was born in Switzerland and naturalized in the county court in Carroll County, Illinois, on 18 March 1890. (That is four days different from the document I’ve seen, but possibly it took effect then.) In 1896 he lived at 78 Ninth, 2^nd floor, moving to 247 Oak, first floor, by 1898.

Though all of the family lived in San Francisco at one time, questions remain. Not only is Louise’s connection to John Kelly a mystery, but also why Albert moved completely across the country and married in New York.

Wordless Wednesday: Brother and Sister

Dick and his sister Elaine

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Designer Credits:
-template for Copycat Challenge by clarabear based on LO by domad
-dotted background, green paper, brown paper, frame, leaves from Fallen Sun by TaylorMade Designs
-cream paper from Corinthia by Kitty Designs
-green flower from Primavera by Maya de Groot
-bubble scatter (blended) from Scatter It - Rainbow by Merkeley Designs
-pale splash from Sketchbook Artistry No. 1 by Sue Cummings
-Memories word art, yellow splat from I remember you by Biograffiti
-clock stamp from Kala Stamps by LydiaK Designs
-stitching from The Gift by Fei-fei's Stuff
fonts: Alte Caps, Neuropol, Pea Anderson

This Is the Face of Genealogy

For the inspiration for this post, read “The Face of Genealogy” at Thomas MacEntee’s Geneabloggers blog.

This charming photo is in a small family album. I believe the annotation on the picture was made by its subject, Gladys Louise Hoffman. She appears to be a young teen, so probably in the mid-1920s in Cleveland, Ohio. She was always very photogenic. Her married name was later Davis. Dick's Aunt Gladys was a treasured part of the family.

Military Monday: Mexican Expedition, 1916 - 1917

Rosina Hoffman Eiler's family was located two years ago with details added over time. Rosina, the wife of John Eiler, was the daughter of immigrant Margaret. I have just been entering some 1930 census data for Rosina's children and found something new to me. In the columns for Veterans I have seen more than "WW" which stands for World War and which we now call World War I, but the notation of "Mex" was new. It is on a page in Red Oak, Montgomery County, Iowa, where much of the family still lived in 1930. It was on the line for Henry L. Hixenbaugh, husband of Rosina's daughter Lizzie. That seemed to indicate the Mexican episode in which U.S. troops chased after Pancho Villa. The 1930 Census Enumerator Instructions provide the details.

"Mex" is the abbreviation to be used for the Mexican expedition. Further the instructions state: "Persons are not veterans of an expedition, however, unless they actually took part in the expedition. For example, veterans of the Mexican expedition must have been in Mexico or Mexican waters at the time of the expedition..."


Henry L. Hixenbaugh was not the only person on the page with that notation which might imply that a local unit was sent to the border. A website of the Iowa National Guard has more information and a link to a digital copy of an old publication that contains photos and names of the men in each unit of the guard involved in the Mexican Border Service 1916-1917. The Iowa guard was called up in late June 1916, trained about a month at Fort Dodge in Des Moines, then were transported by train to Brownsville, Texas. Guard units were entrusted with securing the Mexican border while regular troops pursued Villa. In December 1916 and January 1917 the Iowa Battalion consisting of three regiments of infantry and other troops returned home.


Henry served as a cook in Company M, 3rd Infantry, a unit from Red Oak as might be expected. He must have had many interesting stories to tell of his time on the border. Council Bluffs newspaper accounts at Ancestry.com show a Henry Hixenbaugh of Red Oak as interested in fostering a baseball program and politics serving as a councilman during the 1940s and 50s. Probably he was Lizzie's husband.

Iowa Troops in Mexican Border Service, 1916-1917, photographed, compiled and published by Dick Dreyer, Iowa City, Iowa

Surname Saturday: MUSCHG in Oetwil am See

The mother of the immigrant Hoffman generation also immigrated to Illinois, arriving in 1864. She was born Elisabetha Homberger, daughter of Johannes Homberger and Barbara Muschg, on 27 August 1797. She was baptized in Oetwil am See, Canton Zurich, on 3 September 1797. Her father was a citizen of the gemeinde (political community) of Egg, which is just northwest of Oetwil am See. Her mother’s family were citizens of Oetwil and lived in the Oetwil village of Bäch. Village might be a generous term as an 1835 gazetteer of Zurich listed it as having only three households. Despite his citizenship in Egg, Johannes Homberger and his family lived in Oetwil and that is where Elisabeth was raised and where she returned as the widow of Johannes Hoffmann, a citizen of Oberglatt, and where she continued to raise her children. The Muschg family must have been the anchor to that community.

Muschg looks very unfamiliar to American eyes. It appears in family name books for Switzerland and Canton Zurich, important tools in genealogical research. They list the places (gemeinde) in which people of those surnames held citizenship. The Zurich book lists detailed records of 1,200 early surnames. A problem with the books is that they give early (pre-1800) citizenship status, but only if the surname was still in the community when they were compiled. Thus Muschg is listed for Hombrechtikon and Maur but not for Oetwil am See. I believe that Barbara Muschg, wife of Johannes Homberger and her sister were among the last of the name in Oetwil. Some sons existed in earlier generations, but either they had daughters or the sons died early or disappeared from the Oetwil records. Following are the family’s Muschg ancestors.

Barbara Muschg: baptized 27 March 1777, apparently died after 1844

            married Johannes Homberger of Egg on 20 September 1777.

Rudolf Muschg: baptized 2 August 1735, died 5 November 1805

            married Barbara Krauer of Adetswil in Bäretswil on 6 June 1758.

Ulrich Muschg: baptized 30 May 1669, died 9 April 1739

            married (1): Susanna Kunz on 10 January 1700

            married (2): Elisabetha Walder on 13 June 1724

            married (3): Küngold Heüsser of Männedorf on 10 August 1734.

Bläsi Muschg: possibly born ca. 1640, died 27 December 1685

            married Barbara Küster prior to birth of a daughter in 1668.

The family information is from FHL microfilm of Oetwil am See and Egg church records of baptism, marriage, burial and family registers.

Family Recipe Friday: Jesse's Lemon Cake

Last week we made a lemon cake from the recipe given to me by cousin Donna that was her mother's recording of how Jesse's mother made the cake that became his birthday favorite. We took the cake to dinner at friends where it was enjoyed by all. The next day Dick again commented on how good it had been. While I've had the recipe for over ten years, this was the first time I tried to make it. So happy to know this family recipe is alive and well! One added note, a friend in Germany says she has a couple of cake recipes similar to this, so it may actually have been a German idea that Catherine brought with her, not something she acquired in Tennessee. I think capturing it in a scrapbook page makes a nice way to pass it along. Remember to click on the image to see it full size.

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Designer Credits: Ohana by Biograffiti
fonts: Kristen ITC, Gold Mine, Euromode

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Ancestor #34

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings has another interesting challenge for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (SNGF). This time he's going for ancestral name list roulette. Here is the challenge:

1) How old is one of your grandfathers now, or how old would he be if he had lived? Divide this number by 4 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an "ahnentafel"). Who is that person?

3) Tell us three facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the "roulette number."

4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook note or comment, or as a comment on this blog post.

5) If you do not have a person's name for your "roulette number" then spin the wheel again - pick a grandmother, or yourself, a parent, a favorite aunt or cousin, or even your children!

Using Dick as the base person, here is the result:

Dick's grandfather Henry Hoffman was born in Oct. 1873 making him 137 today. Divided by 4 = 34.25 that rounds to 34.
Dick's Ahnentafel #34 is Johannes Homberger.
He was baptized on 20 January 1771 in Vorder-Radreyh, Hof, Egg, Zurich.
He married Barbara Muschg on 20 September 1795 in Oetwil am See, Zurich which was her home community.
He died on 16 September 1835 in Oetwil am See at the age of sixty-four.

Three facts about Johannes Homberger:

1. He was a citizen of Hof, Gemeinde of Egg in Canton Zurich, Switzerland, but the family lived in the home gemeinde of his wife's family in neighboring Oetwil am See which is near Lake Zurich (the "See") on its east side.

2. Johannes and Barbara had at least eight children although the records were not totally legible. Marriages were recorded for three of the children, Elizabeth to Johannes Hoffmann, Jakob to Susanna Kunz, and Heinrich to A. Barbara Weber. Daughter Elizabeth was the mother of the immigrant generation of Hoffmans. She also came to Illinois where she died in 1870.

3. His occupation or trade was "meisterzimmerman" or master carpenter. I speculate that it was this occupation that brought Johannes Hoffman, zimmerman, into the Homberger family.

Mappy Monday: Hoffman Land in Woodland Township

The first land owned by Henry and Jacob Hoffman in Illinois was in Derinda Township in southern Jo Daviess County, the northwest corner of the state. Jacob later moved just south to Woodland Township, Carroll County. I wrote earlier about Jacob and the likelihood that he died between 1900 and 1903 when his grandsons, Henry and Jacob Benz, filed paperwork on his land. The Hoffman's brother-in-law, Jacob Blumhardt, husband of their sister Margaret, bought neighboring land in part mortgaged to Henry. When Blumhardt disappeared, Henry eventually got it through a sheriff's sale. I like a pair of landownership maps available from books published in 1893 when the Hoffmans were alive and later in 1908 after their deaths. Jacob Hoffman's land is then owned by Henry Benz, et al. Blumhardt's land that went to Henry Hoffman is then owned by David Burke who was in the process of buying it when Henry died. Also, David is the person with whom widower Jacob Hoffman was enumerated in the 1900 census. The maps tie all these facts together in a nice visual package. The maps were located in libraries, but these digital versions are courtesy of Ancestry.com. Click on any of the maps to see larger versions.

NW Woodland Township - 1893

NW Woodland Township - 1908