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.

Mappy Monday: Snohomish County, Washington, homestead of John B. Kelly

I think I could get to really like this Monday map theme as I really love maps and also find they can shed much light on our families and their past. I wrote earlier about Aaron H. Kelly, son of John B. and Louise (Hoffman) Kelly. John B D. Kelly was born in New Brunswick, Canada about 1851. I've found him recently at the FamilySearch Beta site in the 1851 and 1871 census of Canada. In 1886 he was in the state of Washington, a long way from the Canadian Maritimes. He filed his Declaration of Intent to become a U.S. citizen and days later filed a homestead claim on 160 acres on the southern edge of Snohomish County. His son Aaron apparently kept the property, running it as a dairy farm. By 1947 Aaron was a deputy sheriff and his address was Woodinville according to the Everett city directory that year. Everett is the county seat and where he must have worked. A current search for Woodinville shows it as a town in King County, home of Seattle and Redmond. It borders the land of the homestead. That land in a current map looks totally developed. The post office there must have been his mailing address. Here is a map showing the homestead location and modern boundaries and towns.

This is a composite of two maps, one from Snohomish County and another of the town of Woodinville in King County, Washington. I have colored in the section where the homestead was located and further colored its parts. The map has the land description written on it. Be sure to click on the map to see it larger.



Sunday’s Obituary: Aaron H. Kelly, 1947

Immigrant Caspar Hoffman left four young children when he died. The youngest was his daughter Louise. Like her siblings she eventually went to San Francisco, but then wed John B. D. Kelly and lived in Snohomish County, Washington. They had three children, the oldest their only son, Aaron. He was born 17 August 1893 in Snohomish County. He appeared in the census with his parents through 1920 on farms near the Snohomish/King County border. During World War I he served, between 10 April 1917 and 6 December 1918, in the U.S. Navy as a Seaman 2nd class. Aaron was enumerated on 3 April 1930 in Snohomish Road, Maltby Precinct, Snohomish County as a boarder in the Nels W. Pearson home. He was a farmer on a dairy farm. He registered as Aaron Hoffman Kelly for the World War II draft on 25 April 1942. He lived with his mother at 3803 Meridian and worked at the University Dairy in Seattle. He was recorded as 6' 1" tall, weighing 190 pounds with brown hair, hazel eyes and a ruddy complexion.

At the age of forty-nine he married Isabelle Mullin on 22 June 1943 at the University Methodist Temple, Seattle, King County, Washington, Rev. James Brett Kenna officiating, witnesses Bernice O. Jobson (Aaron's sister) and G. F. Martinson. I don't know if Mullin was her maiden name or not. By 1947 he resided in Woodinville and worked as a deputy sheriff in Snohomish County. In that capacity he must have spent time at the county courthouse in Everett. It would then have looked similar to this postcard though today it is dwarfed within the county complex.

As indicated in his obituary, he died on 30 May 1947. He was in the Providence Hospital in Everett where he died from complications following surgery related to a peptic ulcer. He was fifty-three. His widow was a witness to the marriage of his sister Bernice O. Jobson to Hugh J. Stack 17 July 1950. I have yet to find evidence of children of Aaron or his sisters.

Aaron's name was recorded in a scrapbook of his San Francisco cousin, Irene Anderson, as John. One census recorded his name as the homophonic counterpart, Erin. His signature on his marriage certificate authenticates Aaron.

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  1. 1900 U.S. census, Snohomish County, Washington, population schedule, Bear Creek Precinct, ED 210, sheet 15B, dwelling 319, family 322, John B. Kelly household; National Archives microfilm, T623, roll 1750.
  2. 1910 U.S. census, Snohomish County, Washington, population schedule, Bear Creek Precinct, ED 269, sheet 4B, dwelling 83, family 84, John B. Kelly household; National Archives microfilm, T624, roll 1668.
  3. 1920 U.S. census, King County, Washington, population schedule, Maple Leaf Precinct 2, ED 351, sheet 5A, dwelling/family 41, John B. Kelly household; National Archives microfilm, T625, roll 1925.
  4. 1930 U.S. census, Snohomish County, Washington, population schedule, Maltby Precinct, ED 31-89, sheet 2A, dwelling/family 41, Nels W. Pearson household; National Archives microfilm T626, roll 2519.
  5. Aaron H. Kelly, Certificate of Death State File # 231 (June 4, 1947), Department of Health, Center for Health Statistics, PO Box 9709, Olympia, WA.
  6. "Aaron H. Kelley (death notice)," The Seattle Times, Seattle, WA, 1 June 1947, p. 21, col. 4; digital images, GenealogyBank.com (http://access.genealogybank.com : accessed 24 May 2010).
  7. Descendants of Caspar Hoffman (1837-1877) Hoffman Family Notes by Irene Hoffman Anderson including photographs, information provided to which the author was a witness plus information handed down to her by older family members and completed Aug. 1, 1979; copies provided to the author by her sons.
  8. King County Marriage Certificates, 1855-1990, Kelly - Mullin 1943, King County Archives, Seattle, WA, digital images online, Washington State Digital Archives (http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/ : accessed 14 November 2010).
  9. “Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration” draft cards, Aaron Hoffman Kelly card no. 2158, Draft Board 4, Seattle, Washington; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 14 November 2010); from National Archives records.

(Not so) Wordless Wednesday - Henry H. Hoffman Wedding Day 1905

Henry H. Hoffman was born 25 December 1865 and baptised as Joh[annes] Heinrich Hoffmann on 7 January 1866 in Bussnang, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland. His parents were Kaspar Hoffmann, whose citizenship was in Oberglatt, Canton Zurich, and Louise (geb. Schmid.)¹ Henry traveled with his parents, older sister Susette, grandmother Barbara Schmid, probable uncle Heinrich Schmid and aunt Margaretta Hoffmann to Antwerp, Belgium. They sailed from Antwerp on the SS Medway arriving in the port of New York on 2 May 1867. Henry was recorded as Heinrich Hoffmann age eleven months.² Their names altered slightly when they settled in northwestern Illinois.

Caspar Hoffman's children were orphaned at his death in 1877 leaving an estate in debt. Henry lived with and worked for his uncle John Hoffman at his hotel in Hanover, Illinois, in 1880. Eventually Henry, his older sister Susie and their younger siblings, Albert and Louise went west to San Francisco. There Henry met and married Alice Houlton. They were photographed in the elegant auto in 1905. They had one daughter and a number of grandchildren.

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1 Kirchenbuch, 1600-1920 (Oberglatt, Zürich); FHL microfilm no. 0,996,482 from Zurich Staatsarchiv, Book 4, p. 40, 1865.
2 Manifest, S. S. Medway, 2 May 1867, p. 4 for Hoffmann and Schmid family; digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 April 2005); from National Archives microfilm M237 (New York Passenger Lists, 1851-1891), roll 278, list 356.

Madness Monday: When did Jacob Hoffman die? Where was he buried?

It is frustrating (maddening?) to be unable to locate death or burial information for one of the last surviving members of the immigrant Hoffman family.

Jacob Hoffman was the first born of the Hoffman family. As with all of the older family members, I do not know his birthplace, but the date is recorded in Oberglatt, their community (or gemeinde) of citizenship, as 16 December 1825. In the 1840s records show them residing in the community of Maur in Canton Zurich. There he married Elizabeth Zollinger on 6 October 1851. Their daughter Maria or Mary was baptized when they lived in Uessikon, a village in Maur. Her birth date was recorded as 5 December 1851.

Jacob’s brother Henry left Switzerland and took up residence in northwestern Illinois in early 1854. Jacob applied for a passport in August and followed on a long, arduous, journey to New York arriving 24 November 1854. With his occupation of carpenter, Jacob must have had plenty of work opportunities in the growing rural area of Derinda Township, Jo Daviess County, Illinois, where they settled.

Jacob’s wife and daughter followed him to Illinois in 1856 and they lived close to Henry for many years. Daughter Mary married another Swiss immigrant, Ambrose Benz, 6 December 1870. Two grandsons were born, Jacob in 1871 and Henry in 1873. Sadly Mary died 17 January 1875. In the 1880 U.S. census Jacob and his wife were enumerated with his niece Louiza, orphaned daughter of Caspar Hoffman, as well as son-in-law Ambrose Benz and the grandsons. They then lived in Woodland Township, Carroll County, which is adjacent to Derinda Township. The close family connection is illustrated by the fact that Jacob and Elizabeth stood witness to Ambrose’s second marriage in 1882.

Jacob experienced another loss when he wife died 29 December 1892. His next residence I’ve located is in the 1900 U.S. census when he was enumerated in Woodland Township as a boarder in the household of David Burk. David Burk (or Bork) has another family connection as the person in the process of purchasing land from Henry Hoffman at the time of Henry’s death in 1897.

When we visited the Carroll County courthouse in 2002 we were happy to find that the county has land record books that list all property transactions for each quarter section. Following the land Jacob owned, we learned that after his wife’s death he began selling his holdings in the NE quarter of Section 8, T25N, R4E (Woodland Township). He had some problems with it as one purchaser defaulted on his mortgage and on 2 June 1900 Jacob accepted a transfer of the mortgage to his grandsons Jacob and Henry Benz. A blank line was left for the money conveyed in the transfer. On 16 June 1900 the original mortgage holder, Samuel Larsen, and his wife signed a quitclaim deed to the Benz brothers. They, however, did not file the transfer until 25 June 1903. The transfer is recorded in Carroll County Miscellaneous Record Book 5 on page 123.

We have found no later record of Jacob Hoffman. We searched probate indexes in the Carroll County Circuit Court and found nothing. A book of funeral home records for Savanna does have a record for his wife’s burial, but not of his. The cemetery where she and their daughter are buried does not have a marker with his name. No cemetery transcriptions for either Carroll County or Jo Daviess County have his gravestone listed. Carroll County kept death records during this time period, but none could be found for him by a researcher at the Illinois Regional Archives Depository that holds microfilm of them.

Without any record of Jacob Hoffman’s death or burial, we can only approximate the date of his death. He was alive in June of 1900, but the land transactions seem to point to his demise sometime prior to 25 June 1903. We can only guess at reasons why his death and burial are not recorded, but the date seems to be in those three years.

Youngest brother John Hoffman of Savanna in Carroll County, Illinois was then the only surviving sibling in the family.

Hoffman Marriage Certificates

Originally posted 17 May 2009

Albert Hoffman's marriage certificate came yesterday from the New York City Municipal Archives! It is rich in information about his bride. It tells where each of them lived in 1897, their ages, birthplaces, parents' names and the name and residence of the priest who married them. One of the witnesses was Ellen A. Nevins who may have been Albert's new mother-in-law. I notice that the bride and witness both signed their names Nevins with an 's' at the end. Also the bride is listed as Catherine, but signed her name Kate. Take a look at both the certificate and the signatures.






Louise Hoffman, Albert's little sister and another of Caspar Hoffman's orphaned children, married a man who homesteaded in Snohomish County, Washington, a little north of Seattle. I still don't know how they connected, but the Washington Secretary of State Digital Archives is now adding marriage records from King County and I found her marriage certificate there. She and John B. Kelley (sometimes spelled Kelly) were married five years before Albert and this record has less information, but it does say Louise was from San Francisco, California. Her older siblings, Susie (Hoffman) Thompson and Henry H. Hoffman both lived in San Francisco by 1892, so she must have been with them.



Henry Hoffman, the original immigrant in the family, in 1858 married the first time in LaSalle County, Illinois, to Mary Donner, a German immigrant. I had an index listing of the marriage, but recently sent to the County Clerk for a copy of the actual record. At this early date there is little data, but it does have his signature. Having begun life as Heinrich Hoffmann, his version of his name in America was still evolving at this time. Sadly, Henry's first wife died in 1872. They had no children.