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Below is a family biography included in the Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania published in 1904 by T. S. Benham & Company and The Lewis Publishing Company; Elwood Roberts, Editor. These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary. Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more. There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.
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JACOB HOFFMAN, son of John Jacob and Louisa (Halwick) Hoffman, is a native of Ohio, where he was born January 14, 1844. In 1852, the father bought the farm now owned and occupied by Andrew J. Murphy, in Lower Gwynedd township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, containing 114 acres of land, of which about thirty-five acres was woodland, which was cultivated by the parents of Jacob Hoffman, farming being combined with dairying.
Jacob Hoffman attended the school taught by Andrew J. Lewis, of Gwynedd township, the same person who was for many years a justice of the peace in that township. After attending school three years, he relinquished his studies and began to participate in the management of the farm, and at eighteen years of age he took full charge because of his father’s failing health, and so continued until the death of his father.
Jacob Hoffman married, April 23, 1871, Caroline, daughter of Charles and Hannah (Lentz) Gouak, who were farmers of Horsham township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Gouak were natives of Saxony, in Germany, who emigrated to this country. The children of Jacob and Caroline Hoffman: Daniel Geiger, born January 31, 1873, attended the public school at Gwynedd until his twentieth year, after which he remained at home assisting on the farm; Hannah Louise, born August 19, 1874, attended Maple Grove school, and like her brother Daniel resides with her parents, being unmarried; John Charles, born July 3, 1876, attended school at Maple Grove, and is unmarried, residing with his parents and assisting on the farm; Walter Jacob, born October 25, 1880, died May 19, 1884; Edward Jacob, born January 1, 1886, attended Friends’ School at Gwynedd and also Maple Grove public school, and is now a pupil at the Williamson Trades School at Media, class of 1905.
John Jacob Hoffman (father) was born in Styart, Wurtemberg, Germany, and emigrated to America, locating in Philadelphia when he was seventeen years of age. He learned the trade of carriage building. Being offered a situation in a shop at New Orleans, he went to that city and was employed at his trade for some years there. While at New Orleans he married Louise Halwick, also a native of Germany. Their children: Christian, born in New Orleans, deceased; John C., deceased; Louisa, married Christian Booner, and resides in Philadelphia; Jacob, subject of this sketch; Caroline, married Jacob Zoll, and resides at Centre Square, in Whitpain township; Mary, married Christian Beener, who lives retired in Norristown; Julia Frances, married Benjamin Franklin Murphy, son of John and Tacy (Gillin) Murphy, and resides in Whitpain township; Susanna, married and resides at Centre Square.
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This family biography is one of more than 1,000 biographies included in the Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania published in 1904 by T. S. Benham & Company and The Lewis Publishing Company. For the complete description, click here: Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
View additional Montgomery County, Pennsylvania family biographies here: Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Biographies
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