Miami Union

April 20, 1911 

HOFFMAN, G. P. - G. P. Hoffman, a prominent and well known citizen of Pleasant Hill, died at his home in that place of Bright' disease Tuesday.  He was born in German, Oct. 20, 1852.  He came to Miami county and settled in West Milton in 1867 learning the blacksmith trade.  In 1875 he removed to Pleasant Hill purchasing and conducting a blacksmith shop and later adding a line of buggies and wagons.  He retired from active connection with the business several months ago.  Mr. Hoffman served his fellow citizens at various times as village treasurer, councilman and member of the school board.  He was a member of the Christian church, also of the K. of P. and I. O. O. F. lodges.  The funeral was held Thursday afternoon from the auditorium at Pleasant Hill.

Miami Union

April 27, 1911

 HOFFMAN, GEORGE PETER - Pleasant Hill--George Peter Hoffman was born in Germany on the twentieth of October 1852.  He had one brother, Adam and three sisters, Mrs. Elizabeth Davis, Mrs. Lizzie Steinman, and Mrs. Kate Mills--all of whom are dead except Mrs. Steinman of Springfield.  His parents, George P. and Christina Hoffman were farmers; and his childhood was spent amidst the rural conditions of the Fatherland.  But when he was fourteen years of age the family came to America, arriving in New York soon after the close of our civil war.  They came to Springfield, Ohio, and made their home there; and in the fall of the same year, the boy, then only fifteen years old, came to West Milton and began to learn the blacksmithing trade in the shop of John Kriegbaum.  That he was diligent and proficient in his work is indicated by the fact that for eight years he remained in this one place, and then he came to Pleasant Hill to begin a business of own.  The following year, in 1876, he was married to Miss Mary Kriegbaum, the daughter of the former employer at West Milton, and in loving comradeship they have met the issues of life together.  The home has been blessed by one daughter and one son, Mrs. Josephine DeBray and Rodney LeRoy Hoffman.  He has been devoted to his family and friends and was unusually kind to his wife and children.  For thirty-six years Mr. Hoffman has been engaged in business in Pleasant Hill.  For fourteen years he ran a smithy.  Twenty-two years ago he closed this line of work and began the buggy business in which he had since been engaged until failing health this winter compelled him to turn his interest in the business over to his son.  In all his dealings he has been ambitious to be honest and upright and to win the esteem of his fellowmen.  He has seen the village grow from little more than a cross-roads town to one with nearly every modern convenience, and he has always been on the side of progress and improvement.  For a number of years he was a member of the town council, was corporation treasurer, and was a member of the board of public affairs which installed our present water system.  He was a devoted member of the order of Odd Fellows, a past grand master of the local lodge, and for over twenty years has been its treasurer, with failing health having served it during the construction of its new hall.  He was a member of the K. of P. at Covington, also and held the high esteem of both brotherhoods.  When he was a child he was confirmed in the Lutheran church.  But shortly after his marriage, he and his wife united with the Pleasant Hill Christian church, under the ministry of Rev. Daniel Brewer, and he has participated actively in the work of the church.  For a number of years he has been one of the trustees of the church, and has been one of the efficient building committee in whose charge has been the construction of our new building.  His loss is most keenly felt by the committee which bore his form to its last resting place, and his death will cast a shadow across this enterprise which is so near to all their hearts.  Honored and respected for his integrity and uprightness, beloved for his sympathy and friendliness, he shall not only be mourned as a friend and neighbor but he shall be greatly missed as one who has worthily filled his place of usefulness in his church, in his brotherhood, in social life and as a citizen and business man.  For many months he has been suffering with failing health.  During that time he has frequently expressed his Christian faith, and on the evening of the Easter day he assured those about him of his faith in the power of the resurrection and his readiness to be at rest.  Calling his loved ones about him he gave them his blessing, and in this beautiful spirit passed on into the realms of light and life, on the seventeenth of April, 1911, after fifty-eight years of busy and useful life.  Funeral services were conducted Thursday afternoon at the auditorium by Rev. Alva M. Kerr, assisted by Rev. O. P. Furnas and the pastors of the town; the I. O. O. F. and K. of P. attended in a body.

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