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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