Abner Hoffman Family

Abner Darwin Hoffman was born on April 30, 1905 to Archibald Philip and Anah M. Altman Hoffman. His parents lived on the Andrew Altman farm with grandmother Martha Altman, widow of Andrew. The Altman farm is located in Damascus Township on Road 6A. Abner lived there until he was twenty-five years old.

Abner went to the Fisher School, located two miles west of McClure, on U.S. 6, left one mile to the corner of Township road 6 and County road N. Herbert Plotts lives there now. Abner walked to school and started when seven years old. His first grade teacher was Lena Fiser, second grade teacher was Chloe Jones and his third grade teacher was Floyd Johnson.

After three years at the Fisher shcool, the school was closed and united with the McClure School. Abner then went to the Grelton school at Grelton, Ohio. His fourth grade teacher was Nellie Myers, sister of Warren Myers. From then until the eighth grade, the teacher was Nina Mowery, now Mrs. Fay Jones. At this time, Grelton had only a three year high school from which Abner graduated in 1923.

The next year he started high school in McClure but only went one week. He stayed out a year and farmed and the next year went back and finished his fourth year of high school and graduated in 1925 from the McClure High School.

Then Abner farmed with his Dad until the winter of 1944-45. Then he went to work at Markey's Bronze Bushing Foundry at Delta, Ohio, where he stayed about five years and then worked about one year at Central Foundry at Defiance, Ohio. After that, Abner worked for one and a half years as maintainance man for Lee Motors, Ford dealer in Toledo, Ohio, and for seventeen years at Johns Manville in Waterville, Ohio, where he retired on May 1, 1970, at the age of sixty five years.

In the fall of 1927, Abner met Emma Boyd who lived near Malinta, and on December 20, 1930 they were married in the United Brethren Church parsonage at Custar, Ohio.

Their first child, Beverly Ann, was born on April 21, 1932; and on July 23, 1934, Eldon Leroy was born. Both children went to the Malinta-Grelton school. Beverly graduated in 1950. Following school, she spent some time in Toledo going to school and working. She met and married James E. Jones on December 9, 1951. To that union were born three sons: Michael, Thomas and Jeffrey, and four girls: Jeannine, now married to Alan Fuhrhop of Hamler, Ohio; Valerie married Mark Petersen, Hamler, Ohio; Wendy, a senior at Patrick Henry High School; and Annette, a freshman at the same school.

Beverly and James bought the old Mert Jones ten acres where they now reside. This acreage is located one and a half miles east of Grelton. In 1978, they have four grandchildren. Jim works at Campbell Soup Company in Napoleon, and Bev is a cook at the Malinta-Grelton Elementary School.

Eldon Leroy Hoffman graduated from Malinta-Grelton High School in 1952 and that fall started at Ohio State University in Columbus, graduating in June 1956. Eldon worked first as an Ag teacher at Big Walnut High School in Sunbury, Ohio, and later moved to Pandora where he taugh for a time. He married Lois Weaver of Grand Rapids, Ohio, and they have two daughters: Cynthia Jo, a freshman at Ohio State; and Suzanne Orredtta, in school at Ravenna, Ohio.

Eldon moved to Portage County where he became the County Cooperative Extension agent. He spent eleven active years serving the community at Ravenna, Ohio, both in agricultural work, church, and the Kiwanis Club. He served as club president and the club secretary and treasurer for eight years. Eldon was suddenly stricken with a brief illness and passed away at the age of forty-one years on March 26, 1976 and was laid to rest in Hock- man Cemetery at McClure on March29, 1976.

After his passing, an Agriculture Building to house the Vo-Ag Extension Service was built in his honor at Ravenna and a sign in front reads the "Hoffman Agriculture Center" and a large portrait of him hangs inside the building. This was Eldon's dream for Portage County while he lived, and, since he was so well liked in Ravenna, the people there made his dream come true.

Abner and his wife have lived on the same farm for all of their, now in 1978, forty-eight years of married life. They have been members of the First United Brethren Church, now called the United Methodist Church, at McClure for all their married life.

The plaque that Abner now has in his possession says 'Hoffman Centennial Farm 1848' and honors the farm that Abner inherited. The farm came down through the Hoffman family in the following manner.

John and Margaret Hoffman, great- great-grandparents of Abner, were natives of Pennsylvania. John was born in 1801. THey moved from Pennsylvania to Seneca County, Ohio. Their children were born there. John and Margaret moved to Henry County where they purchased 81.68 acres of land from the U. S. Government, by a Land Grant for $1.25 per acre, and the deed was signed by President James K. Polk.

Philip Hoffman, grandfather of Abner, was born in Seneca County, Ohio, on December 2, 1835. He was married in Henry County, Ohio, in 1857, to Nancy Murrey who also had been born in Seneca County, Ohio, on August 21, 1836. They had eight children including Archibald Philip Hoffman, father of Abner Hoffman.

On April 1, 1858, Philip Hoffman bought, from his father and mother, forty acres of the land now owned by Abner for a sum of $100. On March 21, 1874, Philip bought another forty acres for $1650.

When Philip and Nancy Hoffman passed away in 1916 and 1917, Archibald Philip Hoffman and the Grandmother Altman bought out the other heirs, making the farm seventy acres, more or less. The house was built around 1900.

After the death of Abner's grandmother and his parents, he became the owner of the Centennial Hoffman Farm.

A. P. Hoffman was a bee man and at one time owned one hundred hives of bees. He started at the age of six years when his father gave him a hive of bees. He sold honey in the 1930's for ten cents a pound, or eleven pounds for $1.00. Abner still keeps up the tradition of bee-keeping but has only one hive which furnishes enough to use all winter.

Abner is retired from the factory and farming but keeps busy fixing this, that, and the other thing. Last year he put a hydraulic lift on his old forty year old John Deere tractor and painted it. He alsohas a mower on it to keep the lane mowed in summer, and a snow blade he made himself to keep the lane plowed in the winter. He keeps busy with gardening, enjoying the nine grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, leading a Senior Class on Sunday at the United Methodist Church in McClure, and belonging to the Senior Citizens of McClure.

Submitted by: Abner D. Hoffman and family