Edward Peter Hoffman: 52 Ancestors Prompt "12"

Edward Peter Hoffman: 1882-1972
52 Weeks, 52 Ancestors Week 12 Prompt: 12

Last week I blogged about the large family of Johannes “Henry” Hoffman and Sophia Streu Hoffman, parents of thirteen children who survived to adulthood. So when I was confronted with the prompt “12”, I immediately thought of writing about their twelfth child, my great-uncle Edward Peter Hoffman. 

Edward was born February 26, 1882, when his father was age 45 and his mother was 41. Both parents were German immigrants, and had settled on a farm in Mankato Township, Blue Earth County, Minnesota. It is hard to determine how profitable the farm may have been, but as the children grew up, they moved out and formed their own households fairly quickly. By the time Edward was 17, only the four youngest children remained at home.  Edward had left school and was working as a farm laborer, presumably for his father.

Edward around 1900

Just six years later, Edward’s father was dead. According to the 1900 census, the farm was still mortgaged, so it is hard to tell if the family was able to keep the land. Edward had still been living with his parents in 1905 when the state census was taken, but there is no record of him in the 1910 census that seems to match. He reappears in records November 19, 1912 when he marries Minnie P. Kind (or Kindt) in Blue Earth County. He is 29 and she is 20 years of age. She immigrated to the United States with her mother and stepfather, and the 1910 census shows she was working in the knitting mills in Mankato by the time she was 17. Edward must have stayed in the area after his father’s death to have met and courted Minnie.

Edward and Minnie's wedding

By the time the 1920 census occurs, Edward and Minnie are living at 1203 East Line in Mankato. They have a 5 year old son, Edward, and three daughters, Harriet, age 4; Lorraine, age 19 months, and Geneva, just 2 months old. Edward is also providing a home for his 79 year old mother, and two adult nephews, Rudolph and John Lamm. The three men are all employed in trades. Edward is working as a carpenter with the cryptic note that his employer is “Bridge”. His nephew Rudolph is a plumber working for a plumbing contractor, and John has followed his uncle into carpentry, and is working on houses.

By the 1930 census, the family had two more children, Raymond, born in 1921, and Muriel, born in 1923. Edward’s mother had died and one of the Lamm brothers had moved out. The family had moved to a house at 116 Germania St. I have tried to find the house on current maps of Mankato, but it no longer exists. I suspect the street may have been renamed at some point; I can pinpoint the area from the surrounding streets and addresses on the census forms, but Germania Street is no longer there, although the general neighborhood is still known as Germania.

Edward Hoffman Family

Edward continues to work as a carpenter according to both the 1930 and 1940 censuses. He is employed by the railroad, which was listed on the 1940 census as the Omaka, which I believe was the Chicaog Minneapolis, St. Paul Omaha Railway Company, commonly called the Omaha line. He apparently built and repaired bridges for the railroad, earning $1131 in 1940. By the 1940 census, the family has added an additional two children, son Gerald, born in 1931  and daughter Joanne, born in  1934, when her parents were 42 and 51 years old.  The family also included a grandson named Wayne, illegitimate son of daughter Harriet. Edward and Minnie raised him.

Railway share for "Omaha Line"

Minnie died quite young, in 1952 at age 61. She had raised eight children and a grandchild—hard physical labor in that era. Edward never remarried, dying on December 30, 1972 at the age of ninety. He was living in Sibley at his death, most likely with his daughter Harriet. He is buried with Minnie at Pilgrim’s Rest Cemetery in Mankato, Minnesota.

Edward and Minnie before her death--around 1950?

Edward’s life may not have been the most exciting, but like so many members of my family tree, he lived a solid, productive life, working hard to support his family. He took on responsibilities that others shirked, providing homes for several extended family members. As Child No. 12 of Henry and Sophia Hoffman, he was a fine example of the type of solid citizens they raised.