Unusual Beard on a Handsome Face
Johannes Heinrich Wilhelm “Henry” Hoffman: 1836-1906
I have only
one confirmed photo of my second-great-grandfather “Henry” Hoffman, and in it
he sports the most amazing beard—I’ve never seen one quite like it! While it
may have been unusual, the beard didn’t disguise his handsome face and
beautiful bone structure.
Johannes
Heinrich Hoffman was born on June 4, 1836 in Odelum, Hanover, Germany. His
parents were Freidrich Behrend Hoffman and Maria Christina Uepkendanz. He was
one of several children.
Johannes
Heinrich immigrated in 1855 according to the 1900 census. I have been unable to
find the records of his departure from Germany or his arrival in the United
States. Nor do I know where he first went when he reached America. Did he
travel alone at age nineteen, or did he immigrate with a friend or relative?
By 1860,
the United States Census finds him living in Greenfield, Wisconsin. He is married
to Sophia Maria Christiane Streu, and he is working as a carpenter. Sophia is
20 to his 24, and according to the census record, she was born in the
Michlenburg area of Germany.
I found the
Streu family on the May 1, 1857 departure list for the ship Johannes, leaving
the port of Hamburg for New York City. Sophia was 17 years old; her father was
fifty. I wonder what motivated a man of his age to uproot his family and sail
to America?
By the 1860
census, Sophia’s parents and two youngest siblings were living in Racine,
Wisconsin. Racine is under thirty miles from Greenfield, so the young couple
must have met in Wisconsin—perhaps at church or through mutual acquaintances--
and married on October 18, 1859.
Henry and
Sophia had moved their growing family to a farm near Greenfield by the 1870
census. They had five young children by then, and also had Sophia’s younger
brother William, age 26, living with them, probably as a laborer on the farm.
By the 1880
census, the family had moved to a farm near Mankato, Minnesota, where they
would live for the rest of their lives. Sophia’s aging parents had moved with
them. The older couple were probably helpful with the Hoffmans’ growing family—they
had eleven young children by that point, and would go on to have two more
before 1884.
I suspect
the photo was taken at some point after the 1880 census, probably around 1885-1888,
when Henry would have been in his early fifties, and Sophia was in her late
forties. Henry’s amazing beard is white, and the soft waves of his hair are
graying. Sophia also appears to be graying, although she may have had fair hair
to begin with.
I love the details in this photo. It appears Henry’s suit pants had been let down at some point—there are two lines above the hem where the fabric had been folded at some point. The suit appears to be a solid wool fabric—I would guess they took great care of it so that it would last for years. Sophia’s dress is the same sober shade as her husband’s suit. The skirt features rows of pintucks, echoed on the bodice of the dress.
Sophia is a slender woman—you would never guess she
gave birth to thirteen children and had nursed them all. Putting on the dress
must have taken several minutes, with at least thirteen buttons to fasten.
Sophia looks strangely serene and her face is very smooth—no grooves or frown
lines reflecting stress or an irritable disposition.
Henry looks
a little more careworn, with his downturned eyes, creased from squinting into
the sun while in the fields. He is still a strikingly handsome man,
clean-shaven but for that amazing little white beard that falls from the very
base of his chin—it appears he shaved beneath his lower lip so the beard was
rigidly confined to his chin. It’s a striking look that suits his face.
I wish I
knew more about this amazing couple. Henry died June 21, 1906, less than twenty
years after this photo was taken. He was only seventy years old. Sophia lived
another sixteen years, dying March 23, 1922. She lived with her youngest son,
Edward, and his family in the family home just outside of Mankato.
No comments:
Post a Comment