Middle names are common in Germany, and it was common for German parents to give their children 2 or more middle names for their children. Many times these children chose one of their middle names to use as a given name.
Johann Andreas Hoffmann was born circa 1750 in Germany. He lived in Oedelum, Germany, and was married to Maria Dorothea Elisabeth Milius. They had a child: Heinrich (see next generation).
Heinrich August Conrad Hoffmann was born on about May 8, 1776 in Oedelum, Hanover, Germany. He was married in about 1800 to Ilse Marie Sophie Wolpers. They lived in Oedelum and had at least 2 children: Sophie Dorothee Marie Christine and Friedrich Behred Heinrich (see next generation). Heinrich’s wife Ilse died on May 3, 1842 and Heinrich died on September 4, 1842, both in Oedelum, Germany.
Friedrich Behred Heinrich Hoffmann was born on February 22, 1807 in Oedelum, Hanover, Germany. Friedrich used his middle name Heinrich, which in English would have been Henry.
Friedrich, or Heinrich, was married to Marie Christine Uepkendanz on October 31, 1828 in Gadenstadt, Germany. They were the parents of 9 children: Johanne Dorothea Maria Christina, Johanne Maria Sophie, Johannes Heinrich Wilhelm (see next generation), Johann Christoph Herman, Johann Heinrich, Frederich Christian Andreas, Johann Carl Julius, Johanne Sophie Elizabeth, and Johann Heinrich Wilhelm. Friederich B. H. Hoffmann died on February 27, 1870 in Oedelum, Hanover, Germany.
Johannes Heinrich Wilhelm Hoffmann was born on June 4, 1835 in Oedelum, Hanover, Germany. Johannes chose Heinrich as his given name. He came from a poor family, so early in his childhood he probably left them and decided to try his luck in America. He came to America in about the year 1855, when he would have been 20. Johannes Heinrich Hoffmann came first to New York and then went immediately after to Wisconsin. Soon after arriving in America, his name was anglicized to Henry Hoffman, which he went by for the rest of his life.
Henry was married to Sophia Maria Christina Streu (Stroy) on October 18, 1859 in Greenfield, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Henry and Sophia were farmers and in their early marriage were poor. They lived in Milwaukee County where they had 6 children: Bertha, Amelia, William, Henry (see next generation), Eliza and Herman. In about the year 1871, the Hoffmans sold what they could and moved near the city of Mankato, in Blue Earth County, Minnesota.
In Minnesota, they had 8 more children: George, Ida, Alfred, John, Rudolph, Edward, Laura and a stillborn daughter. Henry and Sophia eventually owned their land and became moderately successful. They were members of the Lutheran Church and were kind people. Henry died on June 21, 1906 in Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minnesota from senility. It is not known where he was buried. His wife Sophia died in 1922.
Henry Jacob Hoffman was born on August 25, 1866 in (probably) Greenfield, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. When Henry was 5 years old, he moved with his family to Blue Earth County, Minnesota, where they lived near Mankato. Henry was a farmer. He was married to Christina M. Kling on November 13, 1887 in Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minnesota. They had 4 children: Ernest, Howard, Dora and Bertha (see next generation).
Sometime after 1900, Henry moved with his family to McPherson Township, where he made a living as a farmer. In the winter of 1906, Henry went to work for the ice man and his hand was cut and suffered from blood poisoning. Henry never fully recovered from the blood poisoning and died of Bright’s Disease on September 13, 1907 in McPherson Township, Blue Earth County, Minnesota. He was 41 years old. He was buried soon after in the Tivoli Cemetery, near St. Clair, Minnesota. Henry’s widow never remarried, she died in 1954.
6th Generation:Bertha Hoffman was born on May 25, 1897 in Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minnesota. Bertha lived her first years in Mankato, and when she was very young, moved with her family to McPherson Township, where her father was a farmer. Bertha’s father died in 1907, when she was 10 years old. Afterwards, the Hoffman family probably moved back to Mankato, or the vicinity. Bertha went to Kennedy Bridge School in Decoria Township, which was grades 1 through 12. Bertha would have graduated from there in about the year 1915. Soon after graduating, she became a teacher at the same school until about 1919.
Bertha was engaged to Neil Bixby probably in late 1919 or early 1920 and the two decided to move to Oregon to start a family. They moved in 1920 and were married on April 19, 1920 in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon. Bertha and Neil lived in the Parkrose area of Portland where they had 4 children: Deane, Shirley, Evelyn and Patricia. Bertha’s husband was an engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers. In 1944, Bertha’s only son Deane died fighting in World War II. This was a tremendous loss for the family.
Bertha and her family moved out of their Parkrose home and into a new home in Milwaukie, Clackamas County, Oregon in 1950. Her husband died in 1985 and she died on March 8, 1995 at a hospital in Oregon City, Clackamas County, Oregon. She was 97 years old. Bertha was a very kind, yet stern woman, who loved quilting and cooking.