Lutheran minister. Attorney. Banker. Politician. Gardener. Farmer. Newspaper publisher. What an interesting life Francis Arnold Werther Hoffman, first pastor of St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church in Schaumburg led.
Francis A. Hoffmann. Ca. 1865. Notice the wedding ring on his left hand. [Photo credit to the Francis Hoffmann Collection of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum]
He was born on June 5, 1822 in Herford, district of Minden, province of Westphalia, Prussia, the son of Frederick William and Wilhelmina (Groppe) Hoffmann. According to a June 1930 article in The Wisconsin Magazine of History, written by J.H.A. Lacher, his father was a book binder. While not wealthy, he was able to see his son attain a good education. In addition, "from early boyhood he was deeply interested in raising fruits and flowers." This hobby remained with him throughout his entire life.
In the early summer of 1840, near his 18th birthday he "left suddenly for America." As reported here and other places, Francis departed Germany to escape conscription in the Prussian army.
At some point--whether before he left Prussia or on the ship over--he put together a plan to take the place of the Rev. Ludwig Cachaud-Ervenberg, who was also a former resident of Herford and had just completed a period of servitude as the first minister of the German Lutherans of northeastern Illinois. The Rev. Cachaud-Ervenberg had founded "several congregations in 1838-1839."
Hoffman "worked his way up the Hudson [River] to Albany on a freighter," traveled through the Erie Canal to Buffalo and then on a schooner to Chicago. "Without money, friends, or a knowledge of English, he took the first job he could find, that of bootblack at the Lake House, then the principal hotel of the 'miry' little city of 4000."
Lake House hotel. Ca. 1859. [Photo credit to the Chicago History Museum]
Within a couple of months, Francis found himself in Dunkley's Grove which, later, became Addison, IL. There he was hired as a "teacher and choirmaster" for Chicagoland's first Lutheran congregation. Because the Reverend Cachaud-Ervenberg had left by this time, Francis stepped into the role of minister and "conducted the services on Sundays by reading a sermon, leading the singing and the like."
Duncklee's Grove can be seen on this 1851 map of the Counties of Cook and DuPage... by James H. Rees. [Photo credit to the Library of Congress]
During this time, in December 1840, he made his first appearance in Schaumburg Township, according to St. Peter's website, "in Schween's barn on Second Christmas Day of 1840. The service, accompanied by the cackling of hens and lowing of cattle, as that which hallowed the First Christmas, was conducted by the Reverend Francis Hoffmann. He continued to come from Dunkley's Grove (Addison) once a month and served the German settlement with Word and Sacrament."
In The Lutheran Trail by Louis J. Schwartzkopf, an account by Karl Kretzmann, on p. 18 states that "Hoffmann, apparently early in 1841, travelled to Southeastern Michigan, where he received whatever theological training could be obtained in those days, probably from the Rev. Friedrich Schmid of Ann Arbor, president of the Michigan Synod."
It is unknown when he returned to Dunkley's Grove, but it appears to have been sometime in 1842 or 1843 when he became the full time "pastor of the Lutherans of northeastern Illinois and contiguous territory, his field of labor embracing Chicago and other parts of Cook County, the counties of Du Page and Will, and Lake County, Indiana." [J.H.A. Lacher]
He definitely had his work cut out for him and, one of his first tasks was "being the acquisition of a thorough command of the English language." [J.H.A. Lacher] He also served as the first postmaster of the post office he established at Dunkley's Grove, was elected town clerk and became a member of the board of the public school, which he took a big part in organizing.
The biggest event in his life to date was his marriage to Cynthia Gilbert on February 22, 1844 in Crown Point, IN where they eloped. Cynthia was born on May 15, 1825 in Lisbon, OH and, when she married Francis, did not speak German.
In a memoir written by their granddaughter, Minna Francis (Hoffman) Nehrling for the same June 1930 issue of The Wisconsin Magazine of History, she states that, "As soon as they were married, grandfather spoke nothing but German to grandmother, who was of pure British antecedents. After about six weeks of this, she did what many young wives do, namely, went home to her mother. She, being a very sensible woman and the mother of fourteen children, made her go back to Francis when she found that otherwise he was good to her." Cynthia proceeded to learn German and it was, thereafter, almost universally spoken in their home.
Cynthia (Gilbert) Hoffmann. Ca. 1886 [Photo credit to the Francis Hoffmann Collection of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum]
We can get an idea of what their life was like on the northern Illinois prairie in the 1840s when Minna goes on to say that, "At the time of his marriage grandfather was an itinerant Lutheran minister who received fifty dollars a year and gifts of food from his parishioners. They started housekeeping in a one room log cabin. They did have a horse which he rode even at night when making long trips to baptize infants or minister to the dying. He was very conscientious in his work and suffered exposure and hardships. Once, during a blizzard, grandmother, who loved horses, tied the horse to the bedpost and fed it the only food available, cold boiled potatoes. They did without their own meal so the horse could eat."
From left to right are the sons of Francis A. and Cynthia Hoffmann: Adolph, Francis A. Jr. and Julius. [Photo credit to the Francis Hoffmann Collection of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum]
The couple had six sons and one daughter as mentioned in Mr. Hoffmann's obituaries, the 1860 census and a family tree on FamilySearch. They were Luther Calvin (1844-1854), Francis Alexander. Jr. (born 1845-1925), Julius Theodore (born 1848-1935), Gustavus Adolphus (born 1850-1914), Max Gilbert (born 1855-1860), Anna Wilhelmina (born 1856-1860) and Gilbert Frederick (born 1862-1922.)
Their first two children were born while they lived in Dunkley's Grove. Two years after the birth of Francis, in 1847, Pastor Hoffmann accepted a call to the newly formed St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church in Schaumburg Township. He had been travelling between the two locations for a period of about six years at this point so a change must have seemed logical.
The "Shaumberg" Township portion of the 1851 Reese map. Notice Sarah's Grove in the center of the map as well as the trails and wetlands that traversed the township.
He wrote about what it was to walk and ride this distance in a segment in The Lutheran Trail. "Between the point where Salt Creek Station is located and a small wooded area known as Sarah's Grove (later known also as Schween's Grove), near which the present St. Peter's Church stands, and many miles beyond, the region was entirely uninhabited... Immediately after crossing the bridge over Salt Creek, I headed directly for the hickory trees of Sarah's Grove, five or six miles away. At that time there were neither roads nor paths."
The first St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church that still resides on the church's property today. It is likely the oldest Lutheran Church in the Chicago area.
By the fall of 1847, the Hoffmanns had moved to Schaumburg Township to minister to the nearly 20 Lutheran families in the area. In the following year, as reported in the Lutheran Trail, "a church building of 24x30 feet, including a fifty-foot steeple was erected according to a plan agreed upon by fifteen members, each of whom consented to cut down a tree, square it and haul it to the building site. While the construction work was in progress, the services were conducted in the near-by barn of Mr. Schween... Early in autumn, 1848, services were transferred to the partially completed church, which was dedicated on the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, 1848."
The Centennial of St. Peter Ev. Lutheran Church, written in 1947, states too, "One of the members donated fifty dollars for the purchase of a bell..." This was a very large sum in 1848.
The Centennial booklet also states that, "Beside his work here as pastor and teacher, Pastor Hoffmann found time to minister to Lutherans at Rodenberg, Elk Grove, and Niles... For the members at Schaumburg he was not only a spiritual leader, but also, because they knew no English, a friend and an adviser in earthly matters."
His name was gaining even broader attention as evidenced by the fact that, "in 1847, Du Page County elected him a delegate to the great River and Harbor Convention held in Chicago, where he made the acquaintance of Horace Greeley and other prominent men. In that year he also became the editor of the Illinois Staatszeitung [state newspaper], which later did such effective work in the anti-slavery cause and for the Republican party." [J.H.A. Lacher]
Following in his own Dunkley's Grove footsteps, Pastor Hoffmann was also able to establish a post office at Sarah's Grove in 1848 and was appointed the postmaster. This was also the year his third son was born and later, baptized at St. Peter's. Two years later, in 1850, his fourth son was born and also baptized in Schaumburg Township.
The following year, in 1851, according to most documentation, Pastor Hoffmann's health caught up with him, likely provoked by the years spent walking and riding in the open weather from congregation to congregation. The Centennial booklet also said "an epileptic affliction compelled him to resign..." though family documentation said that he had fainting spells, which seems more likely. As a result, he made the decision to, not only resign as pastor, but to leave the ministering life all together.
In next week's blog post we will take up his life after his stay in Schaumburg Township. His time here was, very much, only the beginning...
Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org
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