Does anyone know anything about a Leonard Hofmann, wife #1 Bertha (last name unknown), #2 Anna Rhineligtner from Salzburg? He was born ca 1840 in Germany, and died ca 1920 in South Dakota. His children were named Amanda, Alfred (my grandfather), Carl, Elmer, Hazel, Dorothy, and Alice. I am having difficulty in tracing this line. Also, I've heard this spelling was Jewish. Has anyone else heard that? Am grateful for any help. Thank you! -Melody

Oops! Leonard's children are Louise, Ernest, Minnie, Annie, Fred, Carrie, Henry, Pauline, William, and Pearl. The names I gave were those of his grandchildren! Sorry!

The spelling is German for Hoffman which I just discovered yesterday. My relative has that spelling and is Jewish. I do not think that the name Just like Hoffman is not all of the time Jewish.

Hi there. My husband is Dale John Hofmann son of William. I am also researching Leonard and now maybe we can hook up on our attempts. My email is dobiedk@yahoo.com please email me!

I have a Hofmann ancestor, and have never heard
anything about any Jewish connection.

There is no jewish or non-jewish spelling for Hoffmann or Hofmann of Hoffman. These are all different German spellings for the same name. The variations result from differences in pronounciation across the different regions of German speaking Europe. The areas close to France and Poland had dialects where Hoffmann would be spoken with a short "o", Austria and Bavaria would have Hofmann spoken with a long "o", North-West Germany had Meyer/Mayer/Maier instead, all of these names mean "(farm) manager". In my family the spelling was changed when people moved from one region to the other, for example.

My direct male line is Hoffmann/Hofmann, I never heard anything about a jewish ancestor, but now I had a YDNA test done and I have haplotype E3A, which would heavily point towards a jewish male ancestor. Maybe there is a connection here...?

Oliver and Becky...

I am a Hofmann family member and am searching for links to family from Philadelphia and as far as I can tell from the Bavaria area. Either of you have family in that area? Thanks in advance

Kathleen

Hi :)

I have a cousin in New Hamphire, but my family has been in Europe until the 1990s, my cousin moved quite recently. He also does not know I am doing ancestry research... ;) But I can try to hook you up, if you want. As far as I know, my branch of Hof(f)mann came from Sachsen (Saxony/"Mark Meissen") and then moved into Silesia, they were weavers and ended up on the better end of the industrial revolution, setting up a large factory for textiles. Form Silesia they escaped into Austria at the end of World War 2, I live in Vienna now. Were these Ho(f)manns in Bavaria before? I have no idea...

My Hofmann came over from Bavaria in @1859. I'll have to look it up to get the exact year, but I think that is correct. I am not certain where he landed, but he ended up in West Virginia. I have never heard of any of his siblings being in Philadelphia as most of them stayed in the Hollrich area, but that doesn't mean that there could not have been some. Is your Hofmann line still in the Philly area?