EDGAR and MARY V. HOFFNER

Sacramento County

Biographies

EDGAR and MARY V. HOFFNER.--Among the esteemed and honored pioneers of Orangevale are Edgar and Mary V. Hoffner, whose residence in that locality covers a period of twenty-eight years. Edgar Hoffner was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, September 26, 1848, a son of Thomas K. and Sarah (Ege) Hoffner, also natives of Cincinnati, Ohio. The paternal great-great-grandfather of our subject, J. George Hoffner, was a native of Württemberg, Germany, and at the age of twenty-one joined the British army; he was sent to Canada and fought in the battle of Quebec. At the age of fifteen, Edgar Hoffner enlisted in Company A, 148^th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, but he did not get to the front; in 1869 he reenlisted in the Regular Army and saw service on the frontier of Arizona and Mexico during the Apache Indian raids. In 1871, Mr. Hoffman was sent to Benicia, Cal., and then to Fort Bidwell in Modoc County, and was with Colonel Gillem in quelling the outbreaks of the Modoc Indians from 1871 to 1874; then he was in civil life for a short time. Mr. Hoffner served with the First Cavalry, U. S. Regulars, under Capt. R. F. Bernard; in 1878 he reenlisted at St. Louis, Mo., and served in Idaho and Nevada until 1881, when he was honorably discharged at Fort McDermot, Nev. He then went to Ogden, Utah.

On August 28, 1882, Mr. Hoffner was united in marriage with Miss Mary V. Ewing, daughter of Dr. G. V. and Martha S. (Coon) Ewing, whose sketch also appears in this history. Previously to the time of her marriage, Miss Ewing was teaching in a private mission school at Adams Ranch, Idaho. Mr. and Mrs. Hoffner continued to make their residence in Ogden until 1895 when they removed to California and permanently located in Orangevale. Mr. and Mrs. Hoffner are the parents of one son, Phillip H., who served in the Sanitary Corps of the U. S. Army during the World War. He was married to Miss Myrtle Butler of Roseville and they are the parents of one son, William Edgar; they reside in Roseville where he is connected with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company.

Mr. Hoffner has engaged in fruit-raising since locating in Orangeville on the home place of Dr. Ewing, where Mr. and Mrs. Hoffner are comfortably enjoying the remaining years allotted to them. While residing in Ogden, Utah, Mr. Hoffner was connected with the Southern Pacific Railroad for seven years and the postoffice for five years, and was first lieutenant of the Knights of Pythias Lodge of Ogden. Mrs. Ogden has long been associated with educational matters in every community in which she has resided; she was graduated from the Western College, Oxford, Ohio, in 1878, and the following year removed to Ogden, Utah, where she taught in private mission schools until her marriage to Mr. Hoffner in 1882, and many thrilling experiences fell to the lot of the young school teacher. She is one of the original and charter members of the Orangevale Study Club and has always been active in community welfare work. Mrs. Hoffner is well-known as a newspaper correspondent both in Sacramento and Orangevale; also her articles are published from time to time in “The Continent,” a weekly magazine published in Chicago.

Transcribed by Donna L. Becker.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Page 489. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.