Ernst and Marianna Hoffmann, Wedding Anniv., 1894

HOFFMANN

Posted By: David Reineke (email)
Date: 4/21/2007 at 14:42:35

I translated the following anniversary notice from Der Carroll Demokrat, a German-language newspaper published in Carroll, Iowa, between about 1874 and 1920. It was originally published on Friday, 21 September 1894. Any information in brackets or notes at the end are my own explanations. It reads as follows:

[Submitted to the paper]
[Hoffmann Anniversary]

The married couple Ernst Hoffmann and Marianna (Kern) Hoffmann will festively celebrate their golden wedding anniversary on Tuesday, 25 September, in Hillsdale [Roselle], in the circle of their family. The celebration will start in the morning at nine o’clock with a service at the church, and will be celebrated in the afternoon with good hospitality and pleasant entertainment. We hereby heartily invite all our old friends and acquaintances.

The anniversary gentleman was born on 25 July 1822 in Seitendorf, near Zittau, in the Oberlausitz; his wife on 2 December 1821 at Königsheim near Ostritz, in the kingdom of Saxony. Their descendants are two sons and a daughter and 10 grandchildren, who all have their homes in Carroll County, Iowa. Unfortunately, three sons in Germany have already passed on to the better hereafter. Mr. Hoffmann immigrated to America with his family on 13 June 1866, just as the Austro-Prussian War was breaking out, and on the 4th of July he arrived at his destination of Elkport, Clayton County, Iowa, where his brother Anton lived. He lived on the Turkey River for 14 years, where a few times he experienced severe danger from flooding. The old gentleman had eight brothers, all of whom, unfortunately, have preceded him in death, except for August, who still lives in his hometown in Germany and is 12 years older than Ernst. His brother Anton immigrated to America before him in 1851, and he died in 1874 in New Vienna, Dubuque County, Iowa. His wife had two sisters, but both passed into the better hereafter several years ago in their old hometown. The anniversary couple intend to spend their twilight years in Hillsdale.