Samuel Owings Hoffman
(c.1801-1860)
MSA SC 3520-12989
Biography:
Birth c.1801-1860. Marriage: Louisa Gilmore (9 May 1826, Baltimore, MD). Children: William (b.1827), Robert (b.1829), Louisa (b.1831), Alfred (b.1834), Charles (b.1840).[1/2]
Samuel Owings Hoffman met with relatively fast success in his career in 1820s Baltimore, Maryland. By 1829, Hoffman appeared in Matchett's Baltimore Director as a partner of Hoffman Bend & Co. Auctioneers.[3] He had the finances to travel overseas to Ireland, England and France throughout the late 1820s and early 1830s.[4] Hoffman continued to run the successful Hoffman & Co. Auctioneers and had expanded his influence by 1853 when he appeared on the board of directors for Baltimore Fire Insurance Company.[5]
Hoffman's aspirations seem to have turned political when he served on the Maryland State Senate in 1856 and 1858. In 1857, Hoffman served on a committee alongside Senators William Lingan Gaither and James Wallace to commission a painting in honor of Washington's resignation in the Old Senate Chamber of the Maryland State House. Hoffman's committee ultimately selected Edwin White whose piece, Washington Resigning His Commission as Commander-in-Chief still hangs in the State House today.[6]
Throughout 1859, the Hoffman & Crawley Building Committee were hired as representatives of the state concerned with hiring contractors in regards to gas lighting for the Maryland State House. The receipts indicate that Hoffman's company was still successful as well, with some chandeliers purchased from Hoffman & Co. Auctioneers.[7]
Samuel Owings Hoffman died on September 28, 1860. His obituary described him as a "prominent merchant" and "respected citizen of Baltimore."[8]
[1] Dodd, Jordan, Liahona Research, comp. Maryland Marriages 1655-1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004, accessed 1 August 2013.
[2]
1860 United States Federal Census; National Archives. Year: 1860;
Census Place: Baltimore Ward 11, Baltimore (Independent City),
Maryland; Roll: M653_463; Page: 652; Image: 214; Family History Library
Film: 803463.
[3] Matchett's Baltimore Director, 1829, vol. 524, p. 156.
[4]
Samuel Owings Hoffman Letters, 1821-1857, Special Collections Research
Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary, Mss. 39.1 H67.
[5] Baltimore Sun, 6 October 1853.
[6] GENERAL ASSEMBLY (House, Journal), 1856, vol. 659, p.711.
[7] GOVERNOR (Miscellaneous Papers), 1859, MSA S1274-58, MdHR 6636-58-26-3.
[8] Alexandria Gazette, 2 October 1860.
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