Francis Arnold Hoffmann (June 5, 1822 – January 23, 1903) was a German-American

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

clergyman, politician, banker and writer.

Biography

He was born in

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

, the son of Fredrick and Wilhelmina (Groppe) Hoffmann. In 1840 he emigrated to the United States to avoid conscription, and settled in Illinois. Hoffmann was a teacher and a pastor in Dunklee's Grove (now

Addison, Illinois Addison is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 35,702 at the 2020 Census. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. History The village was incorporated in 1884, at which time it had a population of 400. T ...

) until 1847. During this time he became active in public affairs and served as postmaster, town clerk and member of the school board. He also began writing and contributed articles to the Chicago ''Democrat'' and ''Prairie Farmer''. In 1844 he married Cynthia Gilbert. He served as pastor and teacher at St. Peter Lutheran Church and School in Schaumburg from 1847 to 1851. In 1851 Hoffmann moved to Chicago, studied law and became an attorney. In 1852 he was elected to the city council. Hoffmann worked to attract German immigrants to Chicago and was able to establish a successful banking business using the money entrusted to him by the German community. In 1853–54, he served as an alderman on the Chicago Common Council (city council), representing the 8th ward. Hoffmann was a vigorous opponent of the extension of slavery, an issue brought into prominence by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. He left the Democratic Party and played a role in the election of

Lyman Trumbull Lyman Trumbull (October 12, 1813 – June 25, 1896) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician who represented the state of Illinois in the United States Senate from 1855 to 1873. Trumbull was a leading abolitionist attorney and key polit ...

to the United States Senate. He helped to found the Republican Party in Illinois and was a political supporter and ally of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

. He was elected the 15th

Lieutenant Governor of Illinois The lieutenant governor of Illinois is the second highest executive of the State of Illinois. In Illinois, the lieutenant governor and governor run on a joint ticket and are directly elected by popular vote. Gubernatorial candidates select their ...

and served from 1861 to 1865. After the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, Hoffmann worked for the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the Central United States. Its primary routes connected Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, ...

as a land commissioner and established the International Bank (his first bank had failed during the war). After the

Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago, Illinois during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left mor ...

in 1871 he chaired a committee of city bankers whose efforts successfully avoided a banking panic. In 1875, he retired to his estate in Jefferson, Wisconsin and devoted himself to farming and horticulture. As an agricultural writer and editor, he wrote using the pen name "Hans Buschbauer".

References

* Lacher, J. H. A
"Francis A. Hoffmann of Illinois and Hans Buschbauer of Wisconsin"
''Wisconsin Magazine Of History''. Volume: 13 /Issue: 4 (1929-1930) * "Francis Arnold Hoffmann." ''Dictionary of American Biography Base Set.'' American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936. * Don Heinrich Tolzmann, ed., Illinois' German Heritage. Milford, Ohio: Little Miami Publishing Company, 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffman, Francis 1822 births 1903 deaths Lieutenant governors of Illinois Prussian emigrants to the United States Illinois Republicans 19th-century American Lutheran clergy