Ogden Hoffman (October 13, 1794 – May 1, 1856) was a 19th-century American lawyer and politician who for two terms was in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from 1837 to 1841.

Life

Ogden Hoffman was born on October 13, 1794,Genealogy of the Hoffman Family
/ref> the son of New York Attorney General

Josiah Ogden Hoffman Josiah Ogden Hoffman (April 14, 1766 – January 24, 1837) was an American lawyer and politician. He was an esteemed friend of Alexander Hamilton and Washington Irving. Early life Josiah Ogden Hoffman was born on April 14, 1766, in Newark, New J ...

(1766–1837) and Mary (Colden) Hoffman. He pursued classical studies and graduated from Columbia College in 1812.

Career

He served for three years in the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

and was warranted a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

in 1814. He took part in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

and the

Second Barbary War The Second Barbary War, also known as the U.S.–Algerian War and the Algerine War, was a brief military conflict between the United States and the North African state of Algiers in 1815. Piracy had been rampant along the North African "Barb ...

as a crew member on the USS ''President'', and was taken prisoner when the ''President'' was captured in 1814. After leaving the navy he studied law under his father, was admitted to the bar in 1818, and commenced practice in

Goshen, New York Goshen is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 14,571 at the 2020 census.US Census Bureau, 2020 Census Report Goshen, Orange County, New York QuickFacts https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/goshentownorangecountyne ...

Political career

Hoffman was

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

of Orange County from May 1823 to January 1826, and a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

(Orange Co.) in

1826 Events January–March * January 15 – The French newspaper ''Le Figaro'' begins publication in Paris, initially as a satirical weekly. * January 17 – The Ballantyne printing business in Edinburgh (Scotland) crashes, ruining noveli ...

. He then returned to New York City and there practiced law in partnership with Hugh Maxwell, who was

New York County District Attorney The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County, New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws (federal l ...

. Hoffman was again a member of the New York State Assembly (New York Co.) in

1828 Events January–March * January 4 – Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac succeeds the Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, Comte de Villèle, as Prime Minister of France. * January 8 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organiz ...

; and was New York County District Attorney from 1829 to 1835. He disagreed with the Jackson administration over the need for a federally chartered central bank, and abandoned

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was an American political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789, as the Tammany Society. It became the main local ...

and the Democratic Party for the Whigs after Jackson's decision not to re-charter the

Second Bank of the United States The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Second Report on Public Credit, Hamiltonian national bank in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was chartered from February 1816 to January ...

. In 1836, Hoffman defended Richard P. Robinson at his trial for the murder of

Helen Jewett Helen Jewett (born Dorcas Doyen;The trial of Richard P. Robinson for the murder of Helen Jewett. New York City, 1836 In American state trials / John D.Lawson, editor pp 426-487 Wilmington, Del. : Scholarly Resources, 1972 October 18, 1813 – Ap ...

and got his client acquitted.

Congress

Hoffman was elected as a Whig to the 25th and

26th United States Congress The 26th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from March 4, 183 ...

es, holding office from March 4, 1837, to March 3, 1841.

Later political offices

He was

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York The United States attorney for the Southern District of New York is the United States Attorney, chief federal law enforcement officer in eight contiguous New York counties: the counties (coextensive boroughs of New York City) of New York County, ...

from 1841 to 1845. He later was

New York Attorney General The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has existed in various forms since 1626, originally established under the Dutch c ...

from 1854 to 1855, elected on the Whig ticket at the

New York state election, 1853 The 1853 New York state election was held on November 8, 1853, to elect the Secretary of State of New York, Secretary of State, the New York State Comptroller, State Comptroller, the Attorney General of New York, Attorney General, the New York St ...

Personal life

On June 27, 1819, he married Emily Burrall, daughter of Charles Burrall. Together, they had two children: * Charles Burrall Hoffman (1821–1892), who married Harriet Bronson Willett, granddaughter of Dr. Isaac Bronson. * Ogden Hoffman, Jr. (1822–1891), who served as a federal judge in California for more than 40 years. In November 1838, he married Virginia Southard (d. 1886), daughter of Samuel Lewis Southard, who was a

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

Secretary of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On March 25, 2025, John Phelan was confirm ...

, and the tenth

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...

. Together, they had three children: * Samuel Southard Hoffman (b. 1839), who married Sarah Acklen * Mary Colden Hoffman (b. 1840) * Virginia Southard Hoffman (b. 1842) He died on May 1, 1856, at his home on Ninth Street in New York City, of "congestion of the lungs." He was buried at

St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery is a parish of the Episcopal Church at 131 East 10th Street (near Stuyvesant Street and Second Avenue) in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The property has been the site of continuo ...

References

Notes Sources *
''The New-York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 35, 253, 257, 353 and 431; 1863)
''Death of the Hon. Ogden Hoffman''
in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' on May 2, 1856
''Genealogy of the Hoffman Family''
by (Dodd, Mead & Co., NYC; pg. 279ff) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffman, Ogden 1794 births 1856 deaths Columbia College (New York) alumni United States Navy sailors Members of the New York State Assembly New York State attorneys general United States attorneys for the Southern District of New York New York County district attorneys New York (state) Democrats

Ogden Ogden may refer to: Places Canada *Ogden, Calgary, in Calgary, Alberta *Ogden, Quebec, a small municipality in the Eastern Townships * Ogdensville, British Columbia or Ogden City, alternate names for gold rush-era Seymour Arm, British Columbia *Og ...

Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) People from Goshen, New York Deaths from pulmonary edema Presidents of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York 19th-century members of the New York State Legislature 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives