Hunterdon County NJ Archives Biographies.....MOORE HOFF, 1760 - 1827 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nj/njfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: JOHN SCOTT HOFF jsh@aviationattorney.com October 31, 2009, 8:00 pm Source: VA DOT Archealogical Report 1997, "The Moore Hoff Farm - Life & Landscape on a northern Virginia Farmstead at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century": Archaelogical Data Recovery at Site 44PW600, Assoc. with the Rte 234 Wetlands Migration Project, Pr. William Co., VA (TR27.pdf). Author: john Scott Hoff MOORE HOFF appears in the records of Pr. William Co., VA (near Manassas), where he owned a farm and his name appears on the 1810 Census (pg. 3 of 14). One page away appear the names of "AMOS HOFF" and "CORNELIUS HOFF". MOORE may have moved to No. VA as a young man from the Hopewell or Hunterdon Co., NJ area, descending from the "Dutch" line of Hoffs there. I am looking for a connection between the HOFF family and MOORE family of Hopewell that might have produced a MOORE HOFF (b:~1760 and who moved to Prince William Co., VA ~1780 and who died there in 1827). His place of birth is unknown. However, the Rev. DANIEL HOFF and his first wife, LAURA TITUS HOFF, both from Hopewell, Mercer Co. & Hunterdon Co., NJ moved south to Pr. William Co., VA in the early 1790, and the names "DANIEL HOFF" and "MOORE HOFF" appear on several legal documents in Prince William Co., as do the names of "MOORE HOFF" and "JOHN HOFF", which was the name of the Rev. DANIEL HOFF's father. So, it appears that other Hoffs also appears to have migrated south to Northern VA and had some nexus with MOORE HOFF, who may have preceded them and established himself there. I am convinced that there must have been a previous common NJ connection between these Hoffs. I further believe (without sufficient documentation to yet support it) that the name "MOORE HOFF" was likely given to him for a combination of the names of both families. There must be some form of a tie-in between the two families, and that it most likely has its origins in Hopewell or Hunterdon Co., NJ. The Rev. JOHN MOORE, a prominent Presbyterian minister in Hopewell, influenced many in that area, and Daniel was later to become a lay preacher in VA before his death there in 1802. There was also a JOSEPH MOORE HOFF (b: 1819 in Hamilton Co., OH), who was the son of NATHANIEL HOFF (b: 25 Sep 1789 Hopewell, Hunterdon Co., NJ) & wife JERUSHA LARRISON. So, there appears to be a reason why the name "MOORE" appears in common with the name "HOFF". Further, Joseph Moore Hoff 's father, NATHANIEL HOFF, was raised by his Aunt & Uncle, "ELI MOORE" & his wife, "ELIZABETH HOFF" MOORE after the death of his father, CORNELIUS HOFF, JR.(B: ~1765) in 1791. So, there are repeated HOFF/MOORE interactions in NJ before the HOFF/MOORE HOFF interaction several decades later in northern VA. The name DANIEL HOFF does not appear on any tax records in No. VA, so he must have rented or resided on someone else's property while he is known to have lived there (his name DOES appear in the County's personal property tax records, however). So, did he reside in one of the many out buildings on the small farm of MOORE HOFF, where he helped him work the farm until he died in 1802? MOORE HOFF's first wife was a "JUDITH ?" , who died in ~1810-1811, and the two of them reportedly produced 10 children: 4 sons and 6 daughters. They were: 1. CORNELIUS HOFF b: ~1784. He was known to have produced at least one known daughter (name unk.), and he moved to OH before 1820, and was living there at time of the death of his father in 1827. His name appears in the 1820 Census for Marietta, Washington Co.OH. So, too, was an AMOS HOFF. 2. THOMAS HOFF b:1786 d: 1831. Pr. Wm. Co., VA. He inherited and lived briefly on the farm of his father, MOORE HOFF and the father's second wife, NANCY LEACHMAN, whom MOORE HOFF married in Feb 1812, after the death of W#1, JUDITH. THOMAS HOFF only outlived his father by only 4 years, dying in 1831. The Manassas farm passed out of the Hoff family hands thereafter. 3. JOHN HOFF b:? d:? Moved to Green Co., KY before 1820 and had two sons, one of which was reportedly a JOSHUA HOFF. (This could be the JOHN HOFF, who married SABREET LEMONS, and was attributed to have been born in "Wheeling, WV" in either 1789 or 1798 - depending on whose data you like better - and then moved to Louisville, Jefferson Co., KY, where a son, "THOMAS MOORE HOFF" was born on 2 Feb 1824. JOHN HOFF's POB could be in error, and this is the same individual was was a son of MOORE HOFF and born on the MOORE HOFF farm in either 1789 or 1798 (this is all just my educated speculation, however). 4. CHARLES HOFF b;? d: Bef. 1814. 5. JANE HOFF. 6. SARAH "Sally" HOFF. 7. PAMELIA HOFF. 8. NANCY HOFF, Married James Padgett. 9. ELIZABETH "Betty" HOFF, married a Timothy Padgett, presumably a brother of James Padgett.. 10. FRANCIS HOFF, Married "Mr. Cornwell". Further research is needed on this MOORE HOFF, his origins and his progeny. His farm was the subject of a comprehensive archealogical "dig" by the VA Dept of Transportation in 1997, and some 13,000 relics/artifacts were recovered and well-documented. The results are available on a CD/DVD for about $17 from The College of William & Mary, Ctr. for Archaelogical Research, titled "The Moore Hoff Farm - Life & Landscape on a northern Virginia Farmstead at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century": Archaelogical Data Recovery at Site 44PW600, Assoc. with the Rte 234 Wetlands Migration Project, Pr. William Co., VA (TR27.pdf). There are 15 unmarked graves documented (and undisturbed) on this site. These may include the graves of JOHN HOFF (father of DANIEL - and perhaps JOHN HOFF), the Rev. DANIEL HOFF, his first wife, LAURA TITUS HOFF, JOHN HOFF, MOORE HOFF's first wife, JUDITH ? HOFF, and perhaps MOORE HOFF, himself. Anyone with insight, please contact me directly: JOHN SCOTT HOFF, 20 S. Clark St #2210, Chicago, IL 60603 (312) 346-8111 or e/Mail . I descend down from the Rev. DANIEL HOFF> JOHN/JONATHAN F. HOFF>POWELL HOFF>JOHN H. HOFF>JOHN CASSIUS HOFF>JOHN RICHARD HOFF> and then me, JOHN S. HOFF. I am very interested in the early Colonial VA & NJ roots of my "Dutch" Hoff family. This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/njfiles/ File size: 6.5 Kb This file is located at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nj/hunterdon/bios/hoff-m.txt