Rev. G. B. Hoffmann Biography


	This biography appears on pages 105-106 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


				REV. G. B. HOFFMANN. 

	Rev. G. B. Hoffmann, pastor of St. Martin's church at Emery, 
South Dakota, was born in Glendorf, Germany, on the 20th of March, 
1862, and was educated partly in Germany and partly at St. Meinrad, 
Indiana, where he pursued his theological education. He attended the 
gymnasium of Osnabrueck, Hanover, and was ordained to the priesthood by 
Bishop Marty, the first bishop of Sioux Falls, in the year 1894. His 
first pastorate was at White Lake, South Dakota, where be remained for 
eight years. He then removed to Emery, at which time there was only a 
small church there. The congregation was organized in 1880. Father 
Menrad McCarthy said the first mass but they had no regular pastor. A 
little church was built, but it was destroyed some time afterward by a 
wind storm and the congregation then removed to a small place in 
another part of town. In 1882 Father Quinn of Alexandria took charge 
and was instrumental in erecting the church that was blown down. In 
1885 Father Lawlor, residing at Alexandria, attended to the Emery 
congregation, which he served up to the time of his death in 1900. He 
was succeeded by Father Hoffmann and an independent parish was 
established, it having previously been a mission. The parish house was 
built in that year and in 1904 the old church, proving too small, was 
replaced by a new edifice. In 1910 the present parochial school was 
built and there are now over one hundred children in attendance, the 
Sisters of St. Francis, who are from Milwaukee, acting as teachers. 
There are now about eighty-five families in the parish and the work is 
steadily developing under the direction of Father Hoffmann.