From "History of Wheeling City and Ohio County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens," by Hon. Gibson Lamb Cranmer, 1902. Typed by Laurie Birks Dean pp. 449-450 J. G. HOFFMANN & Sons Company, which conduct the only tanning establishment in the city of Wheeling, West Virginia, and also controls the Gormania tannery at Gormania, West Virginia, is a firm well known throughout the United States. The plant is especially adapted to the tanning of harness and sole leather, and is one of the largest oak harness leather tanneries in the world. Its product is sold throughout the United States and it employs a force numbering about 300 men. The officers of the company are as follows: John G. Hoffmann, Sr., president; John G. Hoffmann, Jr., vice-president; and F. C. Hoffmann, secretary and treasurer. John G. Hoffmann, Sr., founder of the establishment and president of the company, whose portrait accompanies this sketch, came from Baden, Germany, in 1844, having learned the trade of a tanner in that country. He landed at Philadelphia, where he remained until 1847, and then entered business at Wheeling, as a member of the firm of Berger & Hoffmann. He also had one brother, Frank H., deceased, who located at Wheeling, and was foreman in the business for a time. The firm of Berger & Hoffmann continued until 1876, the year which marked the inception of the firm of J. G. Hoffmann & Sons. The latter existed until 1890, and was then incorporated as J. G. Hoffmann & Sons Company, with the same officers as at the present time. The Gormania tannery of Gormania, West Virginia, which is under the control of this company, is under the direct management of John G. Hoffmann, Jr. The old building at Wheeling, which is now being replaced by a new one, was built in 1856, and was partly three stories, and partly two stories high. The new building which will face on Water street, will be of three stories, will have double the capacity of the old one, and will cover one block. Under capable management, the business of the firm has shown a phenomenal increase, and ranks well up with the best tanneries of the country. It is devoted mainly to the preparation of harness and sole leather, the raw material being secured through the packing establishments of Chicago. The particular brand produced is the well known "Star" oak harness leather. Wheeling with its great railroad facilities is a suitable location for this great industry. Two traveling representatives are employed, who cover the territory between California and Maine. In 1864, John G. Hoffmann, Sr., was a member of a company which purchased the Benwood Mill, then owned by Kelley & Brothers, which company continued until the consolidation of the Benwood, Belmont & Top Mills. He was a director in the consolidated company for twenty- eight years, and then resigned. He has also been interested in the AEtna-Standard Mill Company, of which he was one of the promoters. He was also one of the promoters of the Spears Axle Company, organized July 10, 1888, and is now serving as its president. This plant, in which his son, John G., Jr., is also interested, is located near the tannery and employs a large force of men. Mr. Hoffmann is also identified with several other lines of business. He has been connected with the National Exchange Bank of Wheeling about forty- eight years, and has been one of its directors for ten years. His first location at Wheeling was on the Island, and there he conducted his tannery and resided until 1860, when he built his present residence at No. 2221 Chapline street. The firm of Berger & Hoffmann, which existed until 1876, had a leather store where Stone & Thomas' large department store now stands, and also owned two other stores adjacent. Mr. Hoffmann built one of the first houses erected on the Island, after it had been laid out in lots by Colonel Zane. The great flood of 1852 caused much loss of property on the Island. J. G. Hoffmann, Sr., is now past the age of seventy-seven years, is hale and hearty, and possessed of the same shrewdness and general business ability which characterized his younger days. He has served very acceptably as a member of the city council and water board of Wheeling, and has been identified with many other projects of vital interest to the city. He is also possessed of heavy banking and iron interests, and is in very comfortable circumstances in a financial way. Mr. Hoffman was united in marriage with Catherine Schlalein, who is living at the age of seventy-two years, and they became parents of five sons and three daughters, as follows: John G., Jr., who has also served in the city council of Wheeling; Matilda (Zoeckler), of Deadwood, Dakota; Ella (Mabis), whose husband is manager of the Des Moines Saddlery & Hardware Company, of Des Moines, Iowa, a branch of the J. G. Hoffmann & Sons Company, which employs 175 hands; Frank C., secretary and treasurer of J. G. Hoffmann & Sons Company, who married Miss Stamm, a daughter of Henry Stamm, of the Stamm Hotel, of Wheeling, has two daughters, Virginia E. and an infant, and resides in the third ward; William E., deceased, who was formerly connected with the branch house at Des Moines, and whose widow and son reside at Chicago; Peter G., who is with the branch house at Des Moines; Joseph R., who is with the company at Wheeling; and Mrs. Rosa Truschel, whose husband is in the wholesale paper business at Wheeling. Mr. Hoffmann is a stanch adherent of the principles of the Republican party. He was formerly a member of secret societies, but has not been for the past thirty years. He is a member of the Catholic church.