William HOFIUS

                   1888 History of Mercer Co., Pa, pp866-867 states he resides at
Sharpesville, Pa & is identified with the iron industry

Seth was born, reared and educated in Hickory Township. In 1846 he entered the employment of Himrod & Vincent, subsequently working at the different furnaces located in Clarion and Venango Counties, Pennsylvania, Youngstown, Ohio and West Middlesex, Pennsylvania.  In 1858 he removed to Mineral Ridge, Ohio and took charge of the works for James Wood & Warner.  He subsequently was engaged as superintendent for James Wood, Sons & Co., of Wheatland, Pennsylvania.  He also had charge of the Mount Hickory Iron Co.,Works at Sharpsville, Pennsyulvania.  He then removed to Buffalo, N.Y., and took charge of the Buffalo Iron & Nail Co., Works.  In 1882 he located in Ohio and engaged in farming where his family then resided.  In 1886 he was placed in charge of the Spearman Iron Furnace at Sharpsville, Pennsylvania.  Seth was married in 1850 to Elizabeth Maxwell of West Middlesex, Pennsylvania and by this union had six children; William D., Lewis M., Mathew L., Frank, Annie J., wife of Henry Sibes, of Buffalo, N.Y., and Harriet, wife of William Fraizer, of the same city.  Elizabeth his wife died in 1862.  He later married in 1867 Margaret McGowan, of Canfield, Ohio and by this marriage they had six children; Walter, Charley, Blanch, Martha B., Seth and James.  Seth was a member of Sharpsville Lodge 71 A.O.U.W. when it was organized on 4/3/1874 and then became the first Rec Officer.  He also was on the Sharpsville Council in 1880 and 1881.  He was a a School Director in 1880, 1881 and 1882 in Sharpsville.  Seth was one of 28 original members of the First Universalist Church in Sharpsville, Pennsylvania when it was organized in January 1875.

He appears in the 1870 census living in Hickory Township with his family of 9.
                  

                   1888 History of Mercer Co., Pa, pp 866-867 states he resides at
Sharpesville, Pa & is with the iron industry.

Jonathan's name in published data is listed as J.P., J.J.,Jonathan, Jonathan A. and John P.  He like his brother Seth was with the iron industry.

In the 1870 census he was living in Hickory Township with his wife.  His occupation was listed as a Bricklayer.

On May 23, 1879 Fire broke out in the his Steam Soap Works at the foot of South Penn Street, Sharon, Pennsylvania shortly before five o'clock AM and before the fire department reached the scene the establishment was a mass of worthless ruins.  Owing to the earliness of the hour and the dense fog that prevailled at that time the fire was not discovered until it had gained an irreversable headway, and the tardiness shown in sounding the alarm rendered the presence of the department almost useless since the flames having extended beyond all control in a few minutes after breaking out.  A consicerable number of men living in the neighborhood of the works were on the ground before the alarm was given from the engine house, and succeeded in saving a large quantity of soap, that had been stored in a shed adjoining the main building, but beyond this and some few other articles of portable property including a horse, wagon, harness and the like, from the stable, nothing was saved.

The origin of the fire is uncertain, and will likely never be definitely know.  The flames seem to have broken out in or near the engine room at the rear end of the works and as there had been fire under the boiler the day previous, it is more than probable the fire started from the ash-pit.  Mr. Hofius had been at the works a very short time before the flames broke out, attending to his horse which he kep in a stable adjoining, and when he left to go to his breakfast there was nothing about the premises to indicate the prescence of fire.  It is most likely, therefore, that the fire had its origin in the smouldering embers in the ash-pit.

The loss is heavy, though at present it is incapable of a correct extimation. The buildings,machinery and stock on hand at the time of the fire, were worth about $7,000, and are almost a total loss.  The insurance amounts to $3,400 in companies represented by Service Bros & Co.  The works were the property of Mr. J.J. Hofius, of this place save an interest of $1,000 owned by Mr. W.D. Hofius, of Sharpsville.  They did a large business and a day or two ago made a lot of soap amounting to upward of 10,000 pounds all of which was destroyed.  The fire was the most destructive that had occurred in Sharon, Pennsylvania for a long time.

When he passed away he was living in Sharpsville on the north west corner of Ridge Avenue and Sixth Street.

In the 1900 census his father is listed as born in Pennsylvania and mother born in Ohio.  Jonathan's occupation in this census was listed as a Landloard and living in Sharpsville, Pennsylvania.

His death notice has his age as 73, one of the most prominent citizens of Sharpsille.  He died of paralysis of the heart, superinduced by neuralgia of the stomach.  Prior to being engaged in the iron business he conducted a soap factory in Sharon at the foot of South Penn Street, which had long since been abandoned at time of his death.  He was Superintendent of the erection of the old Allen and Douglas frunaces and was afterwards employed as manager of the furnaces then owned by the Shenango Furnace Company at Sharpsville.
                  

                   Carol A. Wells of Osage, Iowa is a decendant of Azariah through Mable Hofius her grandmother.  He was living on the Martin Whalen farm in Bancroft when he died - the result of a fall from the second story of the house when he fractured his skull.

Azariah was a minister and stone mason
                  

                   Hilda lived in Iowa.
                  

                   Martha lived in Iowa.
                  

                   Martha was from Iowa.  She and Archibald were married at the home of G.W. Lorrinu - Pastor Church at Andrew, Iowa.

Prior to her death she had not been strong for several months.  On Wednesday evening before her death she and her son Alex were coming from Sioux City, when the wheel of the car in which they were riding slipped or skidded from the planks which had been placed over a low, muddy place, this causing a sudden stop and a severe jolt.  It was thought after a few days quiet and rest she would recover, but in her weakened condition the shock was too much for her and probably hastened her death.

After her marriage to Archibald W. Thompson they moved to Woodbury Co., near Correctionville, Iowa, where, as a young wife and mother she lived uncomplainingly the life of a true pioneer for a period of five years.  This marriage bore seven children, three of whom were taken away in less than one week during a terrible scourge of diphtheria.  Martha and her husband and family moved from Correctionville in 1887 to Kingsley, Iowa where she had since resided until her death.

Martha and her husband Archibald moved to Kingsley from Correctionville, in 1887.

The 1920 census for Mercer Co., PA has her being born in Iowa.