Johan Theodor HOFIUS

                   History of Mercer Co, 1888, Vol. 2, p. 866.
This Hisorty says that he was a German minister who came to
Washington County, Pa , md Nancy Baker and later in the year 1800 came
to Mercer Co. ,Hickory Twp. near Sharpesville with son & wife. Died in
1808 of an advanced age.

Occupation: Merchant, Schoolmaster, Preacher Teacher German Reformed Church.

Education: Iserlohn,Germany.

Military Service: It has been written that Johan was caught up in the Seven Years War.

Work Experience: School Master - Pastor at Schaefferstown, Pa., and later at the Johan Hofius School in Hickory Twp., now Hermitage, Pa.

Reverend Johan Theodor Hofius sailed from the Port of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on the ship "Countess of Sussex" commanded by Captain Thomas Grey sometime in the Fall of 1765.  He arrived in Philadelphia with 50 passengers on board (23 recorded by name) and took the oath of allegiance to the British Colony of Pennsylvania on 10/7/1765.  He then went to Heidelberg now Schaefferstown, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania where he was the first listed Schoolmaster in the Reformed Church School.  It is thought he stayed in Heidelberg until at least 4/1/1769 since it appears he prepared (in his hand lettering) a Baptismal Certificate on that date.  He next traveled to Bedford County, Pennsylvania, then to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in the area that became Washington County, Pennsylvania, when it was formed from Westmoreland County in 1781.  He married Nancy Baker in Westmoreland County prior to the Washington County change.  They had five children, William, Earnest, and John T. Jr., who's last names were changed to Hovis.  It appears this name change was done by the early record takers.  Infact all of the boys show up in the 1820 census with the last name of Hovis.  Only George the oldest and their sister Barbara, until her marriage to Henry Koonce, carried on the the original Hofius name.  All of the children were born in what was then Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania before this area became Washington County, Pennsylvania.

In 1800 Johan with his wife Nancy and their oldest son George and wife Jane along with their first born Henry came to Mercer County, Pennsylvania before the land was cleared.  They settled at what was then called Hickory Corners on a 150 acre piece of land that was deeded by the Commenwealth of Pennsylvania to his son George (presently known as Hermitage, Pennsylvania) when Mercer County was mainly a forest.  Johan and his family were one of the Pioneer families of Hickory Corners.  He died in 1808 and was buried nearby in Pine Hollow Cemetery, Hermitage, Pennsylvania.  Individuals have either carried away or destroyed his grave stone along with most of the others in this tiny cemetery. It appears that George his oldest son was also buried in this small cemetery.

It has been estimated by previous researchers that there are more than 60,000 descendants of Johan Theodor Hofius with the name of Hofius or Hovis and perhaps 500,000 members with other surnames, having descended through the female branches.  I have been unable to verify any of these figures.

Johan's first years in Pennsylvania picked up where earlier Reformed & Lutheran settlers who had straightway erected a schoolhouse, a log building on the northern part of the lot presently owned by the St Paul's Congregation at Schaefferstown, Pa., for their common use to teach spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic.  It is believed this schoolhouse was erected earlier in the 18th century (between 1740 and 1750) on the church lot fronting on Carpenter Street, from the fact that in 1766 it was necessary to repair it at considerable cost.  This school is claimed to be the first school in this part of the state in which the english language was taught.  It was a union school serving both Lutheran and Reformed Congregations.

The school is only one of the first's for Schaefferstown which was founded by Alexander Schaeffer who called it Heidelberg and built the King George Hotel (now the Franklin House) around 1746.  This other known first for the town was Schaeffer's building of the first underground gravity-flow water-delivery system in the British Colonies.  The Fountain Company as it was called (the oldest functional waterworks in the United States) was founded between 1744 and 1750).  It piped water from a spring through 1,300 feet of wooden pipe (original pipes were tree trunks with holes bored through them) to his hotel and to two large troughs near the square.  Schaeffer also owned a general store and hundreds of acres of land in the area.  In 1758 he bought a large tract of land near the hotel and began subdividing it, charging five shillings for each lot with an additional yearly ground rent of 2 3/4 to 3 shillings.  Around 1830 the people began to call the town Schaefferstown in honor to its founder Alexander Schaeffer.

The union church, also of logs, was built a few years before 1765 in which the same Reformed and Luthern people worshiped.  However, in 1765 the Lutheran people sold their interest in the lot, schoolhouse and church to the Reformed for eighty pounds sterling money payable in four installments.  During this same year, Alexander Schaeffer and Ann Engel, his wife, by deed dated 9/6/1765 for the consideration of five shillings and a yearly ground rent of one penny sterling, conveyed this lot on which the church and schoolhouse stood, being lot no. 42 in the general plan of the town to John Wolfesperger and Durst Thomas, Trustees of the German Reformed Church and their successors.

One of the first big responsibilities undertaken by the Reformed Congregation, after this division, was the collection of funds for the purpose of repair of the school and the financing of the newly built church.  Two members of the church were authorized to make this collection - School Master Johan T. Hofius and John Wolfersperger Elders.  The petition authorizing this solicitation was issued on 4/25/1766.

In order that this collection may be carried on justly, the congregation appointed the School Master Johan T. Hofius and John Wolfersperger who were men of good repute and lovers of the truth, who promised on their faith to use their honest endeavors in this collection and to keep a just account of whatever they received and the names of each contribution in order to prevent reflection on their efforts.

This same Johan T. Hofius was the first schoolmaster mentioned in connection with the school house.  School teachers were not paid a regular salary.  Their income was derived from a number of sources, the chief being from the tuition paid by pupils.  Since the people were very poor, this income was usually not enough to provide a decent living for the teacher.  Other means of income included donations of wood, food, clothing and sometimes living quarters with land for a garden and orchard.

Most of the material used for teaching was religious.  The Bible was used as the reading source material and spelling lessons were made up of words from the Scripture Lessons.

One method used in instructing was the question and answer method.  Among the Schaefferstown Church records is such a book written in German prepared by Johan T. Hofius dated 2/6/1746 while he still lived in Germany.   It is a catechism, board-covered measuring 8 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches in size.  It reads on the title page Johann Theodor Hofius at Iserlohn, Germany.  His catechism follows the Heidelberg Catechism reasoning and consists of about 400 questions in 81 pages.  Below are two of the questions and their answers from this manuscript.

                                EXAMPLE

                          Q.  What are you?
                          A.  A human being.
                          Q.  Of what does a human being consist?
                          A.  Of body and soul.

Other writings of Johan T. Hofius appear in the records of the church beginning with June 8, 1766 to April 12, 1767 as well as noted Baptism Certificates starting with the Baptism of Alexander son of Caspar Schweitzer and Wife on 1/19/1766 as shown in the registered Baptisms in the Church Records of the Reformed Church of Lebanon County 1754-1787.  There are 19 additional Baptisms given in this register that were performed by Johan Theodor with the last one being Jackob/Jacob son of Hans Tschopp and wife Maydalene Stoler on 12/5/1767.  It has been further documented that Johan Theodor performed futher Baptisms with the last one found for Elizabeth Schweizer dated 4/1/1769 at Heidelburg/Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania.

By the late 1700's, this Reformed Church School was teaching in both German and English depending on the parent's request.  The adoption of the common school system by the State of Pennsylvania in 1834, brought an end to these parochial schools.

The congregation continued to worship in the old church until 1795 when it was replaced by a new structure of stone on an adjoining lot on Main Street. In 1858 the stone church gave way to the present brick edifice then St. Paul's Reformed and today St. Paul's United Church of Christ.

The background of the Reformed Church of Germany had its chief seat in the Rhine provinces which accepted the reformation movement molded by Melancthon in 1559.  Under Frederick II the reformed movement passed over from the Lutheran to the Reformed faith.

Through the efforts of Frederick III, elector of the Palatinate (in Germany), Heidelberg became a center for Reformed thought.  There in 1563 the Heidelberg Catechism was drawn up.  It quickly became the basic catechism for all the Reformed churches.  The chief author of the book was Caspar Olevianus of the Palatinate church.

The disorders of the times, during the Seven Years War in Europe (1754 to 1763) with petty warefare and endless oppression of the upper classes lead a good many Germans to forsake the Rhine Provinces and come to Pennsylvania.

Until 1774, religious conditions of these immigrants in Pennsyslvania were very sad.  They had only a few bibles, catechisms and hymn books as well as being widely separated by language.  For example, for the first 20 years during which German Immigration took place (1727-1747) there were at no time more than three or four ordained ministers in Lancaster County which then extended to the present southwestern border of Pennsylvania.

Current communications with individuals and archives in several German States and from an inquiry furnished to Landesarchiv (State Archive) Speyer in 1988 - Joh Theodor Hofius was supposedly born between 1720 and 1753 (sic) in or close to Bad Durkheim, but this information cannot be substantiated.  Dr. Hock from Speyer made this information available in his 1-14-94 letter.

At present, the Hovis relatives of Venango County, Pennsylvania, researchers, have Johan Theodor Hofius born in Limburg, Germany.  The Hovis Hofius Reunion Association of Clintonville, Pennsylvania has put in place a large memorial stone in the Methodist Church Cemetery in Clintonville, Pennsylvania as a tribute to Johan Theodor Hofius and wife Nancy Baker with Johan's birth place of Limburg, Germany and Nancy's birth place of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  This cemetery is the burial place of Johan's wife Nancy.  Since the memorial stone was placed in this cemetery it has been determined that Johan departed from Limburg, Germany for America and that he was actually born in Iserlohn, Germany on 7-31-1730.  Also that he had been married before in Germany and had three children before coming to America.  It has been suggested that Johan's wife died or they were separated before he came to America.  Prior to his leaving Germany two of his three infant children had died.  His third child, Peter Friedrich Moritz Hofius, remained with the family in Germany and also became a minister.  Peter and his wife Maria Christina (Curten) Hofius had seven children: Jacob Adolph Wilhelm, Johann Peter Friedrich, Johannes Henrich, Johannes Theodor, Dionysios Ludewig, Johannes Theodor and Wilhelm Georg Arnolous.  Both sons named Johannes Theodor died very young.

Dr. Hock from Speyer, Germany further advised that the Lower Palatinate (Unterpfalz) was used occasionally in the Eighteenth Century for the territory of the Kurpfalz on both sides of the Rhine River.

R. Joseph Hovis of Mt. Shasta, California a Researcher and Compiler of the book "Hovis Tree Country" covering the George Hovis, Sr. family of North Carolina has stated that Johan a single person arrived in Philidelphia on 10/7/1765. He further advised that Johan Theodor allegedly married Nancy Baker seven years later.  His book also points out that his Hovis family is not related to Johan except that their earlier families might have been related in Germany before coming to America.

Johann's baptismal sponsors were: Johann Hermann Hatzfeld, his uncle and Mayor of Iserlohn; Johann Hermann Frambach, his uncle and Johann Brunnighausen, pastor of Huckeswagen also his uncle.

Johan's father was Johannes Hofius, who was born on 5/11/1694 in Radevormwalde and died on 7/2/1754 in Iserlohn.  His mother was Sibylle Antoinette Berck born 8/23/1704 in Neuenrade and died on 12/26/1791 in Elberfeld.  Johannes was a pastor in Iserlohn.

Johan's grandparents were Wirich Hofius born in 1651 in Hamborn and died on 6/11/1725 in Radevormwalde and Maria Pluecker baptized on 11/16/1659 in Elberfeld and died on 10/22/1701 in Radevormwalde.  Wirich was a pastor in Radevormwalde.  Wirich Hofius's name at birth was Wirich auf dem Hofe and while attending the university he latinized his name and it became Hofius.

Johan's great grandfather was Johann auf dem Hofe, a farmer, born around 1600 in Hamborn Hoffmannshof and died in January 1664 in Hamborn, Hoffmannshof.  He married his wife Elsgen before 1632 and she died before 1658 in Hamborn, Hoffmannshof, Germany.