FORMER LAND OWNED BY THE HOFFMAN FAMILY OF LEE AND CHAMBERS COUNTIES ALABAMA NOW IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CAMPUS OF AUBURN UNIVERSITY, AUBURN, ALABAMA

INTRODUCTION:

Hoffman family lore has always stated that property that once belonged to them had been donated to Auburn University. In an effort to identify what parcel of land this was, Bob Merrill was able to locate the deed for this transfer of property.  It occurred in 1928 and was sold by Walter Hoffman and his wife Frances [Mayberry] to Alabama Polytechnic Institute for $2,500. The deed had a description of the property, but many of the landmarks used are no longer in existence. The deed also stated that Frances Hoffman purchased it in 1880. With the assistance of Joyce Hicks of the Special Collections Department of the Auburn University Library, historical maps and photographs were used to ascertain the location of the property.

BACKGROUND:

Frances Westmoreland Hoffman (1843-1915), who had grown up in Chambers and Macon counties in Alabama, was living in Elmore County when her husband, Henry Arthur Hoffman, died in 1872. It is known from family history that she moved to Auburn after his death, but the exact date of her arrival in Auburn is not known. She had a sister, Eliza Holifield, living in Auburn at the time and it is supposed that was at least part of the motive behind moving there. The 1880 U. S. Census shows Frances living in beat 6 (Auburn) of Lee County with her two sons, Walter and Paul, and her daughter Eliza Ada. Within nine households of them in the census are two Slaton families, the Dumas family, the Conrad family, and the Alsea and Eliza Holifield family. Since the exact placement order of the census taker is not available, we can only conclude that these families lived in somewhat close proximity to each other.

DETAILS:

Using the description from the deed and old campus maps, we can located the property to where the Tichnor Buidling and its parking lot are now situated on the campus of Auburn University. There is no road open to vehicular traffic where this part of Thatch Avenue is today, but rather a pedestrian walkway. Using a campus map from 1931, the spot can be located as:

A 1928 photograph taken from atop the WAPI radio towers shows the area:

Views of the area in June, 2007:

Tichnor Hall from south

Parking Lot behind Tichnor Hall

View of Jordan-Hare Stadium from Tichnor Parking Lot

AFTERWARDS:

Family records and census data indicate that after the children had left home, Frances did not live on the property. This would have been by 1890. Paul and Walter had attended API for a short while, but did not graduate. Eliza Ada went to school at Shorter College in Rome, Georgia and was teaching school in Birmingham in 1890. Lore says the house where Frances lived was commonly called the Green House or the Hoffman House. After the sale of the property in 1928, the area was used for faculty housing and boarding houses. It is believed that the house was torn down in the early 1960’s.

Frances Hoffman lived until 1915 in Lee County, Chambers County, and Washington, D. C. She is buried in Pine Hill Cemetery neat to her sister Eliza Holifield.

Tom Merrill

Hoover, Alabama - June 24, 2007