Oscar Hoffman was born in Fillmore, Illinois on December 21, 1889. His parents were Caroline and Berthold Hoffman. He had two sisters, Lillie and Agnes and one brother Edward. He spent his boyhood years in Illinois. His parents decided to move to North Dakota. A brother of Bertholds, Herman Hoffman, had already come and had a farm west of Walum. In August 1906 his parents and the rest of the family came by train, but Oscar and a hired man came by freight in an immigrant car that contained all their household goods, a cow, a horse, lots of building supplies and Oscar's rabbits. The hired man was to take care of the livestock and watch that the goods were not damaged or stolen. By the time the car got to St. Paul, Oscar was tired of the inactivity and decided to go the rest of the way by regular passenger train.
Berthold Hoffman was a contractor and builder. He rented a place for the family to live and store their things while he built a home. The next spring he hired a crew and went into partnership with a Mr. Haugen. They contracted to build a house for R. C. Cooper, for whom the town of Cooperstown was named. This is the large house across the street from the courthouse. It was later purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Harold Brown and for several years part of it was used for a telephone office.
Berthold and Sons and his crew built many large homes in Cooperstown and area. He liked to make designs with the flooring by bay windows and in front of a fireplace. It was almost a trademark of Berthold Hoffman, builder. He also built the Swedish Lutheran Church located west of Cooperstown. This church was later purchased by the Methodists and moved to Sutton where it is still in use as their church building. When Berthold retired from the building trade, he started bee culture. At one time he had the largest apiary in North Dakota. The Amenia Bee Company finally bought most of his bee supplies and they became the nucleus for that Company which still exists.
Oscar and Agnes both graduated from Cooperstown High School. Oscar in 1909 and Agnes in 1912. Lillie lived with the family in Cooperstown one year then married a young farmer from Illinois and moved back to Fillmore. Edward worked with his father a few years, and then married his sweetheart from Illinois. He and his wife proved up a homestead near Dupree, South Dakota. The dry years finally forced them to come back to North Dakota. They farmed west of Walum, later moved to Murphysboro, Illinois where he was farm overseer for a mining company. Agnes taught in a rural school east of Cooperstown, and then married Ray Wilkinson from Jessie, North Dakota. They homesteaded in Montana, later moved back to North Dakota and lived in Fargo several years, then moved to Blaine, Washington. Agnes now lives in Santa Rosa, California.
After Oscar completed High School he took the teacher's examinations given by I. A. Kampen, who was County Superintendent of Schools. Little did he dream that several years later he would marry Kampen's daughter. In the winter months he taught rural schools in Bartley Township and the Bailey School east of Sutton. In the summer months, he worked with his father building homes. In 1911 the Rose Bud Indian Reservation was opened for homesteaders. His brother was living there with his family on a homestead adjacent to one Oscar could file for. So on his 21st birthday. Oscar was en-route to South Dakota to file for a homestead. He bought a ticket at Mobridge for Dupree, which was the town closest to the reservation, on the first day tickets were sold as the railroad was just being completed. He wasn't able to ride all the way as some work was still being done although he could ride a work-train the next day. He and two other men hired a man to take them by car the remaining twenty miles. Because he didn't ride the train all the way he still has possession of his ticket. He built a shack to live in and became the teacher for the first school for whites on the reservation. Previously there had been only Indian schools. After this experience he decided he wanted to become a dentist. He graduated from Northwestern University Dental School in 1918. World War I was going on at the time. A month after graduation he was inducted into the United States Army. He was sent to Fort Oglethorpe near Chattanooga, Tennessee as a member of Medical Company #1. Later he was transferred to Carlyle, Pennsylvania and was there when the Armistice was signed.
Upon returning to his home in Cooperstown, Dr. Ross Benson, physician, O. A. Otteson, druggist, and Chris Reite, president of the First National Bank, called on him and asked him to come to Hannaford and open a dental office. In February 1919 he started his practice in an office with Dr. Benson, M. D. and continued there until ill health forced him to retire in January 1968.
In 1925 he married Winifred Kampen. The depression years came and both Hannaford banks closed. Then the dust bowl years hit. Conditions were pretty bad. No use to leave, things were tough everywhere, so they stuck it out and conditions gradually improved. They have three children, Mrs. Ronald Rose (Joan), Wimbledon, Larry, a dentist in Jamestown and Verne, a science teacher in Karlstad, Minnesota.
The Hoffmans were both active in community affairs. Oscar was chairman of the town board for many years, helped organize and was a charter member of the local American Legion Post, was vice-president of the Griggs County Red Cross and was water safety chairman for the county. He was instrumental in getting trained instructors for swimming and life saving. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He held various offices in the North Dakota State Dental Association, treasurer, program chairman and President. He was District Commander of the American Legion and helped to organize the first American Legion Junior baseball team in Hannaford. He was state treasurer of the 40 et 8 for 37 years and was Grand Chef for one year. He was also president of the International War Veterans Alliance.
The building in which Dr. Hoffman practiced dentistry was built in 1918 by Drs. Benson and Taylor. In 1974 it was moved to Spiritwood Lake to be used as a lake cottage by the Larry Hoffman family.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 137