Oscar Herman Hoffman was born in Fillmorre, Illinois, on December 21, 1889. His parents were Caroline and Berthold Hoffman. His father was a builder and contractor. He built several large homes in Cooperstown and surrounding area, among them the R.C. Cooper house. The family moved from Illinois to Cooperstown in 1906. He graduated from Cooperstown High School in 1909. He taught in rural schools for a few years and worked with his father in the summers. He entered Northwestern University Dental School and graduated in 1918. The United States was at war and the class of 1918, was called into service. He was stationed at Fort Oglethorpe at Raleigh, North Carolina. He was transferred to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where the Indian School had been made into a hospital for shell-shocked troops sent home from service in Europe. He was there when the Armistice was signed.
In the fall of 1919, he opened an office for dental practice in the building occupied by Dr. Ross Benson. He continued practice for 49 years until ill health forced him to retire from dental practice. The office building was moved to Spiritwood Lake and is a summer cottage for the Larry Hoffman family. The bell from the closed Presbyterian Church is mounted and is now where the dental office once stood.
He was active in community affairs. He was mayor of Hannaford for several years, also served on the school board. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He held various offices and served one year as President of the North Dakota State Dental Association. He was vice president of the Griggs County Chapter of the Red Cross, a member of the Northern Light Chapter of the Masonic at Cooperstown and a member of El Zagal Shrine. He was a charter member of the Hannaford American Legion Post. He was Grand Commissaire Intendant (treasurer) of the 40 et 8 for 37 years and Grand Chef for one year. He was a past president of the International War Veterans Alliance. He enjoyed hunting and fishing. He always had a big garden and also had several hives of bees. He enjoyed traveling.
He married Winifred Kampen in August 1925. They have three children: Joan (Mrs. Ronald Rose), Wimbledon; Larry, a dentist in Jamestown; and Verne, a science teacher at Mahnomen, Minnesota. They also have four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Dr. Hoffman died in March 1974.
Winifred Kampen was born in Minneapolis on July 16, 1904. She came with her parents to Hannaford when she was five months old. Her father had purchased a partnership into the Hannaford Enterprise, a weekly newspaper. He was instrumental in getting Hannaford incorporated as a village. Winifred and Dorothy Schmidt Gray are the only two survivors of that census taken in 1906. Her father sold his interest in the newspaper to his brother, Paul Anderson, when he was elected County Superintendent of Schools and the family moved to Cooperstown. Her mother died when she was five years old. She attended public schools in Cooperstown, Dazey and Sutton. She graduated; from the Valley City State Teachers College.
She also was active in community affairs. She was a member of the school board for 17 years, is a charter member of the American Legion Auxiliary, is an elder in the Presbyterian Church, a member of Northern Light Chapter of Eastern Star at Cooperstown. She is a past president of the North Dakota State Dental Auxiliary, a past district president of the American Legion Auxiliary, and a past president of the International War Veterans Alliance Auxiliary. She worked with her husband the last 12 years he worked in the dental office. After his death she moved to Jamestown. Her hobbies are reading and china painting and music.
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 160