Ogden Hoffman (October 13, 1794 – May 1, 1856) was an American lawyer and politician who served two terms in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

Life

Ogden Hoffman was born on October 13, 1794,Genealogy of the Hoffman Family
/ref> the son of New York Attorney General

Josiah Ogden Hoffman Josiah Ogden Hoffman (April 14, 1766 – January 24, 1837) was an American lawyer and politician. Early life Josiah Ogden Hoffman was born on April 14, 1766, in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Nicholas Hoffman (1736–1800) and Sarah Ogden Hoffma ...

(1766–1837) and Mary (Colden) Hoffman. He pursued classical studies and graduated from Columbia College in 1812.

Career

He served for three years in the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

and was warranted a midshipman in 1814. He took part in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

and the

Second Barbary War The Second Barbary War (1815) or the U.S.–Algerian War was fought between the United States and the North African Barbary Coast states of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers. The war ended when the United States Senate ratified Commodore Stephen ...

as a crew member on the USS ''President'', and was taken prisoner when the ''President'' was captured in 1814. After leaving the Navy he studied law under his father, was admitted to the bar in 1818, and commenced practice in

Goshen, New York Goshen is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 13,687 at the 2010 census. The town is named after the Biblical Land of Goshen. It contains a village also called Goshen, which is the county seat of Orange Count ...

Political career

Hoffman was District Attorney of

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

from May 1823 to January 1826, and a member of the New York State Assembly (Orange Co.) in

1826 Events January–March * January 15 – The French newspaper '' Le Figaro'' begins publication in Paris, initially as a weekly. * January 30 – The Menai Suspension Bridge, built by engineer Thomas Telford, is opened between the island ...

. He then returned to New York City and there practiced law in partnership with Hugh Maxwell, who was

New York County District Attorney The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County (Manhattan), New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws ...

. Hoffman was again a member of the New York State Assembly (New York Co.) in

1828 Events January–March * January 4 – Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac succeeds the Comte de Villèle, as Prime Minister of France. * January 8 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized. * January 22 – Arth ...

; and was New York County District Attorney from 1829 to 1835. He disagreed with the Jackson administration over the need for a federally chartered central bank, and abandoned

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

and the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

for the Whigs after Jackson's decision not to re-charter the

Second Bank of the United States The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Hamiltonian national bank in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was chartered from February 1816 to January 1836.. The Bank's formal name, ...

. In 1836, Hoffman defended Richard P. Robinson at his trial for the murder of

Helen Jewett Helen Jewett (born Dorcas Doyen;The trial of Richard P. Robinson for the murder of Helen Jewett. New York City, 1836 In American state trials / John D.Lawson, editor pp 426-487 Wilmington, Del. : Scholarly Resources, 1972 October 18, 1813 – Ap ...

and got his client acquitted. Hoffman was elected as a Whig to the

25th 25 (twenty-five) is the natural number following 24 and preceding 26. In mathematics It is a square number, being 52 = 5 × 5. It is one of two two-digit numbers whose square and higher powers of the number also ends in the same last t ...

and

26th United States Congress The 26th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1839 ...

es, holding office from March 4, 1837, to March 3, 1841. He was United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1841 to 1845; and was

New York Attorney General The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government o ...

from 1854 to 1855, elected on the Whig ticket at the New York state election, 1853.

Personal life

On June 27, 1819, he married Emily Burrall, daughter of Charles Burrall. Together, they had two children: * Charles Burrall Hoffman (1821–1892), who married Harriet Bronson Willett, granddaughter of Dr. Isaac Bronson. * Ogden Hoffman, Jr. (1822–1891), who served as a federal judge in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

for more than 40 years. In November 1838, he married Virginia Southard (d. 1886), daughter of

Samuel Lewis Southard Samuel Lewis Southard (June 9, 1787June 26, 1842) was a prominent American statesman of the early 19th century, serving as a U.S. Senator, Secretary of the Navy, and the tenth governor of New Jersey. He also served as President pro tempore of the ...

, who was a U.S. Senator,

Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

, and the tenth

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official r ...

. Together, they had three children: * Samuel Southard Hoffman (b. 1839), who married Sarah Acklen * Mary Colden Hoffman (b. 1840) * Virginia Southard Hoffman (b. 1842) He died on May 1, 1856, at his home on Ninth Street in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, of "congestion of the lungs." He was buried at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery.

References

Notes Sources *
''The New-York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 35, 253, 257, 353 and 431; 1863)
''Death of the Hon. Ogden Hoffman''
in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' on May 2, 1856
''Genealogy of the Hoffman Family''
by (Dodd, Mead & Co., NYC; pg. 279ff) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffman, Ogden 1793 births 1856 deaths Columbia College (New York) alumni United States Navy sailors Members of the New York State Assembly New York State Attorneys General United States Attorneys for the Southern District of New York New York County District Attorneys New York (state) Democrats Ogden Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) 19th-century American politicians People from Goshen, New York Deaths from pulmonary edema Presidents of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York