Charles Fenno Hoffman

Charles Fenno Hoffman (February 7, 1806 – June 7, 1884) was an American author, poet and editor associated with the Knickerbocker Group in New York. Biography Hoffman was born in New York City on February 7, 1806. He was the son of New York Attorney General Josiah Ogden Hoffman (1766–1837) and his second wife, Maria (née Fenno) Hoffman (1781–1823). His elder half-brother from his father's first marriage to Mary Colden was Ogden Hoffman, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1837 to 1841. When Charles was 11 years old, his leg was crushed by a boating accident and had to be amputated. Hoffman, who was proud of his ancestry, was the grandson of John Fenno, the Federalist editor of the Gazette of the United States. One aunt, Harriet Fenno (d. 1808), was married to John Rodman, the New York County District Attorney, and other aunt, Mary Eliza Fenno (d. 1817), was married to Gulian C. Verplanck, a New York State Senator and U.S. Representative. He was descended from Martin Hermanzen Hoffman, who emigrated to New Netherland in 1657.