Charles Louis and Katherine Wormser Hoffman came to Barber County in
     March, 1910. They bought a farm at the west edge of Hazelton from Charles
     Wainscott. At the time of their arrival in Hazelton, they had 3 children:
     Edna Marie, 7 years old; Mable Eva, 5 years; and Lester Louis, 5 months.
       My father was born at Lancaster, Kansas. The family moved to Nortonville,
     where he grew to manhood on a farm with his 5 brothers and 6 sisters. My
     mother was born at Cincinnati, Ohio. Her father came from Germany at the
     age of 18, and her mother was born on the Atlantic Ocean coming from
     Germany and was named Oceana. My mother had 2 sisters, Edna Cohoe and
     Mamie Jansen.
       My parents grew up in the Nortonville community and were married December
     19, 1900. Mother's sister, Mamie, and her husband, Nels Jansen, had moved
     to Barber County earlier and lived on a farm northeast of Kiowa. They wrote
     saying it was a good farming country, so my parents decided to come. Their
     household goods and a team of horses were shipped to Hazelton on the Santa
     Fe Railroad.
       Since electricity didn't extend west of the Santa Fe Railroad, the butter
     and cream were lowered into the open well in the summertime to keep them
     fresh, eggs and vegetables were kept in the cave. Later, Mr. Prock, our
     nearest neighbor, and my father paid to have poles set and the electricy
     brought to their homes.
       My sister, Edna and I shocked wheat and cut kaffir heads. We were never
     allowed to milk a cow or feed the pigs, as my father didn't think the
     barnyard was the place for women.
       We carried cream and eggs to the John stewart Produce on our way to
     school.
       The one chore I disliked most was cleaning the glass chimneys for the
     kerosene lamps each day. One night after attending church, my sister and
     I went to a dance (forbidden) over Coffman's Hardware Store. After getting
     home, we took off our shoes and were quietly going upstairs so no one would
     hear us - when we knocked the clean lamp shades off the steps. (Enough said.)
       Three more children were born after moving to Hazelton. Arthur Lee in
     March 1912, Howard Eugene in February 1915, and Edith Irene in June 1919.
       We all attended grade school and graduated from High School in Hazelton.
     All were married: Edna to George Scott, Mable to Arthur Cannon, and Edith
     to George Major. Howard was killed in a storm at Anthony in 1956.
       My parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary on December 17, 1950.
       During my early teens, I helped Mrs. Ira Solenberger and Mrs. Reece Clark,
     Sr., with housework during the summer. Also before my marriage to A.J. (Punk)
     Hardesty on May 26th, 1928, I worked at the telephone office; set type for
     the Hazelton Herald Newspaper under the supervision of Charley Hyatt; owner;
     waited tables at Robinson's Cafe; and at the time of my marriage, I was
     working as a bookkeeper at the Farmers State Bank in Hazelton for John Skaggs.
                 
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 233 
     Submitted by: Mable Hoffman Hardesty