On November 3, 1909, I was born in Nortonville, Kansas. In April of 1910
     my father, Charles Hoffman, moved my mother, Katherine, my sisters, Edna
     and Mabel, and myself to Barber County. We settled at the west edge of
     Hazelton on a farm that father purchased. My brothers, Arthur and Howard,
     and my sister Edith, were all born after our move to Barber County.
       The family worked the farm with the help of God and four work horses.
     Milk cows, hogs, and chickens supplied most of our food. Other food was
     provided by mother's weekly walk to town for groceries. Once a month, father 
     would also visit the grocer to pay the bill. He always returned with the
     grocer's gift to us - a sack of candy! Needless to say, my brothers and
     sisters and I all waited impatiently for father to return from town.
       In 1927 I graduated from Hazelton High School; and then in July of 1930,
     after a four year courtship, I married Margaret Rose Parker, who also had
     been a student at Hazelton High. To get our license, we jolted over a
     dusty, unpaved road to Anthony - no luxury ride in a Model T. Ford. When
     the County Clerk learned I was a few months shy of the legal age of twenty
     one, back I went, over the same unsympathetic road, to get my parent's
     consent.
       In 1931, Margaret Rose and I bought the dray business in Hazelton from
     Carl DeMint. This consisted of some small farming tools and a wagon and
     team. I delivered coal and unloaded lumber, bricks, and cement. In the
     Spring I plowed gardens all over Hazelton. Using the Model T Picup, I met
     trains four times a day and traveled to Corwin with the U.S. Mail. Margaret
     Rose often helped with these duties. Later we began delivering ice in 
     Hazelton and Corwin and the surrounding countryside.
       In 1940 I began selling home appliances and home heating and cooling 
     systems. I enjoyed this business until we sold it to my son, Jim, in 1972.
       In 1944 we bought Alfred Alder's farm, which I still operate with my 
     son Jim's help.
       Presently, we live in Kiowa in a home we bought in 1973. Our children
     are all married and raising families of their own.
       Jim and his wife, the former Patricia Hunsaker, were married in 1958 and
     live in Hazelton with their sons, Carey and Michael. Our daughter, Patricia,
     married Gary Balding in 1955 and resides with him and their children, Mark,
     David, and Kimberly in St. Paul, Minnesota. Our son, Jim, married Diana 
     Cantrell in 1959. They live in Amarillo, Texas, with their children, Marty
     and Christene. Tony, married in 1970 to Cheri Collier, is living in Borger,
     Texas. He and Cheri have two sons, Adam and Benjamin. Married in 1971 to
     Harlin Hinds, our daughter, Trudy, lives in Arkansas City, Kansas and has 
     two children, Aaron and Sunny.
       One of the highlights of my life was to be one of the charter members in
     the organization of the Community Baptist Church of Hazelton in 1951. Also,
     I served for 23 years as president of the Hazelton School Board and was
     several years a director of the Farmer's Coop and a councilman for the City
     of Hazelton.
       Now retired, Margaret Rose devotes her life to homemaking and sewing for
     her grandchildren, while I work in my woodshop, where I have made a grand-
     father clock for each of my children.
                 
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 234