Eugene Augustus Hoffman was born on March 21, 1829 in New York City, New York, United States. He was the son of Samuel Verplanck Hoffman and Glorvina Rossell Storm of Dutch, Swedish, and Huguenot ancestry. Through his father he was descended from Martin Hoffman who emigrated to America from Revel, on the Gulf of Finland, in 1657.
Hoffman graduated from Rutgers College in 1847 and went to Harvard, chiefly for graduate study in mathematics. The prevailing Unitarianism of the place and period weighed heavily upon him--he compared New England piety unfavorably with that of the church in which he had been bred--and before the year ended he had determined to enter the ministry. He received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Harvard in 1848. In 1851 he also graduated from the General Theological Seminary in New York.
Hoffman joined Agassiz's party which went around Lake Superior in birch-bark canoes in the following summer, then devoted himself to his theological training. In 1851 he was ordained deacon in the same year and priest in 1853. For the next twenty-six years he held pastorates at Christ Church, Elizabeth, New Jersey, 1853-1863; St. Mary's, Burlington, New Jersey, 1863-1864; Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, 1864-1869; and at St. Mark's, Philadelphia, 1869-1879. Through his efforts, also, St. Stephen's Church in Millburn, New Jersey, was built and the old church at Woodbridge was rebuilt.
In 1879, after having twice refused the position, Hoffman became dean of the General Theological Seminary and remained at the head of the institution until his death. When he entered upon his duties he found the seminary poorly equipped and burdened by a large debt. Soon in place of six professors and seventy-five students there were ten fully-endowed professorships, a deanship, three instructorships, five fellowships, and one hundred and fifty students. Then came the library, chapel, deanery, and dormitories. Hoffman took no salary during his entire encumbency.
Aside from his seminary work he was several times a delegate to the General Convention, was a trustee of St. John's Cathedral.
Hoffman died on a train returning to New York from Canada.
Hoffman is remembered as General Seminary's "most munificent benefactor, " and under him most of its present quadrangle and grounds, buildings, professorships, endowments, and customs were established. Under his leadership the vested faculty evensong procession was instituted, as well as the wearing of academic gowns by students and faculty. He also established the custom of conferring the honorary doctorate upon graduates of the seminary who became bishops. His gifts to the seminary included a Gutenberg Bible and (with Cornelius Vanderbilt) a collection of Latin Bibles, eleven hundred in number. He himself published A Collection of Articles on Free Churches (1857) and The Weekly Eucharist (1859), and compiled the Genealogy of the Hoffman Family (1899).
(This book an EXACT reproduction of the original book publ...)
( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)
(Parish statistics of Christ Church, Elizabeth, N. J., and...)
Theologically Hoffman was a High-churchman. He was deeply affected by the Oxford movement and was a leader in the renewed emphasis upon sacramentalism and ritualism in the American church. Always conservative in thought, he found the historical church the center of cohesion, necessary to safeguard religious belief and practice.
Hoffman was a president of the New York Historical Society, and a fellow of the American Museum of Natural History.
Hoffman was reticent in expression and somewhat austere in manner, but his warmth of heart was apparent to those who were closely associated with him.
Born to immense wealth, Hoffman gave generously of his own money and induced others to give. He was primarily an administrator, and his management of the seminary showed a characteristic attention to detail, extending to such matters as menus for the refectory and the saving of candle-ends. He also kept himself informed of each student's standing.
He was not a leader in intellectual life or in social movements, though he was by no means indifferent to the intellectual standing of the seminary or to the philanthropic work of the church.
Hoffman was married, on April 19, 1852, to Mary Crooke Elmendorf of New Brunswick, New Jersey. They had nine children.
