The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1920-11-05
WILLIAM BRAND HoFFA.

The following sketch OF one of Gren
I ada's most prominent citizens in tn,
, person OF Mr.. w. 3. Hoffa, has fallel
, into the hands OF Sentinel represen
ative and is being published at thi
time without MIR. Hoffa's knowledge
William Brand Hoffa of Grenada
mississippi. was born at "Auvergne'
plantation In the western portion o.
Grenada county. Mississippi, May q
1867, ON the north side OF the Yalo
btisha river, near what was then Tus
eahoraa and Chocchuma ferries
His father, j. NJ. Hoffa, was born
in Beaver County, Pa His fathers
fathersseame TO Pennsylvania in 1925,
and was of the Reed, NfcNair and Nc.
Knight stock. all of whom were prom
inent factors in Colonial days.
! His mother, Elizabeth DOnelson Mar
tin, was born in the same home where
Mr.. Hoffa first saw the light OF day
i'll 1891, and was a grand-niece OF
General Andrew Jackson and a daugh-
ter cf Col. W. G. Martin, who came
TO Mississippi in 1888 and settled on
the plantation where. his daughter,
Elizapeth, was born apd which the
subject of this sketch still owns. The
correspondence between Gen. Jackson
and Col. Martin shows that the two
men We're on very intimate terms and
reveals the fact that the General very
Frequently consulted Col Martin, es-
pecially as regards business matters.
Col. Martin was secretary TO General
Jackson in the Natchez campaign. He
was aide To Gen. Coffee in the battle
Of New Orleans, Jan. 8, 1916. Gen.
Jackson placed him in charge Sf the
land office with headquarters at what
was then Chocchuma, town that
now exists only in memory. i
Nh. Hoffa's fOrbears came from
Colonial and Revolutionary stock, and
on has mothers side were on Scotch
Irish and of Scotch-Welsh descent.
Llneage plays "a very great part
in shaping the destinies OF all man
kind, but oftentimes men seem to
grow careless about what they owe
the name they bear. But not so with
Mr.. Hoffa- He does not immOdestly
intrude these matters on his friends
and acquaintances, yet there is a.
beauty and pathos about the way
he expresses himself about his fore
parents that shows that the Biblical
7h,uuCs7on u "honor thy faffer and
mother is deeply imbedded in his
He has shown that he
feels that serious responsibility !,
rests upon him to bear we'll and hon
orably the name with which he has |
been honored His parentage have |
been a beacon light 10 his pathway.
They have been hope and inspiration. !
They have been as rainbow athwaft |
his pathway when the clouds have |
seemed dark and lowering. They have |
10 him 10 be of good cOur-
age when adverse currents beat up
Oh his bark. They have been the
foundation stone upon which his lie
las been shaped and from which some |
Of the almost remarkable things /
which he has accomplished, came. His |
father died when he was quite a
small boy, and his training devOlved
upon his mother.
Mr.. Hoffa attended the common /
schools of his community. He was a
student al the a. & VI. College at
Starkville. Miss, for part OF one |
session Yet he is a we'll informed !
nan. He had the good fortune TO be |
lnder the tuteiage, inspiration anu |
OF an eVer-thought1ul.
intelligent and loving mother from
whom he early learned TO acquire the
of good books and to
earn the lesson, which unfortunately
seems TO be escaping the attention
If such a large per cent OF even the
college students of the present. day,
hat the reading of good books ana
with the lives OF the
worlds great men, mean really more
n an education than familiarlzing
mes self with school text books.
His first business connection was
With life and fire insurance agencies
n Grenada. Possibly it will never be
evealed just how much the selling
f insurance aided in developing the
iready very dominant traits of his
1aracter. push, persistency and
teadiness of aim and purpose.
He has been twice married. HIS
irst wife. Miss Mary Moore, was a
aughter OF Mr.. and Mrs Moore OF ,
;renada and was a very beautiful /
nd lovely woman. OF this marriage i
1ere were no children. He was mar r
led again Jan. 16, 1906, to Miss Vel "
la Cloud, of Biloxi, Miss. She, too, {
, very attractive and lovely charac- (
er and has met every demand of the t
ood wife and real help-meet. To t
MS union four children have been i
orn, four of whom are still living. a
MIR. Hoffa comes from long line b
{ Presbyterians-. In his early man. t
God he united with that branch OF I
,e Protestant church. He is a lie
nights Templar and a Shriner, but t
est of all a good citizen and an up 1.
ght man, thoroughly alive to every
BOD work. 1t has been his dream
n years that Grenada should be
,me a real city, certainly a city that
ould measure up with the larger
ties of the state He has dreamed
i'd worked for Grenada's growth and d
likewise has he talked r
Id worked for Grenada's awakening, q
i'd be it said to his credit that MS s
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