Shepherdstown Register., November 17, 1877

Excerpt–
We are sorry to learn that Judge Hoffman, formerly of the Court of Appeals of this State, is lying dangerously ill at his home in Clarksburg.

DEATH OF JUDGE HOFFMAN.

The Wheeling Daily Register., November 19, 1877
Shepherdstown Register., November 24, 1877

DEATH OF JUDGE HOFFMAN–It gives me much pain to announce this morning that Hon. John S. Hoffman, late one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals of this State, died at his residence in Clarksburg Sunday morning.

He was Colonel of the 31st regiment of Virginia Infantry in the Confederate service during the war, and made a brilliant record for personal gallantry and good soldier-ship. In one of the battles near Richmond he received a wound which necessitated the amputation of his foot, and his system never fully rallied from the shock.

After the war he returned to the practice of his profession in Clarksburg, and in 1872 he was elected, on the Democratic ticket, one of the four Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals, a position for which he was well fitted by his eminent legal ability.

Owing to continued ill health, he resigned his seat upon the bench in June, 1876, since which time his illness gradually increased until it reached a fatal termination.

Judge Hoffman was a noble hearted gentleman and warmly beloved by all who knew him well. In his death the State loses one of its purest and most upright citizens. His funeral took place at Clarksburg Monday afternoon at o’clock.—Wheeling Register

Judge Hoffman

The Weston Democrat., November 24, 1877

It is with sincere regret we announce the death of JUDGE JOHN S. HOFFMAN, which occurred at Clarksburg on Sunday morning last.

Judge Hoffman was a native of this county, and was educated at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. He commenced the practice of the law in Clarksburg; and his fine legal mind, studious habits and untiring energy soon brought him prominently before the public as the finest land lawyer in the State. At the breaking out of the war he cast his lot with the South, and entered the army as a private soldier; but his devotion to the cause he had espoused, and his fine soldierly bearing, soon won for him the position of Colonel of the 31st Virginia regiment, which position he held until the close of the war. In the spring of 1865 he received a wound in one of the battles near Petersburg, which necessitated the amputation of his right leg below the knee.

The wound and the amputation gave his nervous system such a severe shock that he never enjoyed good health after that time, and the last ten or twelve years of his life was one of almost continual suffering. He was elected one of the Judges of the Court of Appeals in 1872, but his bad health compelled him to resign his position before the end of his term. Judge Hoffman was a true, brave and good man, and his death will be deeply regretted by a large circle of devoted friends.

A more extended notice of his life will appear in our next issue.

DEATH OF JUDGE HOFFMAN.

Spirit of Jefferson., November 27, 1877

Judge John S. Hoffman, late one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals of this State, died at his residence in Clarksburg on the 19th instant. In announcing his demise the Wheeling Register says:

“He was Colonel of the 31st regiment of Virginia infantry in the Confederate service during the war, and made a brilliant record for personal gallantry and good soldier-ship. In one of the battles near Richmond he received a wound which necessitated the amputation of his foot, and his system never fully rallied from the shock.

After the war he returned to the practice of his profession in Clarksburg, and in 1872 he was elected, on the Democratic ticket, one of the four Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals, a position for which he was well fitted by his eminent legal ability. Owing to continued ill health, he resigned his seat upon the bench in June 1876, since which time his illness gradually increased until it reached a fatal termination.

He was a noble hearted gentleman and warmly beloved by all who knew him well. In his death the State loses one of its purest and most upright citizens.”

The Weekly Register., November 29, 1877

Excerpt—
Judge Hoffman, died at his home in Clarksburg, on the 19th inst. He was late one of the Judges of our Supreme Court, which position he resigned in 1876, on account of failing health.

He was Colonel of the 31st regiment of Virginia infantry in the confederate service during the war, and made a brilliant record for personal gallantry and good soldier-ship. In one of the battles near Richmond he received a wound which necessitated the amputation of his foot, and his system never fully rallied from the shock.

After the war he returned to the practice of his profession in Clarksburg, and in 1872 he was elected, on the Democratic ticket, one of the four Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals, a position for which he was well fitted by his eminent legal ability.

Judge Hoffman was a noble hearted gentleman and warmly beloved by all who knew him well. In his death the State loses on of its purest and most upright citizens.

Death of Judge John S. Hoffman.

The Weston Democrat., December 01, 1877

Again has death invaded our sister county, and taken from her and us, a citizen distinguished by his talents, his worth, and his legal learning, and enjoying the confidence and affection of his countrymen. In the Providence of God these visitations come to warn us that none are exempt from the decree that in life we are in the midst of death, and the “be ye also ready” is a solemn admonition, announced to us from the cradle to the grave, by the mighty and lowly, as they successively fall before the great destroyer.

JUDGE JOHN S. HOFFMAN was born in this town and county on the 25th day of June, 1821; and consequently was, on the day of his death, (Sunday morning last, November 18th, 1877,) in the 57th year of his age.

His father, John Hoffman, a brother of the late Weeden Hoffman, died when he was an infant, and his mother, Eleanor Stringer, a daughter of the celebrated Daniel Stringer, from whom he inherited his love for owning large tracts of land, died not long thereafter, leaving him an orphan with but a small patrimony to make his way in the world as best he could.

By industry and studious habits he acquired a good education, and upon his return from college entered the law office of Judge Gideon D. Camden, of Clarksburg, where he subsequently made his home, and lived at the time of his death; and where, too, he took rank as one of the ablest land lawyers in the State.

1859

In the spring of 1859 he was elected by the people of Harrison county to the Legislature of Virginia, and actively participated in the ensuing session in the passage of laws for quieting and settling our land titles, and was also a member of the noted extra session of 1861. As a part of the history of that time, it is but just that I who shared his confidence and occupied a place in the same body, although opposed to the course he took, should state that no man ever agreed to sever the Union and go with his State with more reluctance than he.

He was a Henry Clay Whig and opposed to secession; but believed in the doctrine of revolution; and when Virginia took sides with the South he went with her, and fought bravely and gallantly for the cause he espoused.

He commanded what was known as the 31st Virginia regiment, and received a wound at the Battle of Hatcher’s Run, twenty miles south of Richmond, from the shock of which upon his nervous system, he never afterwards was freed from pain. After the close of the war he returned to his home in Clarksburg, and again entered upon the study and practice of the law. In June, 1872, he was nominated by the Democratic party a candidate for one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals of this State, and was elected in the following August. He subsequently took his seat upon the bench, and the majority opinions delivered by him whilst one of the Judges of that Court, and which now coustitute standing law and equity decisions of our young State, will ever remain monuments to his memory.

“Vir justus, et tenax propositi.”

Conceding to all men the full measure of what was their duo, he was punctilious of what was due to himself. Whilst he was tolerant of the opinion of others, he was inflexible in the maintenance of his own. Added to these noble traits, his generous and kindly disposition, together with his integrity and uprightness, both as a man and a Judge, won for him many admirers; and but for his impaired health, which caused him to resign his office, would have been reelected to the Supreme Bench, and been to-day one of its brightest ornaments. But a mysterious dispensation of Providence has nipped these honors in the bud, and our friend has gone from the scenes of his youth, and the land he loved so well, and left us, his associates and school-fellows, to chase for a little longer the shadows which he has exchanged for unutterable realities.

Weston. Nov. 23, 1877.