Henry Hoffman constructed this wood frame house, probably in stages defined by its three sections, smallest in the backyard and largest at the street. The final front façade has a second storey gable and central front door. Available information suggests Henry was living there while building the house with his wife Elisabeth and their adult son Andrew. Henry sold the house with its double lot in 1905.  That year the Whyte Packing Company and Butcher Shop was completed, its large red brick side west wall very tight to Hoffman’s east property line.

Municipal property assessment records list Hy Hoffman as Labourer, and purchaser of this property late 1903 or early 1904. The 1904 assessment shows a building value of $650, indicating that year as the home’s construction completion.

Many Hoffman families emigrated from Germany to Canada West beginning in 1850s through to the early 1900s.  Henry, or Heinrich, was a popular choice of first name for sons in these families. Census data for Perth County tracks several residents named Henry or Hy Hoffman. 

The family who built and were first residents of this home are likely those listed in the 1881 census for Ontario District 171 Perth South, Sub-district Easthope south division I. The father is Henry Hoffman 31, born in 1850, married to Elisabeth Hoffman age 29, (birth year not legible). There is a three-year-old son Andrew born 1878. The government records located state that all three were born in Canada but this could not be verified.
 

In 1916, nine years after the Hoffmans sold the Albert Street house, Canada Census of Manitoba finds Andrew Hoffman, age 37, born in Ontario 1879, mother tongue German. He is living in Kindersley Saskatchewan with his parents Henry and Lizzie A. ages 66 and 63. They lived on rural lots 24, 23, 3, Newcombe, north of the South Saskatchewan River.  Andrew is listed as a farmer’s son, working on his own account. Henry is listed as head of household.