California Biographies 

Source:
History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California
by: C M Gidney - Santa Barbara. Benjamin Brooks - San Luis Obispo. 
Edwin M Sheridan - Ventura
Volumes II - Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, ILL., 1917

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


 
CHARLES A. HOFFMAN.  Endowed by Nature with artistic tastes and talent of a high order, 
Charles A. Hoffman early gave evidence of his preference for a professional life, and having 
taken up the study of photography when young he has risen to much prominence in the art, 
and secured a leading position among the photographers of Santa Barbara, where he has a 
finely equipped studio, and is carrying on a successful business. A son of Michael and 
Appolonia (Shonen) Hoffman, he was born November 14, 1872, in Keokuk, Iowa, but was 
brought up and educated in Parsons, Kansas.
 
Mr. Hoffman has also achieved an enviable reputation as an artist in an entirely different line 
from that of a photographer, being a genius in plastic art, designing and carving. With a 
master's cunning, he has beautifully ornamented much of the furniture in his attractive home, 
the designs being original, and the work, done mostly in oak or walnut, being exquisitely done, 
the delicate carvings showing the artist's skill and ability. Since opening his studio in Santa 
Barbara, Mr. Hoffman has built up a large patronage in the city and surrounding country, and 
although he has been established but two years in that locality, having arrived there in 1914, 
he is numbered among the more successful photographers of the county.
 
Mr. Hoffman married, September 6, 1889, at Saint Joseph, Missouri, Miss Rosie Schwend. 
Politically he is an independent, voting with the courage of his convictions, regardless of party 
prejudice. Religiously he is a Christian Scientist.