I have just begun to research the relatives of my grandma Betty Hoffman Riley Stevens. Very little is known about the family of her father, Howard Riley. His father was out of the picture at a very young age and his mother remarried. She died when he was a teenager.Many of his relatives died at a young age.
In contrast she grew up surrounded by the family of her mother, Anna Hoffman Riley, including her aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and greatgrandparents. They all lived in a three block by three block area known as Deutzville. Greatgreat grandfather Mathias Hoffman(n) was a wire worker for the John A. Roebling Company. When the Hoffman's were children they still had an outhouse. Families had vegetable gardens and smokehouses for their meats. They raised chickens for eggs and slaughter and sometimes turkeys,too. Maria Ballner Hoffman(n) would make her daughters dresses from the printed cloth of flour sacks. Back then it was waste not want not.
Greatgreat grandfather Mathias is listed in the 1920 Trenton City Directory as Max Hoffman, wireworker, 1330 Deutz av (Deutzville) as well as his father John...Hoffman,John,1145 Bunting av (Deutzville). They are again listed in the subscribers list of the German-Hungarian Calendar Magazine (1936-1942) written in German by the Donausch Family, This paper contained stories from the German-Hungarian regions of Hungary, Yugoslavia and Romania,pictures of "home", jokes,poems, and a list of all American and Canadian subscribers, their spouses, places of origin, and present addresses...
Brischler,Josef & Margaretha Ballner from Segenthau,Banat,Romania 1346 Deutz Av
Hoffmann,Mathias&Maria Ballner from Segenthau,Banat,Romania 1344 Deutz Av
Hoffmann, Wendel from Nemetsagh,Banat,Romania &Maria Fiesz from Palanka,Batschhka,Yugoslavia 348 Morris Av
Krebs,Lorenz from Deronya,Batschka,Yugoslavia&Anna Stoss from Segenthau,Banat,Romania 905 Hamilton Av
Zimmer,Josef Jr.&Theresia Hamann from Segenthau,Banat,Romania 687 Klockner Rd
We have lived in the house of my Greatgrandmother Anna and Greatgrandfaher Howard on Deutz Avenue, for the past fifteen years. Our house was built in the 'teens. There was a fire at a Roebling plant. The Malloy's "recycled" the bricks of that building and transported them with a horse drawn cart then built our house from them. Observers say that the foundation was dug as deep as the house is tall, which is about forty feet. They wisely did not put any windows on the North side of the house so they could take advantage of the heat of the sun.
My Greatgreat Aunt Marg and Uncle Joe live on the street behind us and until a few years ago Greatgreat Aunt Barb and Uncle Bill lived next door. Greatgreat Aunt Jo lives two doors down. Although most of the relatives no longer live in Deutzville many are still in the area. Others are in Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi. (*note-Uncle Joe and Bill are now deceased)
Many of these relatives lived in and are buried in the Mercer County, NJ area. Their graves can be found in the Greenwood, Lady of Lourdes, Holy Sepulchur and Saint Mary of the Assumption Cemetery's.
The Story of John A. Roebling(pictured below)
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