Mrs. Maria Hoff's Estate

It All Goes To Her children And Her Grandson

Mrs. Maria Hoff of Keyport, widow of Capt. Joseph D. Hoff, made her will July 5th, 1894, and she made a codicil to the will March 9th, 1896. The will is a very long one and particularizes most of the articles of household goods owned by Mrs. Hoff and states to whom she wishes them to go. Mrs. Hoff owned not only a quantity of fine furniture, but she also owned a large number of relics and mementoes (sic). which had been brought from foreign lands by her husband, who besides being a seafaring man had been consul to Mexico and had been abroad a great deal. A number of valuable relics from the island of Malta were among the things mentioned in the will. Mrs. Hoff had had five children, but only two of them are living. These are Sarah A. Fairchild, wife of Samuel G. Fairchild of Keyport; and Walter T. Hoff of Hazlet. Mrs. Hoff left also a grandson, Edward L. Sprague, son of Mrs. Hoff's dead daughter Josephine. In apportioning the household effects and personal property, including the relics from foreign lands, Mrs. Hoff was evidently trying to apportion them so that her son, her daughter and her grandson would each share equally. After disposing of most of these effects, Mrs. Hoff left all her other property to her two children and her grandson, share and share alike. According to her will this property includes "bonds and mortgages, government bonds, bank stock, township bonds, gold and silver, silverware, plated ware and crockery." All other property not specially bequeathed was also ordered equally divided among the three persons. Mrs. Hoff requests that no additional monument be erected in the cemetery where she is to be buried beside her dead husband. The two children and the grandson were made the executors of the will. The codicil made one or two small changes in the special things bequeathed to the children and grandson, but the chief item of the codicil was an order to the executors to set aside $200 and invest it securely, the income of which was to spent each year in keeping the family burial plot in order.

Source: Red Bank Register, Wednesday, Dec 18, 1901

Some additional excellent resources for your research are:

• New Jersey Census, 1772-1890 - Ancestry.com

• Calendar of New Jersey Wills, 1670-1760 - Ancestry.com

• Interment.net - NJ ~ New Jersey Cemetery Transcriptions on the net.

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