J. F. Merriman & Co.
Memphis
LOUIS HOFFMAN
As far as I know Hoffman was a derringer maker himself and did not use any Henry Deringer guns that were surcharged. I only know of two of these guns and I am sorry that I am not able to obtain them for photographing. I can tell you that they are highly ornate similar to the O’Dell manufactured guns. Hoffman was located in Vicksburg.
Louis Ferdinand Alexander Hoffmann was born in Berlin, Prussia in 1823. His father was an officer in the Prussian army but died when Louis was 9. His mother died when he was 11, leaving five orphan children. Louis came to America in 1852 settling for a short time in Patterson, New Jersey, then moving to St. Louis, Missouri and on to Vicksburg in 1854.
During his early years in Europe he was brought up in the machine shop of Borsig of Berlin, then the largest of its kind in Europe. This fact later may explain the heavy European influence on Mr. Hoffmann’s guns.
From 1854 til 1857 he worked in Vicksburg at the Zimmerman and Reading Foundry, learning the art of metal craft. In 1857 at the age of 34 he had saved enough money to start his own business.
His first ad in the Vicksburg Daily Whig dated October, 1857 states: “New gun shop—Louis Hoffmann takes pleasure in informing his community and the public generally that he will carry on the gunsmith business and all its branches. It will make rifles to order, stock guns and pistols, etc.”
The 1860 Vicksburg City Directory list six gunsmiths working for him, One of these was Adam Schafer who later went into the retail business himself and Philadelphia Henry Deringers are known to be marked with his agency’s name.
Hoffmann’s earliest known address was listed in 1857 as China Street and later on Washington Street. The Washington Street store burned in 1879 and new buildings were erected on Clay Street. This became known as the famous “Hoffmann Block.”
In 1886 the former Louis Hoffmann or Hoffmann Hardware Company was incorporated and the name changed to Louis Hoffmann Hardware Company, Inc., Hoffmann Block, Vicksburg, Mississippi.