Charles Fenno Hoffman was an American author, poet and editor associated with the Knickerbocker group in New York.

Biography

He was born in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 on February 7, 1806, the son of New York Attorney General Josiah Ogden Hoffman

Josiah Ogden Hoffman

Ogden Hoffman was an American lawyer and politician.Hoffman was the son of New York State Attorney General Josiah Ogden Hoffman and Mary Hoffman. He pursued classical studies and graduated from Columbia College in 1812...

 and Maria (Fenno) Hoffman (1781–1823, daughter of John Fenno

John Fenno

John Fenno , was a Federalist Party editor and major figure in the history of American newspapers. His Gazette of the United States played a major role in shaping the beginnings of party politics in the United States in the 1790s.-Biography:Fenno was born in Boston, the son of Ephraim Fenno,...

). When 11 years old, his leg was crushed by a boating accident and had to be amputated

Amputation

Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma, prolonged constriction, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on individuals as a preventative surgery for...

. He attended New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

 and Columbia College

Columbia College of Columbia University

Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1754 by the Church of England as King's College, receiving a Royal Charter from King George II...

. He was admitted to the bar in 1827, but he practiced law only intermittently.

In 1833, he led a group of other students in the Eucleian Society in establishing the Knickerbocker Magazine

The Knickerbocker

The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, was a literary magazine of New York City, founded by Charles Fenno Hoffman in 1833, and published until 1865 under various titles, including:...

, which he edited for the first three issues before passing duties on to Lewis Gaylord Clark

Lewis Gaylord Clark

Lewis Gaylord Clark was an American editor and the brother of Willis Gaylord Clark.-Biography:Clark was born in Otisco, New York in 1808. He succeeded Charles Fenno Hoffman as editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine, a role he held for over 25 years...

. In 1836, Park Benjamin, Sr.

Park Benjamin, Sr.

Park Benjamin, Sr. was well known in his time as an American poet, journalist, editor and founder of several newspapers.-Biography:...

 merged his New England Monthly Magazine with the American Monthly and hired Hoffman as editor, though he left to join the New York Mirror

New York Mirror

The New-York Mirror was a weekly newspaper published in New York City from 1823 to 1842, and again as a daily newspaper renamed The Evening Mirror from 1844 to 1898.-History:...

a year later.

Hoffman's first book was A Winter in the Far West (1835), recounting his travels as far west as St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

. It was followed by Wild Scenes in Forest and Prairie (1837) based on actual experiences in search of health. He wrote a successful novel, Greyslaer (1840), based on the murder of Colonel Solomon P. Sharp

Solomon P. Sharp

Solomon Porcius Sharp was attorney general of Kentucky and a member of the United States Congress and the Kentucky General Assembly. His murder at the hands of Jereboam O...

 by Jereboam O. Beauchamp

Jereboam O. Beauchamp

Jereboam Orville Beauchamp was an American lawyer who murdered the Kentucky legislator Solomon P. Sharp, an event known as the Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy. In 1821, Sharp was accused of fathering the illegitimate stillborn child of a woman named Anna Cooke. Sharp denied paternity of the child, and...

, known as the Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy—an event that several writers, including Thomas Holley Chivers

Thomas Holley Chivers

Thomas Holley Chivers was an American doctor-turned-poet from the state of Georgia. He is best known for his friendship with Edgar Allan Poe and his controversial defense of the poet after his death....

 and William Gilmore Simms

William Gilmore Simms

William Gilmore Simms was a poet, novelist and historian from the American South. His writings achieved great prominence during the 19th century, with Edgar Allan Poe pronouncing him the best novelist America had ever produced...

, also fictionalized.

Hoffman's fame rested chiefly upon his poems, first collected in The Vigil of Faith (1842). Literary critic Rufus Wilmot Griswold

Rufus Wilmot Griswold

Rufus Wilmot Griswold was an American anthologist, editor, poet, and critic. Born in Vermont, Griswold left home when he was 15 years old. He worked as a journalist, editor, and critic in Philadelphia, New York City, and elsewhere. He built up a strong literary reputation, in part due to his 1842...

 that year dedicated twice as much space to Hoffman than any other author in his respected anthology The Poets and Poetry of America

The Poets and Poetry of America

The Poets and Poetry of America was a popular anthology of American poetry collected by American literary critic and editor Rufus Wilmot Griswold...

. Griswold helped Hoffman publish The Echo, another collection of poetry, in 1844. Hoffman was also popular for his songs. From a devoutly Lutheran family he nevertheless dealt with religious ideas in his writing from an inquisitive and open viewpoint. He became the editor of The New-York Book of Poetry, which first attributed A Visit From St. Nicholas

A Visit from St. Nicholas

"A Visit from St. Nicholas", also known as "The Night Before Christmas" and "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously in 1823 and generally attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, although the claim has also been made that it was written by Henry...

to Clement Clarke Moore

Clement Clarke Moore

Clement Clarke Moore was an American professor of Oriental and Greek literature at Columbia College, now Columbia University. He donated land from his family estate for the foundation of the General Theological Seminary, where he was a professor of Biblical learning and compiled a two-volume...

.

Hoffman remained a successful editor and author throughout the 1840s. He officially began a new role as editor of The Literary World magazine on May 1, 1847. The weekly journal, which also included Evert Augustus Duyckinck

Evert Augustus Duyckinck

Evert Augustus Duyckinck was an American publisher and biographer. He was associated with the literary side of the Young America movement in New York.-Life and work:...

 and George Long Duyckinck

George Long Duyckinck

thumb|right|George Long DuyckinckGeorge Long Duyckinck was a New York City writer.-Biography:He was the brother of Evert Augustus Duyckinck and attended Geneva College entered the New York University, and graduated in 1843. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, but never practiced...

, ceased publication in 1853.

Insanity

Under the strain of work, he went insane

Insanity

Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...

 in 1849, supposedly after a servant used his manuscripts to start a fire. He was hospitalized briefly in April 1849 and, after his release, he accepted a position with the Department of State in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 By autumn, however, he was declared permanently insane. He spent the last 35 years of his life in the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum, then a state asylum in Pennsylvania, now part of Columbia University. It was at this state hospital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...

that Hoffman died on June 7, 1884.

Selected list of works

• A Winter in the Far West (1835)
• Wild Scenes in Forest and Prairie (1837)
• Greyslaer (1840)
• The Vigil of Faith (poetry collection, 1842)
• The Echo (poetry collection, 1844)

External links

• Hoffman genealogy, at the William L. Clements Library of the University of Michigan
• Fenno-Hoffman bio info, at the William L. Clements Library of the University of Michigan