The story of the Huffman or Hoffman (original spelling) family is a story of craftsmen. The earliest known Hofman/Huffman was Heilmann Hobmann Hofmann, who was born about 1505 in Germany. He lived in the area of Germany known as Prussia. His son was named Tilmann who he lived in a Catholic area called Siegen, near the town of Eisern.

Tilmann is listed on the Eisern tax roles for the years 1566 and 1567, the last year his father is mentioned as still being alive. The tax roles indicate that the family had a considerable amount of property. Tilmann's only known son was named Heilman, born about 1560.

Heilman married a woman named Anna and had five sons- Tilmann II, born about 1590, Henrich, born about 1592, Jacob, born about 1594, Johannes, born about 1596, and Ludwig, born about 1598. Heilman was the only Hofmann on the special tax list of 1583 in Eisern, paying feudal dues of poultry from 1588 to 1590. He was not listed on the 1599 tax list, which listed his widow and children, so apparently he had died before 1599.

The oldest son, Tilmann, also married an Anna, and his only known son, born about 1615, was named Dietrich. The records indicate that Tilmann was appointed associate Justice of the Hain Court on November 27, 1655. It appears that he did not live long after his appointment.

Dietrich's wife's name is not known, but she bore him two children, Tilmann III, born about 1638, and Elsbeth who later married Helmann Niess. Dietrich was the first member of the Huffman family to be admitted to the Guild of Smelterers and Hammersmiths, as smelterer, on May 10, 1647. In order to be admitted to the Guild, he must have owned at least 6 "Days" or shares in some ironworks, most probably the Eisern Ironworks. He was also a member of the Prussian Militia at Eisern in 1636 and 1637.

Tilmann III inherited his father's property about February, 1660, and was admitted to the Guild as a smelterer about 2 years later. He was appointed as an Associate Justice of the Court of the Hain (Siegen District Court). He married Catherine, the daughter of Tilmann Hermann, on July 9, 1661, and she bore him at least six children- Johannes, born on July 19,1663; Tilmann IV who only lived one day, born July 20, 1662; Henrich, born February 1, 1665; Anna Catharina, born May 29, 1667; and Michael, born April 22, 1669, who married Anna Catharina Kappe on April 23, 1698.

Johannes, the oldest living child, grew up, became a citizen of Siegen in 1690, and about March, 1690, he married Gertrude Reichmann, daughter of Tilmann Reichmann, a respected official of Siegen. Johannes spent most of his life at Eisern, and earned his living as a Furhmann or travelling dealer in iron products. His marriage produced nine children- Catherine, born in 1691; John, born in 1692; Maria Catharina, born 1695; Johannes Hofmann II who didn't survive infancy; Elsa Catharina, born in 1699; Hermann who didn't survive infancy, Anna Margarethe, born in 1705; Johannes Heinrich aka "Henry", born in 1708; and Johann Wilhelm, born in 1711.

The second oldest child, John was christened Johannes Hoffman in Siegen, on May 6, 1692. He emigrated to Virginia, Germanna Colony, Spotsylvania County, by 1714. He married Marie Sabina Folg, the daughter of John Michael Folg, in 1729. They had fourteen children. John was a very wealthy plantation owner. He sold 50 acres of land to John Marshall, the future U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Evidence indicates he attended the Lutheran Church. His will, dated Sept..30, 1769, left 150 acres each to his four daughters, and 292 acres each to nine of his ten sons.

John's much younger brother, Henry Huffman was christened Johannes Heinrich at Roedgen Church, Siegen, on March 22, 1708. He joined the Carpenter's Guild as a young man, apparently the first Huffman to do so, sponsored by his influential godfather, Johannes Kommer. The motto of the Guild was "Long Live the Skilled Handicrafts of the Carpenters". Henry married Elizabeth Catherine Schuster, daughter of Tilmann Schuster, in early 1735 at the famous Roedgen Church. He moved from Germany to Virginia's Germanna Colony before 1739, but disappeared from the Colony records after 1739, having moved to Culpeper County, Virginia, near his brother John, shortly after the birth of his third daughter. Henry was associated with the Reform Church and not the Lutheran Church at Germanna. He had at least 10 children, 5 of whom were born in Virginia, including Dietrich, aka "Teter", born about 1750. Henry went back to Germany, perhaps to visit, in the 1760's, but returned to Virginia just before his death in 1765. As a practiced carpenter, Henry built many homes in the new Virginia Colony, and taught these carpentry techniques to his sons.

Henry's third son Dietrich, born about 1750, lived in Culpeper, and then Madison County, Virginia, and owned 100 acres of land there, but deeded it away in 1786 and moved to Barren County, Kentucky with his wife Jemima and daughters Susannah and Elizabeth (both were christened in the Hebron Church, Madison Co., Virginia). Another 200 acres was deeded to William Taylor, probably a son-in-law, in late 1787. Dietrich may have eventually settled in Warren County, Kentucky. His wife bore him at least eight children, four daughters and four sons, including Ezekiel Huffman, born August 26, 1782. Teter practiced his carpentry artistry taught to him by his father to build log cabins in the new Kentucky territory, and he passed these skills on to his own sons.

Ezekiel and his brother Julius both married sisters, Elizabeth (Betsy) and Nancy Crow respectively, the daughters of John Crow, an early Kentucky settler and friend of Daniel Boone. They were married in 1806 and 1807 respectivelly, in Barren County, Kentucky. Oral familly tradition is that Ezekiel had fifteen children and was married twice. His family had moved from Cumberland Co., Kentucky to Missouri about 1820. He bought and sold land in Kentucky and Missouri, and by the time of his death, in 1868, he was living on a farm belonging to his son-in-law, Archibald Wills, in Platte Co., Missouri, but had lived for many year in Clay County, Missouri, near the town of Liberty. Among his children, born in Kentucky, was a son named Jesse George, and a daughter named Martha Ann. Martha married William Simms and lived near Liberty in Clay County, Missouri, where the James brothers lived. Once they invited Jesse and Frank to dinner and after they had eaten and left, Mr. Simms noticed that the antique clock on the mantle was missing, so he immediately rode after them and they gave him back the clock without any argument.

Jesse George Huffman, son of Ezekiel and Betsy, was born in Cumberland Co., Kentucky, on October 6, 1812, moved with his family to Missouri, by about 1820, and married his first wife, Nancy Bennet in 1835. It is not known what happened to her, most probably she had died, but by late 1836, he had married Mourning Estes, daughter of Elisha Estes, from a distinguished Virginia family. They were married in Clay Co., Missouri. By 1847, they had five or six children, three sons and two or three daughters. Jesse had heard about the opening up of the Oregon Territory, and since sis family did not particularly like the Missouri climate, by early 1847 he had sold his slaves to a neighbor, bought an Ox Team and Wagon and joined a wagon train and traveled with his family on the Oregon Trail. He expected to be able to use his considerable carpentry skills to build their new lodging in Oregon, just as he had done in Clay Co. Their journey to Oregon was full of expected hardships, but relatively uneventful, since there were no Indian attacks. They arrived at The Dalles and ferried down the Columbia River with their possession to Oregon City, the end of the Trail. From there they moved down to northern Marion County, and established a homestead on the Pudding River, just north of Aurora. Among their neighbors were many French Canadian settlers, some of whom participated at the famous Champoeg conference that led to Oregon Statehood in 1859. Jesse G. and Morning were close friends of George Curry, one of Oregon's great early Governors, and they knew George Abernethy, Pioneer Merchantman and first Terrritorial Governor of Oregon. After settling down in Oregon, they had five more children, including John Parker, born in 1851. In 1865, Jesse sold his homestead claim to William Kyle, the founder of the famous German religious colony at Aurora. He moved his family to a new homestead in Benton County, west of present day Philomath. Besides being an excellent carpenter, Jesse liked to hunt elk and deer and fish for trout, and he went on many hunting trips with his friend, Governor George Curry. In 1850, he went with General Joseph Lane and his troups to Southern Oregon and into California and fought with the Rogue River Indians in the famous Modoc Indian wars. Jesse lived until October 11, 1885, and is buried next to his wife, in the Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Benton County, not far from his homestead.

John Parker Huffman, born in Marion County, Oregon on April 24, 1851, learned his skills as a carpenter from his father. When he moved to Benton County with his family, he met his new neighbor, Francis Spencer, who had moved his large family by Ox Wagon from Missouri to Oregon in 1864, in order to escape the turmoil of the Civil War in Missouri. Among Francis's many children was a daughter named Sarah Jane, about a year younger than John. They became close friends, and nine years later, in 1874, they were married. Sarah had red hair and freckles, and lived to the age of 90. John and Sarah took over the Huffman Homestead soon after their marriage. They had four sons, Chester, Dana, Jesse, and Hans, who died in infancy. From 1869 to 1889, John worked in and then ran a sawmill on the South Fork of Mary's River. Dana and Jesse married two Griffith sisters, Blanch and Luella. John Parker decided to move to Portland with Dana and Jesse and their families before 1910, and Chester took over the Homestead near Westwood. John built several houses in Portland and lived in most of them before selling them. When the great stock market crash of 1929 led to the Great Depression, John had already retired from contracting and house building, and at the age of 78, he and Sarah moved back to the Huffman Homestead and even at that age, John built a small house near the entrance to the farm, and John and Sarah lived there until their deaths in 1938 and 1942 respectively.

Chester Ricketts Huffman was born on the Westwood Huffman Homestead on June 13, 1875, only nine months and 1 week after his parents were married. He grew up and lived his whole life on the Homestead. At the age of 23, he married 19 year old Elma Maud Hedrick, of Oakville and Shedd, in Linn Co., Oregon. She had never known her father, Alfred Hedrick, who abandoned his pregnant wife and went back to Iowa to live on his father's farm by 1879. Elma's other grandfather, Washington Eagy who had a farm near Oakville, always claimed that he was descended from Pocahontas, the Virginia Indian Princess who married John Rolfe, but saved the life of Captain John Smith. Chester and Elma did not have any children in the first four years of their marriage, and when Elma's half sister, Lizzie Pugh Emerick died from childbirth, they being the godparents, decided to adopt the baby and named him George Huffman. Almost 7 years later, in 1910, a daughter, Vera Margaret, was born to Chester and Elma. Two years later they had a son, Claude Vincent. Chester continued to operate the farm, but the depressed farm prices brought on by the Great Depression, caused them to almost lose their farm. Their daughter Vera, gave them all of her savings that she had earned from her housekeeping job of several years, and which she had planned to use to go the Secretarial College, and they were able to save the Homestead. Vera married Byron Abernathy in 1935 at her home, but earlier, Claude had married Alma Hall in Baker, Oregon. Chester's health began to deteriorate by the end of the 1930's, and on July 25, 1941, while sitting in a rocking chair on his front porch, he had a fatal heart attack. He was buried near his parents in the Pleasant Valley Cemetery, and 28 years later, his wife Elma was buried next to him.

Vera Margaret Huffman was born on the Westwood Homestead on April 6, 1910. She grew up on the Homestead with her brothers George and Claude. She went to school at the Westwood Grade School, about 5 miles west of Philomath on the Alsea Highway. She went to Philomath High School and worked as housekeeper for a Mr. Castle and his wife. Ironically, she was to marry a son of Anna Castle, wife of Peter Lemuel Abernathy, but no relation to the Philomath Castle. Vera met Byron Abernathy after his family had moved to Oregon by 1930 from Iowa at the beginning of the Great Depression, and started going with him in the early 1930's. Byron was working in the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) started by Franklin Roosevelt, by late 1933, where he learned the trade of surveying. They corresponded by letters for almost two years, and on June 2, 1935, they were married at the Huffman Homestead.

Byron then began working for the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) after 1936, surveying for electrical line towers in Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington. About two years after their marriage, their first son, Glenn Donald was born. Another son, Robert Alan was born on after another two years, both sons born at the Corvallis, Oregon hospital. About 1942, after moving to Portland, Oregon and living in a rented house near Byron's father's house. a house up the street became available for sale, and after borrowing the down payment from Byron's father, Vera and Byron bought the house they were to live in for 47 years. Byron went to work as a surveyor for the City of Portland, and had two more sons, Keith George and Gary Alan. After all the sons had grown up, some going to college, some going into the military, Byron and Vera decided to sell their Portland home, a two-story house with land to keep up, and in 1990, 15 years after Byron had retired, they moved to Albany, Oregon, and both lived there until their deaths. Vera and Byron rest side by side at the Skyline Memorial Cemetery near Portland, Oregon. The genealogy from Vera Abernathy back to Heilmann Hobmann Hoffmann can be found here.

There are many well known Huffmans living today, but one the most famous is Felicity Huffman, an actress who has appeared in many featured films and television shows. David A. Huffman, who died on October 7, 1999 at the age of 74, was the founding faculty member of the Computer Science Department of the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC). He was a pioneer in computer science and while a graduate student at MIT , he developed the famous "Huffman Code" which is used in fax machines, modems, and other applications involving the compression of da ta. He was also noted for his skill in geometric paper folding. Donald R. Huffman is a Professor of Physics at The University of Arizona whose research on the famous C60 molecule and other fullines synthesized in the Kratschmer-Huffman process. Steve Huffman is a State Representative in Arizona, representing District 12. John C. Huffman is a Senior Scientist in Chemistry at Indiana University Molecular Structure Center. Richard D. Huffman is an Associate Justice of the California Fourth District Court of Appeal. Among the earlier well known Huffmans was Laton A. Huffman, a frontier photographer who photographed the Montana territory in the late 19th century. In Hemphill Texas, the local library is name for a founder, J.R. Huffman. The famous Huffy Bicycles were developed by Horace Huffman in 1924. A mile east of downtown Dayton, Ohio is located the Huffman Historic Area, named after William P. Huffman and his children who helped create the Huffy Bicycle Company. In the Mt. Adams Ranger District is found Huffman Peak #129, named after a pioneer to the Oregon Territory