George W. Hoffman. 2 Autograph Letters Signed. Niles, Michigan, Dec. 21, 1849 and Jan. 18, 1850. To Guy Phelps, Conn. Life Insurance Co., Hartford, Connecticut. 1pg. and 1pg. + stampless address leaves. About “young adventurers to California”.

Hoffman sends insurance applications “of young adventurers to California, young men of good habits, good constitution and after their fortunes. The insurance is for the benefit of relatives and Brothers who have assisted or in whole furnished the outfit.”. He later sends deposits for policies of Benjamin C. Griswold and William W. Ware, en route to California, via Cincinnati to New Orleans, thence to Chagres and Panama. In returning probably by the same route…”

The writer, George Hoffman, was a notable pioneer in his own right, “one of the oldest and most highly respected citizens of Detroit”, the son of an Army Colonel who served with a young Jefferson Davis in present-day Minnesota and brother of the Union Army’s Commissary General of Prisoners during the Civil War.