Shoff, Irvin K.

Miner, Farmer

Birth: April 23, 1849, Brookfield, Trumbull County, Ohio
Death: June 1, 1907
Burial: Vienna Township Cemetery, Vienna, Trumbull County, Ohio
Find a Grave memorial

Published Biography

From: Harriet Taylor Upton, A Twentieth Century History of Trumbull County, Ohio, A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, Its People, and Its Principal Interests (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1909), Volume 1, pp. 246-247:

IRVIN K. SHOFF, of Vienna Township, Trumbull county, was in his lifetime a miner and farmer and highly respected by all within the radius of his acquaintance. He was born in that part of Trumbull county known as Brookfield township, April 23, 1849, a son of Aaron and Lucinda (Hummason) Shoff. His mother was born in Vienna township, January 17, 1818, while the father was born January 13, 1816, in Canada and came with his parents to this country when he was about five years of age. The family located in Brookfield township. Aaron Shoff was a tailor and followed his trade there until his death, January 19, 1882. The mother died August 12, 1890, of heart failure. They were the parents of eight children, Irvin K., of this memoir, being the sixth in order of birth.

What may justly be termed a self-made man was Irvin K. Shoff, as he had gone through life unaided by others, save the assistance so able rendered him by his good wife. He attended the common district schools of his native township, Brookfield, and remained with his parents until he married, after which he was employed on the top of the mines for several years. Previous to his marriage, he had also worked on the grade of the Lake Shore railroad from Youngstown to Ashtabula, Ohio. After marrying he continued to work at the top of the coal mines for about one year, when he was stricken with typhoid fever, which dread disease kept him from work for a year. After he had sufficiently recovered to work, he engaged in the butchering business at Williams Corners, continuing in this line of business six or seven years. he then purchased the farm upon which his widow now resides, which tract consists of fifty-four acres. Here he died June 1, 1907. Mr. Shoff was connected with the Masonic order at Hartford, having passed all the official chairs in the lodge; he was also a member of the order of Maccabees, at Vienna village.

He was married May 31, 1874, to Miss Rosetta Vinton, born in Vienna township, near the Brookfield line, May 1, 1853, a daughter of Aaron G. and Ruhama (Snyder) Vinton. Her mother was born in Hartford, Ohio, December 2, 1826, and the father in New York state, May 25, 1827. He came there with his parents when quite young, they settling in Brookfield, near the Vienna line, on a farm, where the grandfather died. The father became the owner of a farm in Vienna township, near the old home in Brookfield. There he remained until his death, June 11, 1899. The mother still survives and resides on the old place around which clings so many dear old memories. There were four children in the Vinton family, Mrs. Shoff being the eldest.

Mr. and Mrs. Shoff were the parents of the following children: Clarence W., born September 2, 1875, unmarried, now in New Mexico, to which place he went because of failing health; Cleon C., born December 4, 1877, residing in Chicago, employed with the American Steel Wire Company, married February 25, 1900, Miss Maud Norton, of Vienna township; Hattie V., born December 20, 1878, wife of Charles Moore, residing in Vienna township and has four children--Laura R., august 9, 1903, Rosetta Valeria, December 19, 1904; Fred Irvin, born March 11, 1880, bookkeeper for Ferris & Cahoun, residing in Cleveland, married November 29, 1905, Jeanette Hoak, of Cleveland, the daughter of a Methodist minister, and they have one son, William Hoak Shoff, born December 7, 1908.

Mr. Shoff was originally a member of the Disciple church, but later in life both he and his wife united with the Presbyterian Church at Vienna. Politically, he voted on independent ballot.