The
Hopfner family has been prominent in the history
of Schönsee, Bavaria, since the early 1600's. The earliest
reference is from a tax book of 1617 which records Georg Hopfner.
Several Hopfners were mayors of Schönsee including Joseph
Hopfner (1740), Baptist Hopfner (1762), Anton Hopfner (1793),
and Johan Anton Hopfner (1801). Other notables were Andreas Hopfner
(Master Baker b1730 d1810), and Georg Hopfner (First Lieutenant
of the Schönsee National Guard Company in 1810).
Another Georg Hopfner was the son of Barbara von Bebenburg and became the owner of her property in 1854. He married Anna Trieben and they lived at the Bebenburg manor house in Friedrichshane. This place was the former residence of Friedrich Karl Baron Karg von Bebenburg, the Lord of Reichenstein-Schönsee from 1760 to 1797.
Although most of these people were either our ancestors or close relatives, I have not yet found records establishing a link between Joseph Hopfner and any of them, and to do so at this point would be pure speculation. Many records of Schönsee were destroyed in the great fire of July 1867 which burnt over half the city.
Joseph Hopfner immigrated to America in the company of Thomas Dobmeyer and his son George. He came under an assumed name. Thomas Dobmeyer sailed on the ship Bremen from Bremen which arrived in New York on May 10, 1867. Following Thomas in the passenger list was Josef Kupfner. This may have been the name Joseph Hopfner used.
Joseph settled in Millerville, Minnesota, where he was one of the earliest pioneers. He married Margaret Rothstein and they had a large family. There are now several hundred descendants in the USA and Canada.
