Part -!
A POV by George Prowd
In the mid-1850s, the community of Hoffman Station was established by the missionary Rev. Cadwallader Colden Hoffman. He approached the people of Gbenelu (Big Town) with a request for a parcel of land, and they granted it readily. Their reasoning was clear: they believed that Christian education and the introduction of modern “civilization” would provide their children with growth and opportunities they would long appreciate.
In those early days, Hoffman Station was a tight-knit community with a modest population. It was a place where everyone knew their neighbor and most felt a deep sense of kinship. In fact, this closeness created a unique social challenge—finding a spouse was notoriously difficult, as almost every potential suitor turned out to be a cousin!
Central to life in the station was St. James Episcopal Church. The church cemetery, however, was governed by strict tradition. Burial was a restricted privilege, reserved exclusively for faithful members of St. James or recognized residents of the Hoffman Station community.
In the beginning, these restrictions posed no issue; the land was ample and the population was small. However, as the decades passed and the community evolved, what once felt like an orderly tradition began to move toward a looming crisis.
TO BE CONTINUED…