PLEASE DO NOT MERGE THIS MEMORIAL WITH ANY OTHER MEMORIAL.

IT IS NOT A DUPLICATE OF ANY OTHER MEMORIAL.

***Modern-day researchers refer to her maiden name as being "Hoffman-Maggard." This is because she was born to Nicholaus Hoffman and his wife, but they had died when she was a young girl, and in 1771, she was adopted by Samuel Maggard (1716-1778) and his wife, who were neighbors: Samuel Maggard's memorial. Samuel had a brother named David Maggard (1718-1775), who adopted Elizabeth's sister Mary.***

A copy of the document for Elizabeth's adoption (actually called, "an apprenticeship") is posted on this memorial. When Elizabeth finished her apprenticeship, Samuel Maggard gave her a spinning wheel.

Elizabeth married Joseph Back, around 1773, and she took that spinning wheel with her. Several years later, when Joseph, Elizabeth, and their children, migrated to southeastern Kentucky, they took that spinning wheel with them. It is now on display at the Breathitt County Museum, in Jackson. (It is the small spinning wheel, in the corner.)

Joseph and Elizabeth had at least four children:

1. Joseph Jr. (born about 1773) who married a woman whose last name may have been Hoffman, but her first name is not known. Joseph Jr. was murdered in 1802, supposedly by members of the Ford family (according to Dr. Wilgus Bach). He had a son named Joseph, who married a woman named Sarah.

2. John (born Nov. 19, 1774) who married Catherine Robertson.

3. Mary (born Nov. 1, 1777) who gave birth to a son (out of wedlock), who she named Alfred Back, but then she died, a few weeks later.

4. Henry (born Feb. 6, 1785) who married Susannah Maggard.

***Elizabeth's remains are here, in The Maggard Cemetery, underneath a gravestone that was created in 1998 by "The Back-Bach Genealogical Society." They inscribed that new gravestone with the name of Elizabeth's sister-in-law, Elizabeth Hoffman Back, who had married Henry Back, who was the brother of Joseph Back, Elizabeth's husband. However, Elizabeth Hoffman Back died in Rockingham County, Virginia, in 1815, and was buried there; she never came to Kentucky. The old, actual original gravestone for Elizabeth Hoffman-Maggard Back was removed in 1988 and discarded. It was retrieved and then taken to The Memory Hill Cemetery. Please click here: Elizabeth Hoffman-Maggard Back's original gravestone***

Here is what happened. Shortly before Elizabeth Hoffman-Maggard Back had died, in 1826, she had told people that she wanted to be buried beside a certain tree, near the Poor Fork of the Cumberland River, which was just a short distance from her cabin along Collier's Creek. And so she was.

A small gravestone was placed on her grave, that only had her name and year of death on it. A cemetery was later created, around her grave. It was named, "The Maggard Cemetery," because of Elizabeth's close connection to the Maggard family: Samuel Maggard (1716-1778), a neighbor, had adopted her, in 1771, after her parents had died; her sister Mary was adopted by Samuel's brother, David Maggard (1718-1775); her son John's best friend was Samuel Maggard (1774-1855), who was a grandson of Samuel Maggard (1716-1778); and her son Henry had married Susannah Maggard, a great granddaughter of Samuel Maggard (1716-1778).

Her small gravestone stood in The Maggard Cemetery for about 85 years. Everyone knew who she was, because she was the matriarch of the Back (Bach) family in southeastern Kentucky. She and her husband Joseph Back (the patriarch of the family) had founded the Back (Bach) family in southeastern Kentucky, in 1791, and so, all people with the last name of Back, or Bach, whose ancestors came from southeastern Kentucky, descend from them, through one of their children. Everyone in the Back (Bach) family in southeastern Kentucky knew that. And everyone in the family also knew the actual genealogy of their family as well (what is shown here, on FindAGrave).

Around 1922, Dr. Wilgus Bach, who was researching and documenting the genealogy of his Back (Bach) family, in southeastern Kentucky, found her small gravestone in The Maggard Cemetery. He decided to honor her by creating a larger gravestone with more information on it.

Unfortunately, Dr. Bach had made two errors in the inscription. First, he had her date of birth as July 13, 1746, because that was the date of birth that he had seen in the old Bach Family Bible for a woman named Elizabeth Hoffman Back. He thought that was THIS woman, Elizabeth Hoffman-Maggard Back, who was the wife of Joseph Back. However, July 13, 1746 was actually the date of birth for Elizabeth's sister-in-law, Elizabeth Hoffman Back, who was the wife of Henry Back (1740-1809), who was the brother of her husband Joseph Back.

The second error that Dr. Bach had made was that he had her place of birth as Thuringia, Germany, because he had seen a handwritten statement in the old Bach Family Bible that said, "We came from Thuringia." However, that statement was referring to Joseph Back's parents, who were from Thuringia, and who had immigrated to America in 1740, and settled in Virginia. Joseph Back's father had bought that old Bible, in 1762, and he had written that statement in the Bible. Elizabeth Hoffman-Maggard Back, and her husband Joseph Back, were actually both born in Virginia.

The gravestone that Dr. Bach had created for Elizabeth Hoffman-Maggard Back stood in The Maggard Cemetery, for 66 years. But, in the fall of 1988, some members of "The Back-Bach Genealogical Society" pulled it out of the ground and threw it over the hill. One of their members, Custer Back, even admitted that they were going to do that, in an article that he wrote, in the October, 1988 edition of the "Filson Club History Quarterly."

Custer Back and his cohorts then erected another gravestone, over the remains of Elizabeth Hoffman-Maggard Back, which was meant to describe Elizabeth Hoffman Back, the wife of Henry Back (1740-1809). They did that, in order to "prove" that Elizabeth Hoffman Back had migrated to Kentucky and had established the Back (Bach) family there. But that was not true.

It has been well-documented that Elizabeth Hoffman Back, the wife of Henry Back (1740-1809), never went to Kentucky. After her husband Henry died, she moved to Rockingham County, Virginia, to live next to her widowed sister Margaret Hoffman Back, whose husband John Back had died, back in 1794. (John Back was a brother to Henry Back.) Elizabeth Hoffman Back was seen in the 1810 Census Report, living in Rockingham County, Virginia with her son Aaron and her two daughters. She was also listed in the Tax Lists in Rockingham County, from 1810 through 1815, living on 50 acres. She died in Rockingham County, in 1815. She never went to Kentucky. Her son Aaron sold her 50 acres of land in 1816. That land deed documented that Aaron had bought that 50 acres for her, back in 1809, and that it was adjacent to the 50 acres that her sister Margaret Hoffman Back had bought and lived on.

After Elizabeth Hoffman-Maggard Back's gravestone was thrown over the hill, in 1988, it was soon retrieved by Wardie Craft and his wife Hazel Back Craft, who took it back to their home, which was a museum called "Memory Hill." They put it in "The Memory Hill Cemetery," which was behind their house. Shortly after that, some people who were furious that the gravestone had been retrieved, and saved, went to Memory Hill and they had the word "INCORRECT" carved along the bottom of the gravestone. Her gravestone is probably still at The Memory Hill Cemetery (see the link above).

Summary: The precious remains of Elizabeth Hoffman-Maggard Back, in The Maggard Cemetery, have been grossly disrespected since 1988. Perhaps someday, someone will rectify this tragedy, by getting her original gravestone from The Memory Hill Cemetery, and taking it back to The Maggard Cemetery where it belongs. She should have a gravestone over her remains that describes her, and not her sister-in-law.

All of this information has been well-documented, many times, in numerous sources. Hazel Back Craft told me all about this, in great detail.