Karl Frederick Zweibelhofer

Karl Frederick Zweibelhofer was born in New York City on 8 October 1894 to German-immigrant parents, Frederick Karl and Matilda Birnstill Zweibelhofer. The family moved to New Britain, Connecticut, in about 1906 because young Karl's health was poor. Karl Zweibelhofer served in World War I as a lieutenant in the United State Army Calvery Artillery. After the war, the family changed their name to Hofer, and Karl changed the spelling of his first name to Carl.

Carl Hofer worked for Travelers Insurance in Illinois and as a civil engineer in Boston before moving to West Hartford, Connecticut, to join his brother, Adolph, in Hofer Brothers Builders. They became the largest landholders in West Hartford. Carl Hofer married Eleanor Clara Neumann on 16 April 1929. They had three children: twins, Jane Eleanor and Howard Carl (b. 1930); and Herbert Frederick (b. 1933). Carl Hofer died in 1985.