Hugo Hermann Fürchtegott Treffner was born in
Kanepi Parish on 17 July 1845. His father worked at the parish's church. After learning under a private tutor, Treffner began attending Tartu kubermangugümnaasiumis in 1860 before moving to Võrus Poeglaste Era Õppe- ja Kasvatusasutuses in 1863. After finishing there in 1865, he took a test at the
University of Tartu that authorised him to become a
schoolmaster. He began working as a private tutor before attending the University of Tartu in 1868. He briefly studied
philology with the Faculty of History and Philology before moving to the Faculty of Theology the same year. Treffner became part of the
Estonian national awakening in the 1870s, working with several nationalist-affiliated organisations and aligning himself with
Carl Robert Jakobson. Treffner co-founded the
Estonian Students' Society in 1875, and he served on the committee for from 1882 to 1884. He was a committee member for the second and third
Estonian Song Festivals. Treffner finished his studies with the Faculty of Theology in 1880. He made several attempts to become a pastor, but each parish rejected him for his nationalist leanings and his association with Jakobson. Treffner opened a private German-speaking boys' school,
Hugo Treffner Gymnasium, in 1883. He also taught religion at St. Mary's School, beginning in 1886. He became editor of the
Oma Maa magazine in 1886 and took ownership of the
Eesti Postimees newspaper in 1887; he sold the
Eesti Postimees the following year. Treffner co-founded another nationalist organisation, the
Society of Estonian Literati, which he led from 1887 to 1890. Hugo Treffner Gymnasium was required to switch from German to Russian instruction in 1889 under the authority of the Russian Empire. Treffner ended his tenure as editor of
Oma Maa in 1891. While still running his own school, he began teaching religion at Pushkin Gymnasium for Girls in 1899. Treffner died on 13 March 1912. == Legacy ==