Barton County KS Archives Biographies.....Brinkman, Family ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com October 5, 2005, 11:53 pm Author: Great Bend Tribune THE BRINKMAN FAMILY IN THE MEMORY of the old timers of Barton County and Great Bend there are few men who are occupying as prominent a place as John V. Brinkman, the head of the Brinkman family which came to Barton from Ohio in 1874 at a time when this section of Kansas needed just such men as John Brinkman and his sons have proven to be. John V. Brinkman was born in January, 1841, near Bolivar, Ohio, on a farm. He was married November 19, 1863, to Miss Susan Liebold of that state and they were the parents of nine children as follows: Nora, Katie J., George, Charles V., Lillian, Ola, Mabel, Eloise and Louis. Mrs. Brinkman was born in Ohio in 1842 and died April 23, 1908, she having survived her husband by three years, he having passed away June 27, 1905. In 1874, the year following Mr. Brinkman's arrival in this county, he organized the J. V. Brinkman & Co., bankers, private banking establishment with a capital of $10,000. It was while he was actively engaged in this business that he endeared himself to the people of this section of the state. He was a man who took a deep interest in the welfare of his neighbors and the upbuilding of the community in which he lived. Many are the incidents known to his friends of which he would never speak regarding his charitable acts, and the aid he rendered those who were in need at a time when aid was hard to obtain. From the very beginning his business was a success and when he died after having lived a noble life the people of Barton County mourned as they have seldom mourned the loss of a man. The bank which he established has grown until now it has a capital of $50,000, with deposits approximating half a million dollars. The officers of the bank are now. J. George Brinkman, president; Charles V. Brinkman, vice president, Frank Brinkman, cashier, and W. O. Vollmer, assistant cashier, and the same policies followed by the elder Brinkman are being carried out by the sons to the end that it will always stand as a material evidence of the business sagacity of its founder. [photo] J. V. Brinkman [photo] Mrs. J. V. Brinkman In 1877 Mr. Brinkman, together with E. C. Sooy, built a flour mill in the county on the banks of Walnut Creek east of Great Bend. It was the intention to utilize the water power furnished by Walnut creek, but it was learned within a year that just at the times when the power was needed there was not sufficient water in the creek to furnish the necessary power, and in 1878 the mill was moved to its present site, just south of the Santa Fe tracks on Main street in Great Bend. The mill as originally built was known as Three-Run French Burr with a capacity of 100 barrels per day. When the mill was erected on its present site, Dave Roberts was taken in as a partner and was head miller until 1886, when the company was incorporated under the name of the Walnut Creek Milling Company, with the following officers: J. V. Brinkman, president; E. C. Sooy, vice president; Dave Roberts, general manager. It was in 1886 that Nicholas Smith became identified with the company and after the death of J. V. Brinkman in 1905, Charles V. Brinkman became president and Nicholas Smith was made secretary and manager. Dave Roberts severed his connection with the mill in 1887 and now lives at Grand Junction, Colorado, where he is engaged in the milling business. The mill property consists of a square block of ground and the milling building is 80x180 feet in dimensions and is equipped with the latest and most improved milling machinery. Its main product, "Imperial" flour, is shipped to all parts of the country and is one of the chief reasons why Great Bend is called the Milling City, and this flour's quality maintains the city's reputation as a producer of all that is best in the line of flour quality. Charles V. Brinkman, the head of this milling business founded by his father, was born in Bolivar, Ohio, July 6, 1869, and came to Barton County with his parents in 1874. He attended the public schools of this section and also took a course at Washburn college of Topeka. Before going into the milling business he was connected with the J. V. Brinkman bank for four years. J. George Brinkman, who is president of the J. V. Brinkman Co., bankers, was born at Sandyville, Ohio, June 21, 1867. He was married November 8, 1894, to Miss Pauline Wilner of Kansas City, Kansas, and they are the parents of two children, Marion and John V. Nora is now Mrs. Fred Zutavern of Great Bend; Katie is now Mrs. Nicholas Smith, also of Great Bend; Ola is now Mrs. G. L. Chapman and resides in Great Bend; Eloise is now Mrs. N. A. White of Fremont, Michigan, while Lillian and Louis are residents of Great Bend, the latter being connected with the Walnut Creek Milling Company. Many who read this brief synopsis of the Brinkman family will recall the many kind deeds of John V. Brinkman and remember him as one of the men who made possible the development of Barton County's resources, and as a man who at all times found time to listen to the words of woe from less fortunate people who came to the new country without means to see them through the periods of hard times. He was a man whose friends were numbered by his acquaintances and he died happy in the thought that his life had not been a failure and knowing that he was leaving behind him a heritage of which any family might be proud. [photo] Charles V. Brinkman [photo] Louis Brinkman Additional Comments: From: Biographical History Of Barton County File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/barton/bios/brinkman18gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ksfiles/ File size: 6.0 Kb