Brown County MN Archives Biographies.....Brust, William 1858 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 26, 2014, 4:41 pm

Source: See Below
Author: L. A. Fritsche

WILLIAM BRUST.

    William Brust, cashier of the Farmers and Merchants State Bank at Sleepy
Eye, this county, former postmaster of New Ulm and for years one of the
best-known business men of Brown county, is a native son of this county, having
been born on a pioneer farm in Cottonwood township on May 14, 1858, son of Jacob
and Susanna (Schnitzius) Brust, early settlers of this region and prominent
figures in the early life of the New Ulm settlement, both of whom spent their
last days there.

    Jacob Brust was born in Prussia, second in order of birth of the nine
children born to his parents, Peter and Anna (Weber) Brust, small farmers, who
spent all their days in their native land. He was reared on the home farm, the
chief feature of which was a fine vineyard, and he became a skilled vine
dresser. In 1852, he then being twenty-one years of age, Jacob Brust came to the
United States and for two years was located in Chicago, where he married Susanna
Schnitzius. He then, in 1854, came to Minnesota and after a bit of prospecting
bought from the Indians a plot of land fifty by one hundred feet on the site of
what afterward became the thriving city of New Ulm, with a view to setting up as
a trader. The redskins, however, shortly afterward went back on their bargain
and drove him away from the place. Mr. Brust then walked to the land office at
Winona and entered a claim to a quarter of a section of land in Cottonwood
township, this county, and returning erected a homesteader's shack on the same
and proceeded to "prove up" his claim.

     From the very beginning of his residence in this section, Jacob Brust took
an active part in the civic affairs of the undeveloped country and was the first
sheriff appointed for the jurisdiction of Brown county under the territorial
government. During the Indian uprising in 1862 he took a prominent part in the
defense of New Ulm and in the drastic measures which were required to put down
the savage insurrection and in other ways proved himself a most resourceful and
useful pioneer of the county. In 1866 he left the farm and moved into New Ulm,
where for ten years he was successfully engaged in grain buying, later engaging
in the hotel business and was thus employed until he retired from active
business in 1882, during which time he became one of the best-known men in this
section of the state. Jacob Brust lived to be eighty-four years of age, his
death occuring on February 22, 1915. His wife had preceded him to the grave many
years, her death having occurred in 1888, she then being sixty years of age. He
had been reared a Lutheran and she a Catholic. He was liberal in his views,
however, and for years had been a member of the New Ulm Turnverein. They were
the parents of four children, namely: Peter, who died in his eighteenth year;
William, the subject of this sketch; Matilda, who died when one year old, and
Charles H., who lives at Laporte City, Iowa, Mrs. Brust's parents lived all
their lives in Germany. She was one of their three children who came to this
country, she having had a sister, Christina, who married Joseph Halm, of St.
Paul, and a brother, Peter Schnitzius, who were residents of Minnesota.

      William Brust was eight years old when his parents moved from the
Cottonwood township homestead into New Ulm and he grew to manhood in the town,
being a witness to its rapid development in the early days. Upon completing the
course in the New Ulm public schools he took a course in the Milwaukee Business
College and was employed as a bookkeeper in the Citizens National Bank at New
Ulm. He quickly acquired a notable proficiency in the banking business and was
shortly advanced to the position of assistant cashier, a position he held until
1885, in which year he formed a partnership with Charles Stuebe, Henry Engel and
John Atkinson and engaged in the milling business, but after nine months of that
form of business a call was made on him to resume the banking business and he
was made cashier of the bank at Redwood Falls, a position which he held for a
year, at the end of which time he engaged in the dry-goods and general
merchandise business in New Ulm and was thus engaged until his appointment to
the position of postmaster of that city in 1894, in which capacity he served the
public very acceptably for four years. On June 1, 1900. Mr. Brust was made
assistant cashier of the State Bank of Sleepy Eye and served in that position
until he transferred his services to the Farmers and Merchants Bank, of the same
city, in November, 1904, and has ever since been thus engaged, his position as
cashier of that sound financial concern having been assumed upon the
organization of the bank on November 17, 1904. The Farmers and Merchants Bank
was organized with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars and its last
statement showed a surplus of five thousand dollars. Mr. Brust is an
enterprising and public-spirited citizen, taking an active part in all movements
designed to advance the general welfare of his home town, and has been secretary
of the Sleepy Eye Telephone Company since its organization.

     In September, 1882, William Brust was united in marriage to Amelia Graff,
who was born in New Ulm, daughter of John and Catherine (Schmitz) Graff, pioneer
German residents of this county, the former of whom was born in Prussia and the
latter in Luxemburg, both now deceased. John Graff and his wife were the parents
of four children, George and John Graff, of New Ulm, the latter of whom is one
of the present commissioners of Brown county; Mrs. Helen Jensen and Mrs. Brust.

     To William and Amelia (Graff) Brust, twelve children have been born,
Raymond, George, Felix, Olivia, Martha, Cecelia, Flora, Adela, Richard William
and three who died in early youth. Of these children, Raymond is married and is
a bookkeeper in the Farmers and Merchants State Bank of Sleepy Eye, and George,
also married, is a railroad man. The others of the children are at home. Mr. and
Mrs. Brust are members of the Catholic church and their children have been
reared in that faith. The family is actively concerned in the various social
activities of Sleepy Eye and is held in high esteem thereabout. Mr. Brust is a
member of the St. John Society, in the affairs of which he is warmly interested,
and gives his political allegiance to the Democratic party, ever taking a good
citizen's part in the politiical affairs of the county.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY MINNESOTA
ITS PEOPLE, INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS

L. A. FRITSCHE. M. D.
Editor

With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records
of Many of the Old Families

VOLUME II
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY, Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana


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