Joseph W. Brinkerhoff

As printed in 1910

JOSEPH W. BRINKERHOFF, AI. D.

Among the able and successful practitioners of the medical profession in Wayne county, Ohio, the subject of this sketch stands among the leaders. For nearly forty years he has practiced the healing art at Burbank, and during this period he has always enjoyed the unbounded confidence and high regard of all with whom he is acquainted. He has been highly successful in his profession and has also been an active supporter of every movement which has had for its object the upbuilding of the community or the betterment of local conditions, and he is eminently entitled to representation in this volume.

The history of the Brinkerhoff family as far as recorded goes back to the early emigrant ancestor, Joris Dircksen Brinkenhuff (as it was then spelled), who in 1638 emigrated from Holland to New Amsterdam and became the first elder of the Dutch church in Brooklyn. The family acquired considerable wealth and became known as one of the old-line families of New York state. One member of the family. Col. John Brinkenhuff, who was born in 1702 and lived in Fairfax county, New York, served in the Revolutionary army and was a close friend to George Washington. At one time during that struggle Washington was visiting at Colonel Brinkenhuff’s home and the latter wished very much that the General would tell him of a certain move which the army was expected to make. Finally Washington leaned over the table and said, “Colonel, can you keep a secret? The Colonel protested that he was a man of honor and could, of course. “Well,” said General Washington, “so can I.” Subsequently the family moved to Pennsylvania and they owned much of the land on which the battle of Gettysburg was fought during the Civil war. Another member of this family, William Brinkerhoff, became president of Franklin College, at New Athens, Ohio, but died soon after being inducted into office.

The subject’s ])eternal grandparents were Daniel and Rebecca (Frazier) Brinkerhoff, the former of whom was born near Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, March iq, 1780, and died in 1848, and the latter was born in the same county on June 15, 1783, and died in 1872. They were married in 1809 and in about 1820 came to Wayne county, Ohio. Shortly after locating here they bought an uncleared farm of one huu.Ire 1 and sixty acres in Congress township, and proceeded at once to clear a little spot and erected a small log calvin, to which they moved. They were energetic and eventually made a splendid farm of this rough tract.

Doctor Brinkerhoff’s maternal grandparents were George and Barbara Sommers, who were among the earliest settlers of Canaan township. Greatgrandfather Abraham Sommers was one of the first settlers of Wayne county, having entered from the government all of sections 2() and 32 in Canaan township and the east half of.sections 5 and 8 in Wayne township.

The.subject’s father. John Brinkerhoff, was born June 9, 1813, in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and in his boyhood he accompanied his father. Daniel Brinkerhoff, on his migration to Ohio. Here he took an active part in the task of reclaiming the land, which at that time was densely covered with the primeval forest growth. He secured what education he could in the ii86 schools of the neighborhood, and made such progress that in 1835 began teaching, moving to ’foster, and during the following sixteen years he followed that occupation. He was connected with the academy which was started in Wooster in the forties, and which has since developed into Wooster University. During the Civil war he served as superintendent of the Wooster high school and was a member of the school board in 1872 when the high school building was erected. Soon after coming to Wooster John Brinkerhoff became an elder in the United Presbyterian church and was retained in that position over fifty years. He was ardent in church work and gave his support to all worthy movements. When a young man he had done some surveying and helped lay out much of the land on which the city of Wooster now stands. The subject of this sketch, when a lad, helped his father in some of this work. John Brinkerhoff was a stanch Republican in politics and was the first nominee of that party to be elected to the state Legislature from Democratic Wayne county, and only one other has done so since. He died in 1900. In 1833 John Brinkerhoff married Rebecca Sommers, who was born August 7, 1817. in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. She died in 1851, Avhen the subject was but six months old, and in 1852 Mr. Brinkerhoff married Mary Robinson, who was as true a mother to the subject as it is possible for a stepmother to be. Her death occurred on November 7, 1908. John Brinkerhoff was the father of two children besides the subject, namely: George S., who is a successful teacher at Warrensburg, Ohio, and Daniel O., who died December 24, 1861, as the result of camp fever which he contracted while in the sende during the Civil war.

Joseph Brinkerhoff was born in Wooster, Ohio, on the 16th of February, 1851, and secured his elementary education in the public schools of that city, graduating from the high school with the class of 1869. Having determined to take up the practice of medicine as his life work, he then entered the office of Dr. L. Firestone, studying with him four years. During that time he attended the medical department of Wooster University, where he graduated with the class of 1873 regular school of medicine. Immediately after his graduation Doctor Brinkerhoff went to Warrensburg, Missouri, and entered the practice, but in November of the same year he returned to Wayne county and located at Burbank, in the northern part of the county. His success in the practice was assured from the start and the Doctor has practiced there continuously since. He has a large practice and enjoys the unbounded confidence of all who know him. He is a careful reader of the best professional literature and keeps himself in touch with the age hi the latest discoveries pertaining to the healing art. Those qualities of mind and heart that do not certain to the mere knowledge of medical science, but greatly enhance the true worth of the family physician, are not wanting in him. He possesses the tact and happy faculty of inspiring confidence on the part of his patients and their friends and in the sick room his genial presence and conscious ability to cope successfully with disease under treatment are factors that have contributed much to the enviable standing which he has attained. The Doctor keeps in touch with his professional brethren through his membership in the Ohio State Medical Association, of which he is a valued member.

Politically Doctor Brinkerhofif is identified with the Republican party, in the success of which he takes a great interest, and he has served efficiently as a member of the town council of Burbank. Socially he is an appreciative member of the Free and Accepted Masons, holding membership in Harrisonville Lodge No. 137, at Lodi; Oriental Chapter No. 128, Royal Arch Masons, at West Salem, and Wooster Council No. 13, Royal and Select Masters, at Wooster. He was raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason in 1881. The Doctor and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and give to that society an earnest and generous support.

Doctor Brinkerhoff was married on the 19th of November, 1874. to Ella M. Hemler, who was born at Utica, Licking county, Ohio, on January 21, 1851, the daughter of James and Mary (Byers) Hemler. To this union three children have been born, two dying at birth and Mary at the age of seven months. Mrs. Brinkerhoff died on December 8, 1909. James Hemler, father of Mrs. Brinkerhoff, was born October 14, 1819, in Huntingdon county Pennsylvania, and his wife Mary was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, April 5, 1820, and died March 27, 1873. James Hemler was a tailor by trade and in 1849 came from Pennsylvania to Ltica, Ohio. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church. In old age he retired from active work and is now making his home with his daughter Alice in Los Angeles, California. He is very handy with the needle and but a few years ago he made for each of his children a silk piece quilt, hemstitched, and remarkable for the arrangement of colors and the general workmanship] To James and Mary Hemler were born the following children; Mrs. Elizabeth Rogers, of San Jose, California; Oscar John, of Susanville, California; Mrs. Sarah Turner, of Lincoln, Nebraska; Mrs. Alice Virginia Johnson, of Los Angeles. California; Mrs. Lillian Smoots, of Springfield, Missouri; and Mrs. Brinkerhoff.

Though a busy man. Doctor Brinkerhoff has ever taken a healthy interest in matters outside his profession, being an interested reader of the best

1x88 current literature and a man who thoroughly enjoys social occasions. Incidentally he is much interested in geology and in his home and the yard he has many interesting specimens of rock, petrified trees, etc., evidences of the glacial period in Ohio.

As printed in History of Wayne County, Ohio (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.