In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1908) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
From A centennial biographical history of Richland county, Ohio (1901), History of Richland County, Ohio, from 1808 to 1908 : also biographical sketches of prominent citizens of the county (1908)
GENERAL R. BRINKERHOFF.
0 compendium such as the province of this work defines in its essential limitations will serve to offer fit memorial to the life and accomplishments of the honored subject of this sketch, — a man remarkable in the breadth of his wisdom, in his indomitable perseverance, his strong individuality, and yet one whose entire life has not one esoteric phase, being as an open scroll, inviting the closest scrutiny. True his are "massive deeds and great" in one sense, and yet his entire accomplishment but represents the result of the lit utilization of the innate talent which is his and the directing of his efforts along those lines where mature judgment and rare discrimination lead the way. There is in General Brinkerhoff a weight of character, a native sagacity, a far-seeing judgment and a fidelity of purpose that command the respect of all. A man of indefatigable enterprise and fertility of resource, he calves his name deeply on the records of Ohio.
General Brinkerhoff was born in Owasco, Cayuga county, New York, June 28, 1828. The Brinkerhoff s of America are all descended from Joris Dericksen Brinkerhoff, who came from Drentland, Holland, in 1638, with his wife, Susannah, and settled in Brooklyn, New York, then New Netherlands. The members of the family are now numerous, for the most part residing on Long Island and in the valley of the Hudson, but a few of the representatives of the name can be found in almost every western state. Most of these are descended from Hendrick, son of Joris Dericksen Brinkerhoff, who settled in New Jersey in 1685. General Brinkerhoff, of this review, is of the seventh generation in America. His father, George R. Brinkerhoff, was born near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, but his grandfather, Roeliff Brinkerhoff, came from Hackensack, New Jersey. His ancestors on his mother's side — the
Bouviers — and on his grandmother's — the Demarests — were French Hukmenots, who, fleeing from religious persecution, found safety and a home among the tolerant Dutchmen of New Netherlands.
Roeliff Brinkerhoff, the subject of this sketch, was employed as a school teacher in his native town when but sixteen years of age, and at the age of eighteen he was in charge of a school near Hendersonville, Tennessee. At nineteen he was the tutor in the family of Andrew Jackson, Jr., at the Hermitage, and there remained until 1850, when he returned to the north and became a law student in the office of his kinsman, the Hon. Jacob Brinkerhoff, of Mansfield, Ohio. In 1852 he was admitted to the bar and entered the practice, remaining in active connection with the profession until the war of the Rebellion. During that time, 'from June, 1855, until 1859, he was also one of the editors and proprietors of the Mansfield Herald. In September, 1 86 1, he entered the military service as first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster of the Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and in November of the same year he was promoted to the position of captain and assistant quartermaster. In the succeeding winter he was on duty at Bardstown, Kentucky, and after the capture of Nashville he was placed in charge of the land and river transportation in that city. Subsequently to the battle of Pittsburg Landing he was ordered to the front and placed in charge of the field transportation of the Army of the Ohio, and after the capture of Corinth he returned home on a sick furlough. He was then ordered to Maine as chief quartermaster of that state. Later he was transferred to Pittsburg, Pennsvlvania, in charge of transportation and army stores and thence to Washington city as post quartermaster, remaining on that duty until June, 1865, when he was made a colonel and inspector of the quartermaster's department. He was then retained on duty at the war office with Secretary Stanton until November, when he was ordered to Cincinnati as chief quartermaster of the department. In September, 1866, he was bre vested a brigadiergeneral of volunteers and was also tendered a commission in the regular army, but declined the honor. On the ist of October, at his own request, he was mustered out of service, having completed five years of continuous service in the army. General Brinkerhoff is the author of a book entitled The Volunteer Quartermaster, which is still the standard guide for the officers and employees of the quartermaster's department.
On the 3d of February, 1862, General Brinkerhoff married Mary Lake Bently, of Mansfield, a daughter of Baldwin Bently and a granddaughter of General Robert Bently, by whom he had four children, — two sons and two daughters: Robert Bently, Addie Horton, Mary and Roeliff. Robert is a lawyer in New York city; Addie is at home; Mary is deceased; and Roeliff is judge of the probate court of Richland county.
It so happened that the most active years of General BrinkerhofT's life covered the most important events of the anti-slavery period, commencing with the repeal of the Missouri compromise and closing with the war of the Rebellion and the reconstruction and reconstructive incidents growing out of it. During that period it was his fortune to know intimately many of its leading men, and again and again he has been at the turning points of history and has taken a part in shaping events. During all these years, in many ways, as educator, lawyer, editor, soldier, statesman and philanthropist, he has been active and prominent. Among the close friends of General Brinkerhoff at that time, and for years afterward, were Salmon P. Chase, James G. Blaine, General Garfield and General R. B. Hayes.
For several years after the war General Brinkerhoff was an active factor in politics, and was prominent in conventions and upon the platform, in many directions and in many states. In 1873 he retired from active politics and accepted the position of cashier of the Mansfield Savings Bank, with which he has been associated ever since, and for years past has been its president. In 1878 General Brinkerhoff was appointed a member of the board of state charities and has continued in that position under all administrations and is now serving his eighth term.
As a philanthropist there are but few men, if any, more widely known. He has visited and inspected, probably, more benevolent and correctional institutions than any other man in the world, for he has traveled for that purpose in every state in the Union except one, South Dakota; also in the Dominion of Canada, the republic of Mexico, and all the countries of western Europe; and the record of his observations in these directions is a history of all modern progress in dealing with the dependent, defective and criminal classes. The great advance made in the last two decades in the care of the insane by the abolition of mechanical restraints, and other improvements, was inaugurated in Ohio, and no one, perhaps, has done more to educate public opinion upon these subjects than General Brinkerhoff. The establishment of the Toledo Hospital upon the cottage system, which really marked a new era in the treatment of the insane, was largely due to General Brinkerhoff, who was a member of the commission to locate the asylum and select plans for its construction, and his earnest advocacy for the segregate or cottage system secured its adoption. For a time it was known as "BrinkerhofT's Folly," but it is now recognized as the model asylum of the nation.
io8 CENTENNIAL
The Ohio Archeologieal and Historical Society was organized in October, 1875, at General Brinkerhoff's home in Mansfield, and he was its first president. After serving for several terms he declined a re-election, and was succeeded by General R. B. Hayes, and upon the death of ex-President Hayes General Brinkerhoff again became the president of the society, which position he continues to hold.
General Brinkerhoff early took an interest in historical matters. He came to Richland county to make it his home in 1850, and conceived the idea of preserving the annals of its early history. He married the daughter of one of its best known pioneers, and his associations brought him in contact with the men and women of those days, and he felt that a record of their lives should be preserved for the instruction of the generations that would follow them. With this object in view he began to gather information in regard to pioneer times. The results of his labors have been given to the public, not only in newspaper articles but also in book form. Pioneer meetings were held at irregular intervals and in November, 1898, the Richland County Historical Society was organized, with General Brinkerhoff as the president and A. J. Baughman, secretary.
General Brinkerhoff is a charter member of the Mansfield Lyceum, and for the past thirty years has been one of its principal supporters. He was also active in the establishment of the Mansfield Library and the Museum. The Sherman-Heineman park is one of General Brinkerhoff's creations. He conceived the idea of the park and worked indefatigably until the same became a beautiful reality, extending for a mile and a half along the western border of the city. He is one of the park commissioners and is the president of the board. Future historians will proclaim the fact that General Brinkerhoff was a benefactor of his day and generation.
Professor A. H. Currier, of Oberlin College, in the April number of the Bibliotheca Sacra, 1901, reviews General Brinkerhoff's book. Recollections of a Lifetime, from which the following extracts are taken: "The 'Lifetime,' whose 'Recollections' are here garnered and dwelt upon, has certainly been filled with memorable, and marked by an extraordinary, public service. On this account the writing of the book and all that is implied of personal satisfaction in the record are justified. He would be a captious critic who would accuse the author of unbecoming egotism. There is no more egotism here than is needful to give an autobiographical sketch of this kind an interesting personal flavor, like that given to conversation by a person of wide experience, who takes us into his confidence and talks with us freely of the notable people he has met, the important events he has witnessed, the impressive scenes and places he has visited, and the enterprises of public concern he has had a hand in promoting. This is in substance what General Brinkerhoff does in his book. Among the prominent events he witnessed and describes were the Pittsburg Convention of February 22, 1856, at which the Republican party, previously existing only in a few states, became national in extent. He was present likewise at the national Republican convention in Philadelphia, June 17, 1856, where Fremont was nominated for the presidency. He was present in Washington at the inauguration of Lincoln in 1860. He was present four years later at Ford's theater when Lincoln was assassinated, — heard Booth's pistol shot, saw the assassin scramble over the front rail of the president's box and to the stage, run across it and disappear, and felt the horror and dread that thrilled the audience as the truth gradually dawned upon them of what had occurred."
"Few men have traveled so much with such open-eyed intelligence as he. We have interesting accounts of cities and states, east and west, north and south, and over the sea. He confesses that he has been a man of 'bobbies,' — using the word 'hobby as signifying 'a. favorite there of thought and study outside of regular business pursuits.' Into these avocations his mental power and public spirit have overflowed or found congenial employment. In them, moreover, he has manifested not simply a brief superficial interest, like that of most men in such things, who take them up to gratify a transient curiosity or passing whim, but an interest so deep and thoroughgoing that he has achieved in each a notable success, which has made him through them a great public benefactor."
"General Brinkerhoff has come to be widely known as one of the foremost authorities of our country and times upon the subject of charity organization, penology and prison reform. The fact that he was selected to write the article on Prison Discipline, in the American Supplement to the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, is proof of this."
While undoubtedly he is not without that honorable ambition which is so powerful and useful as an incentive to activity in public affairs, he regards the pursuits of private life as being in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts. His is a noble character — one that subordinates personal ambition to public good and seeks rather the benefit of others than the aggrandizement of self. His is a conspicuously successful career. Endowed by nature with high intellectual qualities, to which are added the discipline and embellishments of culture, his is a most attractive personality.
As printed in A centennial biographical history of Richland county, Ohio (1901). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
GENERAL ROELIFF BRINKERHOFF.
The name of General Roeliff Brinkerhoff is indelibly impressed upon the pages of Ohio’s history. A strongly marked personality, clearly defined purpose, keen insight, high ideals and a recognition of life’s obligations and responsibilities have so combined as to make General Brinkerhoff one of the most honorable and honored residents of the state. The record of few men in public life has been so varied in service, so constant in honor and so stainless in reputation, and it is therefore imperative that definite consideration be paid him in this connection.
He was born in Owasco, Cayuga county, New York, June 28, 1828, and is a representative in the seventh generation of the descendants of Joris Dericksen Brinkerhoff, the founder of the family in America, who came from Drentland, Holland, in 1638, accompanied by his wife Susannah, and settled at Brooklyn, New York, then New Netherlands. Many representatives of the family are now living on Long Island and in the Hudson valley, while others can be found in almost every western state. Most of these are descended from Hendrick, son of Joris Dericksen Brinkerhoff, who settled in New Jersey in 1685. The grandfather, Roeliff Brinkerhoff, removed from Hackensack, New Jersey, to the vicinity of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where George R. Brinkerhoff, the father, was born. In the material line General Brinkerhoff is descended from French Huguenots, who, fleeing from religious persecution, found safety and a home among the tolerant Hutch settlers of New Netherlands. Both the Bouviers, his mother’s people, and the Demarests, to which family his grandmother belonged, were French Huguenots.
General Brinkerhoff has been very successful in his business career and yet it has been other qualities that have become dominant in his life record and gained him the honor and respect which are so universally accorded him. He early manifested aptitude in his studies and when sixteen years of age became a teacher in his native town, while at the age of eighteen he was in charge of a school near Hendersonville, Tennessee. The following year he was the tutor in the family of Andrew Jackson, Jr., at the Hermitage and there remained until 1850, when he returned to the north and took up the. study of law with Plon. Jacob Brinkerhoff, of Mansfield, Ohio, as his preceptor. His thorough preliminary reading secured his admission to the bar in 1852 and he remained in active practice from that time until after the outbreak of hostilities over the question of secession. He was also identified with journalistic interests from June, 1855, until 1859 as one of the editors and proprietors of the Mansfield Herald.
But when the Civil war was inaugurated his interests centered in its outcome until, believing that his first duty was to his country, he joined the army in September, 1861, as first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster of the Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In November of the same year he was promoted to the position of captain and assistant quartermaster and during the first winter was on duty at Bardstown, Kentucky. Following the capture of Nashville he was placed in charge of the land and river transportation in that city and after the battle of Pittsburg Landing he was ordered to the front and placed in charge of the field transportation of the Army of the Ohio. It was following the capture of Corinth that he returned home on sick leave and when he had sufficiently recovered he was ordered to Maine as chief quartermaster of that state. His next transferral took him to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in charge of transportation and army stores and as post quartermaster he remained in Washington city until June, 1865, when he was made a colonel and inspector of the quartermaster’s department. He was then retained on duty at the war office with Secretary Stanton until November, when he was ordered to Cincinnati as chief quartermaster of the department. In September, 1866, he was brevetted a brigadier general of volunteers and was also tendered a commission in the regular army but declined the honor. On the ist of October, at his own request, he was mustered out of service, having for five years been continuously connected with the army on active duty. General Brinberhoff is the author of a volume entitled The Volunteer Quartermaster, which is still the standard guide for the officers and employes of the quartermaster’s department.
General Brinkerhoff was married, on the 3d of February, 1852, to Miss Mary Labe Bently, of Mansfield, a daughter of Baldwin Bently and a granddaughter of General Robert Bently. Their family numbered two sons and two daughters: Robert Bently, a member of the New Yorb city bar, who died in 1907; Addie Horton; Mary, deceased; and Roeliff, former judge of the probate court of Richland county.
General Brinkerhoff has figured prominently in connection with important events from the time of the repeal of the Missouri compromise until after the reconstruction period following the war. During this time he formed the acquaintance of many men eminent in public life and won the warm friendship and regard of such distinguished national characters as Salmon P. Chase, James G. Blaine, General Garfield and General R. B. Hayes. He took an active part in politics for a long period after the war, visited many states in campaign work in support of the principles and candidates of the party, while in its conventions his opinions carried weight and influence. He has not been an active factor in political circles, however, since 1873, in which year he accepted the position of cashier in the Mansfield Savings Bank, in which he was later chosen to the presidency, and while not active in its management at the present time, he is still filling that position. He displayed the same keen discernment and powers of executive control in his business affairs as he did in his political and military service.
In 1878 General Brinkerhoff was appointed a member of the board of state charities and continued in that position under different administrations until he completed his tenth term, a period of thirty years, and he was recently appointed to the eleventh term. His philanthropy is one of the salient features of his life and there is perhaps no single individual better informed concerning the methods of management and control in different benevolent and correctional institutions than he. To further inform himself on this subject he has visited every state in the Union except one, also institutions of this character in the Dominion of Canada, the republic of Mexico and all the countries of western Europe, and the record of his observations in these directions is a history of all modern progress in dealing with the dependent, defective and criminal classes. In all of his work in this connection General Brinkerhoff may be termed a practical idealist. He has labored constantly to improve conditions, yet his work has been of a most effective character inasmuch as he has utilized the means at hand, having the ability to assimilate, control and shape divers interests into a unified and harmonious whole. Studying the subject of management in correctional and benevolent institutions, he has quickly grasped the points upon which improvement could be made and has agitated the subject so that public opinion has demanded reform and advancement. To him, perhaps more than to any other, is due the abolition of mechanical restraints, and other improvements, in dealing with the insane. It was largely due to him also that the Toledo Hospital was established upon the cottage system, which really marked a new era in the treatment of the insane and one which the medical profession and the general public now recognizes as most beneficial. He served as a member of the commission to locate the asylum and select plans for its construction and his earnest advocacy for the segregate or cottage system secured its adoption, and the plan once termed “Brinkerhoff’s Folly” has led to the adoption of what is now regarded as the model asylum of the nation.
While General Brinkerhoff has been a theorist in that he has formulated plans, he has also been a worker of the most practical order, for when his judgment sanction a course that he has thought out or that has been presented to him by others he has immediately set to work to secure its adoption. The range of his study and investigation has been most broad and comprehensive. He was chosen the first president when in 1875, at his home in Mansfield, the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society was organized in October, 1875. He continued as its chief executive officer for several terms and then, declining a reelection, was succeeded by General R. B. Hayes, and upon the death of ex-President Hayes General Brinkerhoff was again chosen to the presidency, while in 1907 he was elected president for life. It was at one of the meetings of this society — a banquet held in Columbus in February, 1891 —that he made the suggestion which found embodiment in a beautiful memorial group of bronze states which now stands at the northwest corner of the capital building in Columbus. On this occasion he was put upon the program to respond to the toast. “Ohio at the Columbian Exposition.” He had no time for preparation, but as it approached the hour in which he would be called upon there came to him the thought that it “was not bigness, or material resources that gave renown to a nation so much as the character of its men and women/’ and, continuing, General Brinkerhoff said, “I remembered Greece and Palestine and my speech was ready, for in men of international renown Ohio was peerless among the states. At 11:00 o’clock, when my turn came, I amplified my idea, and wound up with the suggestion that Ohio should be represented at the fair by a group of statuary, in the center of which should be a noble matron to represent Ohio, and around her should be such children as Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Chase, Stanton and Garfield; and then upon the pedestal should be engraved the proud utterance of Cornelia, the ''Mother of the Gracchi/ ‘These are my Jewels.’ A resolution was unanimously adopted recommending the legislature to adopt the suggestion and appropriate the funds necessary to put it in granite and bronze.” When the Ohio monument was dedicated at Jefferson park, in Chicago, September 14, 1893, General Brinkerhoff in his address said, “We, the citizens of Ohio, have met today in this pantheon of the nations to remember and honor our own great state. Whilst we are Americans, and proud of our nationality, we are also proud to believe that in the galaxy of states there is no star brighter than Ohio. Nowhere on the rounded globe is there another block of land of the size of Ohio which equals it in all the essentials required for the above of civilized men. In fertility of soil, in diversity of products, in mines of coal and iron, in quarries of stone, in healthfulness of climate, in beauty of landscape, in accessibility of location by water and by land, she is absolutely peerless. * * * Whilst we remember all this, and are proud to remember it, we also remember and are glad to remember that the highest glory of a state or nation is not in bigness, but in mind, as manifested and represented by its men and women. * * * So in this concourse of nations in which we are now gathered, Ohio is not ashamed to present her achievements in comparison with the proudest, both in matter and in mind; for around us today, in every department of human endeavor, the image and the superscription of Ohio is preeminent. Today, however, in the dedication of this monumental group, we call attention to the fact that in men of international renown Ohio is absolutely peerless among the states and nations of this western hemisphere. Like the constellation of Orion in the heavens, we have six stars of resplendent magnitude, and in the inventory of our treasures ‘these are our jewels.’ Who they are and what they were is known to all mankind, and therefore for the purposes of this exposition, a biographical description is not necessary, but for the purposes of this gathering of Ohio people it seems proper for those who knew them, not only to bear testimony to their preeminence as soldiers and statesmen, but also to give personal recollections of acquaintance with them. I knew them all, and some of them intimately. Grant, Sherman and Sheridan are the only soldiers who ever attained the full rank of general, in the United States, since the organization of our government. In the splendor of their achievements they have never been equaled upon this continent, and they have never been surpassed by the soldiers of any other continent. They were not only great soldiers, but they were also patriotic citizens, and never thought a thought, or dreamed a dream that was disloyal to liberty or the institutions of their native land. So with Chase, Stanton, and Garfield; they were not only statesmen of the highest rank, but they were also noble minded gentlemen in all the relations of life.” His interest in historical matters dates from early life. Coming to Richland county in 1850, he advocated preserving the annals of its early history, recognizing the fact that in the course of years the record of the lives of the pioneer men and women who laid its foundation and reared its superstructure would be of value and general interest. He therefore began to gather information in regard to pioneer days and the result of his labors has been given to the public, not only in newspaper articles but also in book form. Pioneer meetings were held at irregular intervals and in November, 1898, the Richland County Historical Society was organized, with General Brinkerhoff as the president and A. J. Baughman secretary. For many years he has been one of the principal supporters of the Mansfield Lyceum, which he joined on its organization, and he was also active in the establishment of the Mansfield Library and the Museum, and a promoter of the Sherman-Heineman park. The plan of the park originated in his fertile brain and ho labored untiringly until he saw its embodiment in a beautiful strip of country adorned by the arts of the landscape gardener and extending for a mile and a half along the western border of the city. He was made one of the park commissioners, became president of the board, and has held that office continuously since. There are few men of his years who remain so active a factor in life as does General Brinkerhoff. Old age need not suggest as a matter of course idleness or lack of occupation. There is on the contrary an old age which grows stronger and brighter morally and intellectually as the years pass and gives out of its rich stores of wisdom and experience. Such has been the record of General Brinkerhoff. With a mind receptive and retentive, he has continually broadened his knowledge through reading, investigation and observation, keeping abreast with the best thinking men of the age upon the great sociological, economic and political questions, and in his life’s contracts and experiences has come into association with many important events which have left their impress upon national history, while Ohio numbers him among her most honored sons.
As printed in History of Richland County, Ohio, from 1808 to 1908 : also biographical sketches of prominent citizens of the county (1908). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Their biographies name R. Brinkerhoff: Sidney A. Foltz (b. 1870) George Brinkerhoff Drennan (b. 1855) Johnny Appleseed
The printed record stops around 1901. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.