Information Sheet

 

 

R            Brinkerhoff, William E.

19                    Papers, 1903-1912.

                                    One folder, 17 items.

 

 

 

This collection consists of family correspondence of a banker in Carthage, Missouri.  The letters contain descrip­tions of Carthage and Jasper County, and observations on financial trends and the business panic of 1907.

 

The following biographical information has been condensed from volume one of the Ency­clopedia of the History of Missouri (New York: Southern History Co., 1901).

 

William E. Brinkerhoff was born in 1832 at Jamaica, Long Island, New York.  He was edu­cated in a private military school and entered the furniture trade upon completion of his school­ing.  He served in New York regiments with the Army of the Potomac in the Civil War and was mus­tered out as a first lieutenant.

 

After the war, Brinkerhoff moved to Clinton, Missouri.  He served as deputy county clerk and recorder of Henry County from 1865 to 1867, and was the county surveyor from 1868 to 1872.  He was appointed a United States Commissioner by President Grant in 1872 and in the same year began a ten-year term as public school director in Clinton.  During his residence at Clinton, Brinkerhoff engaged in the real estate and loan business.

 

In 1882, Brinkerhoff moved to Carthage, Missouri, where he bought the Traders Bank of Carthage.  This bank was reorganized in 1883 as the First National Bank and Brinkerhoff was named president.  He remained in this position until his death in 1912.

 

The Brinkerhoff correspondence has been in the hands of the family and was donated to the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Rolla by George S. Beimdiek of Carthage.  The letters by Brinkerhoff are addressed to his daughter, son-in-law, and the father of his son-in-law.  The letters are largely concerned with family news, but also include comments on Car­thage, local busi­ness, and the First National Bank.  The shelf list for the collection contains a subject index to the letters.

 

 

Shelf List for this collection
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