Breniman, Christian D.

BRENIMAN, DURIG, WHITNEY, MCVEIGH, WOOTERS, MOHR, PIERCE, WILSON, MCMULLEN

Posted By: Gary Norris (email)
Date: 12/1/2012 at 08:43:02

The name of Breniman is well known to the residents of Brooklyn and Poweshiek county, the family having been established in this locality as early as 1855, since which time representatives of the name have borne an important part in the development of the district along agricultural lines. The family is of Swiss origin, Christian D. Breniman having been born in Switzerland, about four miles from the city of Berne, on the 29th of August, 1836. his parents were Christian and Barbara (Durig) Breniman, also natives of Switzerland, who brought their family to the United States in 1852, locating first in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and three years later, in the spring of 1855, they arrived in Poweshiek county, Iowa. The family home was established about four miles southeast of Brooklyn, and there the father engaged in general farming for a number of years. He passed away on the old homestead in 1874, at the age of sixty-two years, and his wife survived until 1897, her death occurring when she was eighty-two years old.
Their family of ten children included the following: Christian D., of this review; Fred, who enlisted from Poweshiek county and served throughout the last three years of the Civil war as a member of Company H, twenty-eighth Iowa Infantry, and who is now deceased, his death occurring in Grinnell in 1908; Rudolph, of Fort Collins, Colorado, who also enlisted in Company H, Twenty-eighth Iowa Infantry, serving as a drummer boy; Rosina, who wedded Myron Whitney and passed away in 1905; Margaret, the wife of Edward McVeigh, a resident of Nebraska, who enlisted from Poweshiek county as a soldier of the Fourth Iowa Cavalry; Mary, the wife of Charles Wootters, of Cleveland, Ohio who likewise enlisted from this county in the Tenth Iowa Infantry; Gottlieb, of Brooklyn, mentioned elsewhere in this volume; Eliza, who married Chris Mohr, of Brooklyn; Arnold, of California; and John, a resident of Fort Collins. All of this number with the exception of the last named, were born in Switzerland, and all lived to rear families of their own. At one time they were all located on farms south of Brooklyn, where the sons owned about twenty-five hundred acres all in one body, and the locality became known throughout the district as the Breniman settlement.
Christian D. Breniman acquired his education in the schools of the fatherland and was a lad of sixteen years when he crossed the Atlantic with his parents. Since his arrival in Poweshiek county in 1855, he has never been outside its limits for any length of time except once in 1863, when he went abroad for the purpose of visiting his old home in Switzerland. When old enough to enter business on his own account he wisely chose the occupation of farming as his life work, and for many years was considered one of the most substantial and prosperous agriculturists of Lincoln township. He and his brothers all became very well-to-do, for in the conduct of their affairs they not only exhibited the sturdy traits of industry, perseverance and thrift so characteristic of the German race but also the spirit of progress and enterprise which has come to be recognized as the dominant American force. They followed the most practical and up-to-date methods in the cultivation of their fields, erected the fine large buildings and introduced all of the modern equipment for facilitating farm labor, and with the assign of the years the section known as Breniman's settlement became one of the most valuable and desirable properties in the county. Christian D. Breniman became the owner of over three hundred acres of finely developed farm land, and he continued in the successful operation of his fields until about five years ago, when he retired from business with a handsome fortune and took up his residence in Brooklyn.
It was in 1867 that Mr. Breniman was united in marriage to Miss J. Annah Pierce, a native of Connecticut, born on the 21st of May, 1845. Her parents were H. F. and Julia (Wilson) Pierce, also natives of Connecticut, who came west in 1854, locating first in Illinois, while ten years later, in 1864, they arrived in Iowa. Mr. Pierce was a master of the Grange here and became very well known throughout Poweshiek county. He and his wife both passed away in Kansas two years ago when about ninety years of age. In their family were four children, as follows: Annah, who became Mrs. Breniman; Frank, the county clerk of Kearney county, Kansas, residing in Lakin, who was also at one time county auditor in Poweshiek county and was as student of Iowa College; William, a resident physician of Clayton, Kansas, who was also a student of Iowa College; and Minnie, the deceased wife of Rudolph Breniman, a brother of Christian D. Breniman, her death occurring in 1896.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Breniman were born seven children, namely: Bertha, a graduate of Iowa College at Grinnell, now engaged in teaching in South Dakota; Irene, who as also engaged in teaching for about twenty years in Iowa and Nebraska prior to her marriage to Ira McMullen, of Brooklyn; Elbridge, a physician of Ackley, Iowa, and a graduate of Rush Medical College; Fannie, who was graduated from Iowa College at Grinnell and engaged in teaching for the past eighteen years but passed away on the 25th of May, 1911; Marie, who was a nurse in the Methodist Episcopal Hospital at Des Moines for a year and a half, and is a graduate of Deaconess Training School of Chicago; Edward, who was educated at the State Normal School at Cedar Falls and is now operating his father's farm; and Virginia, living at home.
Mr. Breniman owns an attractive home on Des Moines street, Brooklyn, and the hospitality of his home is enjoyed by a large circle of friends. He belongs to the Moravian church, which the Breniman family was instrumental in establishing here, being the largest contributors to its building fund. This church was built by the family in Warren township and was the first country church built in the county, being erected in 1869. In politics he voted with the republican party until the election of Grover Cleveland, since which time he has given his support to the democracy. He held all of the offices in Lincoln township and during his residence there was recognized as one of its most prominent and influential citizens. Since coming to Brooklyn, however, he has led a quiet life, content to leave to others the active duties of citizenship, and now having reached the seventy-fifth milestone on life's journey, he is enjoying the fruits of a success that is most substantial and well merited.

History of Poweshiek County Iowa
- A Record of Settlement, Organizations, Progress and Achievement, Vol. II
written by Prof. L. F. Parker.
Published by The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., in 1911
Pages 662-664