Wesley E. Brink resides upon a farm nine miles northwest of Lowden on sections 5 and 6, Massillon township. He is one of the public-spirited citizens of that part of the county and an enterprising business man, whose determination enables him to carry forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes. Farming and stock-raising claim his attention and in the conduct of his business he utilizes a farm of two hundred and eighty acres. For more than a half-century he has resided in Cedar county, his birth having occurred in Massillon township on the 24th of August, 1858, so that he is now fifty-three years of age.
His father, Ira Brink, was a native of Bradford county, Pennsylvania, born August 15, 1827. There he was reared and married to Miss Cordelia Hagar, also a native of Pennsylvania. Later he removed westward to Illinois, where for a time he engaged in cultivating rented land. Subsequently he and a brother bought a farm but after two years Ira Brink came to Iowa and invested in eighty acres of land in Massillon township, Cedar county. He at once began tilling the soil and improving the property which he owned until he traded that tract for a farm upon which his son Wesley E. now resides, situated on the Davenport and Delhi stage road. While living at that place he served as postmaster of a country postoffice and also conducted a store and wayside inn. He owned two hundred and eighty acres of land, increasing his original holdings to that amount, and upon the farm he reared his family. Later he removed to Oxford Mills and from that place to Clarence, where he spent his remaining days in the enjoyment of a well earned rest, passing away March 30, 1904. He lost his first wife on the 4th of February, 1892, when she had reached the age of sixty-six years, one month and four days. He afterward married again, his second union being with Ortensia Segar, and following her death he was married a third time.
Wesley E. Brink was reared upon the old homestead farm and acquired his education in the common schools. Throughout the period of his youth he assisted his father in the cultivation of the fields when not busy with the duties of the schoolroom. On the 9th of April, 1881, in Massillon township, he married Miss Amanda S. Davis, who was born in Plano, Illinois, and came to Cedar county, Iowa, when about one year old. Her father, Jonas Davis, was one of the early settlers of this county. Following his marriage Mr. Brink rented land, which he cultivated for two years, at the end of which time his father removed to Oxford Mills, and he returned to the old homestead, purchasing the property. Since that time he has made many modern improvements, including the erection of a good dwelling, two good barns, a double crib, a machinery house and a hog house. He has fenced the entire place and has added all the equipments and accessories of a model farm of the twentieth century. In connection with his farming he raises and feeds stock, and both grain and stock return to him a good annual income. He fattens a large number of hogs each year, also sells cattle and pastures a considerable number. For twenty-nine years Mr. Brink engaged in threshing, at first operating his threshing machine by horse power and later by steam. He did threshing in Cedar, Jones, Jackson and Clinton counties and became well known in this district.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Brink has been born a son, William E., who supplemented his district-school education by study in the Clarence high school. He owns a farm of one hundred and fifteen acres a mile east of his father’s place, and he and his father cultivate a part of the old homestead and rent the remainder. On the 21st of December, 1909, he married Miss Mary Bumgarner, who was born and reared in Jones county and acquired her education in the schools of Jones and Cedar counties.
Politically Mr. Brink and his son are both republicans. For fifteen years he has been officially identified with the schools, serving as township school treasurer for six years. He is now one of the township trustees and has frequently been a delegate to county conventions. His whole life has here been passed, and he has witnessed almost the entire growth and development of the county. He has seen its wild land converted into fine farms, its pioneer homes replace by modern residences, and its villages converted into enterprising cities. At all times he has borne his share in the work of public progress and improvement, and his record both as a man and citizen commends him to the confidence and high regard of all who knew him.
