Rev. J.H. Brinkmann is Pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church, of Guttenberg, and is a faithful shepherd of his flock. A man of superior intellectual attainments, he is devoted to the interests of the church and has done a good work in this locality. A native of Ohio, he was born in Cincinnati October 20, 1859, being a son of Henry and Bernandina (Stonefield) Brinkmann. His father was a native of Baltimore, Md., and was called from this life in 1876; the mother, who is still living in Iowa, was born in Cincinnati.

Rev. J.H. Brinkmann passed his boyhood in the city of his birth, where he received a good education in the parochial schools. Later he entered St. Francis' College at Milwaukee, where he continued his studies until twenty years of age. Afterward he pursued a severe course of study and discipline at Dubuque, Iowa, and in 1883 went to Montreal, Canada, where he remained for some time.

It was in 1886 that Rev. J.H. Brinkmann was ordained at Dubuque, Iowa, and was immediately appointed assistant to Father A. Kortenkamp, at Dyersville, Dubuque County, in the duties of which position he continued faithfully for three years. While there he was very instrumental and active in the building of St. Frances' Church, which structure is one of the finest in the west, having been erected at a cost of $65,000. He had the superintendence of the entire construction, and it was due in no small measure to his ability and management that the work was so successfully accomplished.

The present pastorate of Father Brinkmann commenced in 1889 and since coming here he has built up the congregation to a commendable extent. Under his supervision the fine brick parochial school building of this place was started and recently finished. A man of wide reading and general information, he is well qualified to exercise a large and growing influence over the congregations which are placed in his charge, for he is devoted to his work and is unsparing in his zeal.

~source: Portrait and Biographical Record of Dubuque, Jones and Clayton Counties; Chicago: Chapman Pub. Co., 1894, pg 420-422
-transcribed by Sandi Coobs