Milton Elsworth Brinkhoff (b. June 28, 1886, d. July 24, 1960)
Milton Elsworth Brinkhoff was born June 28, 1886 in Cottage Grove, Dane Co., WI11, and died July 24, 1960 in Madison General Hospital, Madison, Dane Co., WI12. He married Bessie Mae Neefe on May 15, 1908 in Rockford,Winnebago Co.,IL13, daughter of Franklin Julius Neefe and Addie G. Cooper.
Notes for Milton Elsworth Brinkhoff: Vivian Dickens said that Milton was a 32 degree Mason.
Vivian Dickens said that Milton sang in a quartet with Fred Witte, Irv Witte (later Henry Witte) and Frank Gilbert. Sadie Munson (check spelling) used to play the piano for them. Vivian remembers that she used to watch Sadie Munsons feet on the pedals of the piano and she played so much and so hard that she had a hole worn in the sole of her shoes.
personal note: At the time of Milton's death, he and Augusta were living in the town of Cottage Grove at 211 W. Reynolds St. Milton retired from the farm and it was run by his son Donald for a few years before Milton's death.
Sun Prairie Countryman, April 26, 1917
Mr. Milton Brinkhoff was elected as trustee of the Presbytarian church last Sunday. Mr. F. Pyburn was re-elected secretary and Mrs. M. Kennedy as treasurer.
Century-old Wiedenbeck Is About To Reinvent Itself The Madison Company Will Offer Custom Metal Fabrication.
Wisconsin State Journal :: BUSINESS :: C1 Sunday, December 28, 2003 Marv Balousek Business reporter MONONA Wiedenbeck, a steel and industrial distributor, is a fourth-generation family business founded in 1894 that's old enough to have its own legendary ghost. The company's survival has been based on adapting to the times and it's about to reinvent itself again.
Next month, Wiedenbeck will begin offering custom metal fabrication. Glenn Standard, who has 30 years of experience in metal fabrication, was hired to supervise the new operation, which will use special equipment for cutting, punching, forming and welding metal.
Jim Wiedenbeck Jr. and his sister Jane Young took over the business last year from their father, Jim Wiedenbeck Sr.
"Many of our customers will call us now and say take this piece of steel and cut it or bend it," Young said. "We feel there's a good market we can serve."
Jim Wiedenbeck Jr. said the business has two components. Besides the metals side of the business, the company also supplies more than 12,000 kinds of industrial tools and parts ranging from bolts to heavy-duty shovels. He said the industrial distribution side of the business is more competitive locally than metals distribution, but that his company is one of the few that offers both types of products along with delivery and a sales force.
The company buys only domestically produced steel, mostly from Nucor Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., Wiedenbeck said.
Wiedenbeck's fabrication business could mean more competition for Dick Brors of Dick's Superior Metal Sales of Madison, who said he's been buying steel from Wiedenbeck since 1974.
"They've been real good to me," he said. "Up until now, they've only been a distributor in full sheets. I buy it and cut it up."
But Brors said he's not worried about Wiedenbeck's expansion because his business is more involved in aluminum and stainless steel, which he buys in the Chicago area and West Coast then fabricates for industrial uses such as machine shops and factories.
Theodore Wiedenbeck Sr., a trombone player who performed at governors' inaugural balls and other occasions, worked at various jobs before founding the company with Charles Dobelin and Milton Brinkhoff in 1894. One of Wiedenbeck's first jobs was as a "printer's devil," or apprentice, at the Wisconsin State Journal. He also manufactured bricks by hand in his father's brick business and for the Sumner and Morris hardware store on the Capitol Square.
Wiedenbeck also once tried to become a traveling salesman determined to show his boss that he could expand the business beyond Madison. He started out for other towns, but abandoned the effort when his bicycle got stuck in the sand at Belleville. He took the train back to Madison.
Wiedenbeck, who became a Madison business leader and headed several other hardware and brick companies, continued to run Wiedenbeck, Dobelin & Co. into the late 1950s, when he was in his 90s. His son, Theodore Jr., took over when his father died at age 92. Later, Jim Wiedenbeck Sr., Theodore Jr.'s son, ran the business until last year.
In its early years, Wiedenbeck, Dobelin & Co. sold metal to blacksmiths and wagon makers. The company's first building was near the Capitol Square. After surviving a 1900 fire, the company opened four warehouses and in 1907 moved into a building at 619 W. Mifflin St.
Over the years, farm implement dealers became major customers of the Wiedenbeck company. The metals business took off and changed the company's direction after World War II.
The Mifflin Street building was sold to developer Randall Alexander, who renovated it into the Wiedenbeck Apartments in the mid-1980s.
Keith Binns, a 36-year employee with the company and originally from Leeds, England, said a spirit that became known as the Wiedenbeck ghost inhabited the building. A salesman working late one night fled when he heard skids being moved around in the basement, yet Binns said no skids were kept there. Later, a man was seen walking down an aisle after closing time, then he disappeared into a brick wall.
"The story was that somebody died there," Binns said.
Young said the man who died and is believed to be the ghost was Dave Feavel, a relative who worked at the company and died in the lunchroom where he had gone to take a nap.
Wiedenbeck Inc.
* Location: 2451 Kilgast Road, Monona
* Annual revenue: $4.2 million
* Employees: 18
* Products: Steel; industrial equipment and supplies
SOURCE: Company officials
More About Milton Elsworth Brinkhoff: Burial: Unknown, Cottage Grove Cemetery, Dane Co., WI (Block 6; Lot 25). Individual Note 1: February 23, 1955, Milton applied for Late Birth Certificate. He showed birth record for Mayme Ethel Brinkhoff 27 Nov 1909 (Marjorie?).14 Individual Note 2: July 26, 1960, Body released to Schroeder Funeral Home.15 Obituary: July 25, 1960, WSJ Section 1, Page 11.
More About Milton Elsworth Brinkhoff and Bessie Mae Neefe: Death of one spouse: 1932, Bessie Mae . Marriage: May 15, 1908, Rockford,Winnebago Co.,IL.16
Children of Milton Elsworth Brinkhoff and Bessie Mae Neefe are:
Milton Elsworth Brinkhoff (b. June 28, 1886, d. July 24, 1960)
Notes for Milton Elsworth Brinkhoff: