community leader, midwife, author; born December 12, 1836, in Jay, N.Y., and married at 17 to Warren Brinton in Westport, NY. In 1872, she relocated to Bay View, Wis., where she taught English, reading, sewing, cooking, and served as a midwife for immigrant iron mill workers. Suported by mill owners, she opened the first local library in her Bay View home, consisting of over 300 volumes. Brinton also published two novels about the Civil War, Man is Love (1873) and Behold the Woman (1887). After the Bay View Tragedy of May 4, 1886, which left seven dead, Brinton led a neighborhood healing effort that involved community prayers three times a day. After her husband's death in 1895, Brinton remained active in Bay View affairs for another 15 years. In her seventies she left the community to live with her son in Chicago. In 1924, Bay View’s first community center was named in her honor. After suffering a stroke in 1926, she returned to her Bay View home to live with her granddaughter, Mabel Pickard Estes. Brinton died on March 18, 1928 at the age of 92.

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[Source: Submitted by Ilona Gonzalez of Alverno College. Gurda, John. Bay View, Wis. (Milwaukee, 1979). Milwaukee Sentinel. May 14, 1983. Korn, Bernhard. The Story of Bay View. (Milwaukee, 1980). Historic Designation Study Report, Beulah Brinton House. ]