Henry and Jessie Brinkerhoff: Sowing Beside All Waters

The dashing young man in the photo at left, decked out in a cowboy hat and carrying a pistol in his belt, would become one of the first home-grown Christadelphians of Ventura County, California. Young Henry Brinker­hoff was a rancher and a gold miner in the Santa Clara River Valley at about the time Scottish brother Robert Strathearn emigrated to nearby Santa Barbara in 1874. Henry’s attempts to find gold would cause his path to cross that of Bro. Strathearn about five years later. Some­where near the Piru Creek gold field,1Henry’s life, and that of several generations of Brinkerhoffs since, was changed forever due to the accidental death of a miner with whom Henry had been working. The miner’s death was the subject of a discussion that several men, includ­ing Henry Brinkerhoff and Robert Strathearn (who lived near Piru at this time) were having while standing over the lifeless man. The talk turned to what would happen to the man now that he had died. Several miners agreed the dead man’s soul was surely in heaven, but Bro. Strathearn said that he didn’t see it that way. When Henry asked what he meant, Robert invited him to his house where he explained his belief in the resurrection.2And so began the path that would lead to Henry’s baptism as a Christadelphian.

Even before his encounter with Robert Strathearn, Henry’s life had taken a num­ber of unexpected turns. Henry Rouse Brinkerhoff was born on June 23, 1852, in Plymouth, Ohio, the last of Peter and Persis Brinkerhoff’s five children.3Shortly after Henry was born, Peter left his wife and children on the farm in Ohio and sailed around Cape Horn to California. While in California, Peter Brinkerhoff received word that his wife had died. He returned to Ohio, picked up Henry and his sister, and headed back to California, ending up in Santa Barbara.4Peter remarried in Santa Barbara in 1858, and fathered eight more children.

While Peter Brinkerhoff chose to live in Santa Barbara with his new family, Henry moved to Santa Paula, where he married Jessie Alvord in 1877.5Two or three years later, around the same time their first child was born, Jessie and Henry were baptized. The two would become a wonderful preaching team, always ready to share the gospel with anyone they met.

The new brother and sister, and their family

While the exact year that Henry and Jessie Brinkerhoff became Christadelphians is unknown, he’s first mentioned in The Christadelphian magazine in 1879, when he ordered some literature. According to information in The Berean Christadelphian magazine when Henry died, this would have been very close to the time of his baptism. The first time Henry and Jessie were referred to in print as brother and sister was in 1884 when Robert Strathearn reported the following in The Chris­tadelphian: “On Sunday morning we met together for the breaking of bread, in memory of our absent Lord. Bro. and Sis. Brinkerhoff accompanied us, in whose fellowship we rejoiced greatly.”

At the time Henry and Jessie Brinkerhoff had only one child, a two-year-old boy named Alvin. Like many parents in those days, the couple faced tragedy involv­ing their children a number of times in their lives. Young Alvin Brinkerhoff succumbed to diphtheria in an epidemic that hit the Santa Clara River area in 1890.6The Brinkerhoffs lost another child in 1898, and a heart-wrenching no­tice was sent to The Christadelphian at the time by Sis. Elizabeth Reith: “Death has entered the home of our Bro. and Sis. Brinkerhoff, and taken their little son Sprague, a bright boy of eight years. This is the second son they have lost, and it was a severe trial to them, but they bear it with that strength they alone have who know and love the Lord.” Two of their other children, who were baptized together as teenagers, would lose their lives while attempting to save the lives of others. Gertrude (Henry and Jessie’s only daughter), died from contracting the flu while tending to patients as a nurse during the 1919 influenza pandemic.7Their son Forrest was killed in the 1933 Long Beach earthquake when a building collapsed on him. The following was submitted to The Christadelphian at the time as a press notice that had appeared in a local paper under the heading “Dies for Others”: “Forrest Brinkerhoff was young and life was good to live. His job was

that of switchboard operator at the Dominguez substation of the Pacific Electric Railway. When the first shock came he stood at his post to the switch that would save the lives of many at the cost of his own life. Early today searchers found his body crushed by huge pieces of masonry, but on his face, miraculously untouched by the jagged rocks, was a look of calm decision and peace.”8

All five of Henry and Jessie’s children who reached maturity became Christadel­phians. Gertrude and Forrest were baptized in 1903, Howard was baptized in 1907, and Julius was baptized in 1916.9Lawrence was baptized later in life, and like his brothers and sisters remained a Christadelphian until his death. Even today, there are 25 Christadelphians who are descendants of Henry and Jessie Brinkerhoff.

Three of the Brinkerhoffs’ children, Sprague, Howard, and Lawrence, were born in Saticoy (or New Jerusalem, as it was called at the time), where Henry and Jes­sie had moved around 1890.10Henry baptized a Sis. Adair there in 1895.11Bro. Cyrus Lewis, while on a trip to visit isolated Ventura County Christadelphians, including Helen Shiells, Robert Stratearn, and Robert and Marion Stocks, spent two weeks in the fall of 1895 at the Brinkerhoffs’ large bean farm in Saticoy. Bro. Lewis noted that the farm kept the Brinkerhoffs busy, but not too busy to preach to their neighbors.12The Brinkerhoffs were frequently mentioned in connection with their efforts to preach to others. No doubt they were moved to share the gift that had been imparted to them by Bro. Strathearn.

Henry Brinkerhoff was again mentioned in The Christadelphian in 1897, when he baptized Clement Seagoe in Moorpark, California. Robert Strathearn had died the year before, and Henry appears to have become the leading brother in Ventura County. Henry also baptized a Sis. Baker, who was taught the truth by Jessie Brinkerhoff, in Santa Paula in 1902. Sis. Marian Stocks reported the bap­tism in The Christadelphian that year: “The truth was first brought to Sis. Baker’s notice by Sis. Brinkerhoff, who together with Bro. Brinkerhoff are ready to ‘sow beside all waters’. ”

A big house and a new ecclesia

Bro. and Sis. Brinkerhoff and family left Ventura County in 1904, moving to an area of Los Angeles that would later become Hollywood (1418 Tamarind Av­enue).13This was just a few years before the movie studios moved in and made the area famous. In those days this part of Los Angeles was known for its large homes surrounded by groves and orchards.

The Brinkerhoffs continued to farm as they had in Ventura County, working a large piece of rented land near their home. The property they farmed was known as the Arnaz Ranch.14This ranch was used a few years later as a location for film­ing a number of the “Little Rascals” comedy series.15

When the Brinkerhoffs moved to Los Angeles in 1904, they became members of the newly formed Los Angeles Ecclesia, along with their son and daughter, Forrest and Gertrude. The ecclesia was meeting at 534 South Spring Street at the time, six miles from the Brinkerhoff’s home. Henry and Jessie were members 10 and 11 of the new ecclesia.16The Brinkerhoffs lived in a large two-story house and often invited guests over, especially children from the ecclesia.17

Gertrude Brinkerhoff would leave her parents’ home in Los Angeles in 1911. On November 15 of that year Gertrude married Bro. Stephen Rutherford and moved to Santa Barbara. Stephen was a relative of Jessie Rutherford, the first convert to the Truth of Sis. Helen Shiells (another early Ventura County Christadelphian).

Gertrude and Stephen had two children, Paul and Lois, before Gertrude’s untimely death in 1919.18Gertrude Rutherford was a well loved sister, as the following notice in The Christadelphian attests: “It is with heartfelt sorrow we record the death of Sis. Gertrude Rutherford… Sis. Rutherford was a true daughter of Abraham. Her Christ-like character and many good deeds endeared her to us all.’

Going north

In 1916, Henry and Jessie Brinkerhoff moved north to Chowchilla, near Yosemite, where Henry bought 80 acres of land and set up a ranch. That same year, the Brinkerhoffs’ youngest son, Julius, was baptized in the L.A. Ecclesia at age 15. Shortly after that, Julius joined his parents on their ranch in Chowchilla. Henry loved to farm his land using a team of horses and never converted to a tractor, even though most of his neighbors did.19

In 1918, Henry and Jessie’s son, Howard, was drafted for service in World War One. Unable to secure conscientious objection, Howard Brinkerhoff was sent to Camp Lewis, near Seattle, Washington. Howard, who had been baptized when he was 13, refused to take part in any combatant service, and was eventually allowed to do farm work as alternative service. The following was noted in The Christadelphian for 1919, on his release from service: “We are all glad to welcome the return from Camp Lewis, Washington, of brethren Howard Brinkerhoff and John Hetherwick. Bro. Brinkerhoff was amongst the first to be called to camp by the selection draft, and had to endure much hardship and reproach before the status of conscientious objectors was settled.’

A year after Howard returned home, Henry Brinkerhoff lost his companion of over 40 years. Jessie Brinkerhoff died on March 15, 1920, and was buried next to Henry and Jessie’s daughter, Gertrude, in Santa Barbara. Sis. Jessie was highly esteemed in Southern California and was “well known for the warmth of her affection for the brotherhood, and her devotion to the Truth”, according to the notice about her death in The Christadelphian that year.

The final years

A few years after Jessie died, Henry Brinkerhoff lost the ranch in Chowchilla. By 1930, Henry had moved in with his son Lawrence, who was living in Los Angeles at the time. Henry died at age 83, on June 10, 1935, at Lawrence Brinkerhoff’s ranch in Camarillo, the same year that his grandson Robert was baptized.20Henry’s walk toward the Kingdom ended just a few miles from where it had begun in Ventura County.

In 1940, Henry and Jessie’s grandson, Robert Brinkerhoff, married Robert and Marian Stocks’ granddaughter, Margaret Cocke. Robert and Margaret Brinker­hoff’s children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren are related to Henry and Jessie Brinkerhoff, Robert and Marian Stocks, and Robert Strathearn (Robert Stocks’ uncle), all early Ventura County Christadelphians.

Although Henry and Jessie Brinkerhoff endured much heartache in their lives, they remained strong in the Truth and should be an inspiration to all of us. They were true pioneer Christadelphians of Ventura County, and now await the resur­rection to life eternal — thanks to the effort that Bro. Robert Strathearn made to share his faith with a young gold miner. Henry may not have found the shiny nuggets he was seeking near Piru Creek, but what he found that day was worth much more to him than gold. It isn’t hard to imagine him reading Psalm 19:9,10 as the years went by, and knowing exactly what David meant:

“The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous all together. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold.”

  1. Margaret Brinkerhoff personal interview, 2008
  2. Robert Brinkerhoff in a letter to his son Richard, 1997
  3. Ancestry.com
  4. Robert Brinkerhoff in a letter to his son Richard, 1997
  5. Ancemstry.com
  6. Ventura Vidette newspaper, February, 1, 1890
  7. The Christadelphian, 1919
  8. The Christadelphian
  9. The Christadelphian
  10. Ancenstry.com
  11. The Christadelphian
  12. The Christadelphian Advocate magazine, 1896
  13. Los Angeles Ecclesial History
  14. Robert Brinkerhoff in a letter to his son Richard, 1997
  15. www.thelittlerascals.net
  16. Los Angeles Ecclesial History
  17. Robert Brinkerhoff in a letter to his son Richard, 1997
  18. The Christadelphian, 1919
  19. Robert Brinkerhoff in a letter to his son Richard, 1997
  20. Obituary, unknown Southern California newspaper