Claus Brink, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Claus Brink
CLAUS BRINK. One of the successful foreign-born business men of Porter county is Claus Brink, who has sought in this country the opportunities afforded young men of character, energy and ambition, and who, by what he has accomplished, has demonstrated that though there is no indispensable formula for success, so there are no obstacles which undaunted resolution, industry and courage cannot surmount, that seeming adverse circumstances are rather hostages than foes to fortune.
His, has been a varied career. Born in Lemvig, Denmark, March 30, 1867, he is one of four surviving children out of a family of seven born to Peter and Anna Mary (Johannesen) Brink. His sister Karen is the wife of N. H. Petersen and resides in Chicago. His two brothers are J. S. Brink and C. Kold Brink, both of Chicago. Both parents are deceased, the father having passed away in his native land in August, 1906. In November following her husband's death the mother joined her children in the United States and died in the city of Chicago in November, 1910.
At the age of nine years Claus Brink began to assume life's responsibilities by doing farm work for others during the summers, though the winters were usually spent at the parental home. At the early age of fourteen, true to the instincts of his Danish fathers, he took to the sea and until twenty years old was a sailor on the high seas, in vessels plying between Holland, England, Australia and all countries of the world. He then spent two years in a butter factory in Denmark and following that served one year in the Danish navy. In 1891, when twenty-four years of age, he came to the United States, locating in Chicago, where he became night engineer in a grain elevator and afterwards worked in a foundry and machine shop, in the daytime attended school. He had determined to have an education, and with diligence and courage set about acquiring it. Starting in the third grade, he completed the common school course and then became a student in the University of Valparaiso, where he remained two years, taking both the scientific course and pharmacy. With such vigor and thoroughness had he pursued his educational studies that at the close of his university period he was able to qualify as a teacher and for six years was engaged in that profession, two terms having been taught in one school and two years having been spent as an instructor in each of two other schools in Portage township. In 1900 he purchased from H. D. Scofield a store at Crisman, Indiana, which he conducted until 1905, when he became a traveling salesman for a Chicago firm. After nine months on the road he engaged in his present business at Crocker, Indiana, and has met with gratifying success. Besides owning the stock and the building in which his business is established, he also holds stock in the Portage Home Telephone Company, of which he is a director and was one of the organizers.
On June 13, 1897, Mr. Brink was united in marriage to Miss Sophia Strom. Five children have come to their home -- Valdemar, Agnes, Dagmar, August and Wesley.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Brink are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at McCool, and Mr. Brink is affiliated fraternally with the Knights of Pythias at Valparaiso and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Chesterton. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party. He has been a justice of the peace for more than ten years, his service in that capacity having begun while a resident of Portage township. A type of the clear-cut, resourceful, self-made man is Mr. Brink, one whom any community would welcome as an added strength to its circle of successful men, and it is with pleasure that we herein give him recognition as one of Porter county's most worthy citizens.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company. 1912. History of Porter County, Indiana: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People and its Principal Interests. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 881 p.
Page(s) in Source: 711-712
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook