Beulah Brinton

Beulah Brinton (1836–1928) was an American social worker who opened her Milwaukee, Wisconsin home to the families of Bay View’s immigrant rolling mill workers in the 1870s. Her teaching of reading, music, English, cooking, and sewing to the iron men’s children and wives and occasional service as midwife predated the celebrated work of settlement houses in London and New York. Recalled as “perhaps the outstanding woman of Bay View’s history” and the “real literary leader of the early community,” Brinton pursued community-building efforts that transcended ordinary neighborliness, prompted by an expansive religious faith and sense of duty to “her fellow men.”