As
cashier of The National Bank of Denison and President of the Board of
Public School Trustees, Patrick J. Brennan is a business and civic
leader and one of the most popular men of affairs at Denison. His home
has been in that city for more than twenty years, and he is a forceful
and vigorous factor in the activities of that flourishing north Texas
city.
Patrick J. Brennan was born February 4,
1865, at Montreal, Canada, and represents a family which for a century
has been quite prominent, not only in a business way but in public
affairs in the Province of Quebec. Mr. Brennan is the only one of
his immediate family living in the United States. His
grandparents on both sides came from Ireland about 1820, and located in
Montreal, where they have a large relationship. Members of the
family have attained distinction, both in municipal, provincial and
federal politics, and have been staunch Conservative. M.P. Ryan,
an uncle by marriage, represented Montreal Centre in Parliament for a
number of years, also served as Collector of Customs for the port of
Montreal, and was succeeded in his seat in Parliament by J.J. Curran,
another uncle who subsequently became Solicitor General in the Dominion
Cabinet of Rt. Hon. Sir John Thompson, and still later was appointed
judge of the Superior Court of the Province of Quebec. Mr.
Brennan was the oldest of a family of ten children, six sons and four
daughters, eight of whom are now living. The parents were Patrick
and Sarah Elizabeth (Phelan) Brennan, both born in the city of
Montreal, where his father was a manufacturer, and died February 25,
1895. The mother passed away May 19, 1911. As cashier of
The National Bank of Denison and President of the Board of Public
School Trustees, Patrick J. Brennan is a business and civic leader and
one of the most popular men of affairs at Denison. His home has
been in that city for more than twenty years, and he is a forceful and
vigorous factor in the activities of that flourishing north Texas City.
The
early education of Patrick J. Brennan was acquired in Montreal schools,
and his first business experience was with the wholesale iron, steel
and hardware house of Frothingham and Workman, t he oldest firm of its
kind in Canada, established in the year 1804. Nine years
relationship as an employee of that house gave Mr. Brennan a very broad
and comprehensive knowledge of the business, and following that he was
attracted into the far Southwestern country, arriving at Denison on
June 7, 1890. Here he took the position of teller in the City
Bank of Denison, an institution which on October 20, 1890, was
consolidated with The National Bank of Denison and with the latter
institution he has been connected ever since. He served as teller
for a number of y ears, later being elected Assistant Cashier, has held
his present post as Cashier for a number of years, and is a popular
official who has done much to attract and retain the patronage of the
bank, being one of the men responsible for its substantial prosperity.
Mr.
Brennan is also president of the public school board and was the first
president of the Chamber of Commerce as an incorporated organization.
In politics a Democrat, he has taken much interest in his party,
also been active in city, county and state affairs, although never
aspiring to office himself. He is also prominent in fraternal
organizations, being Past Exalted Ruler of Denison Lodge, No. 238, B.
P. O. E., also Past District Deputy for Northeast Texas. He is
Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Woodmen of the World Building
Association at Denison, and his other affiliations are with the
Independent Order of Foresters, the F. M. C. Circle, and the Knights of
Columbus. He is a member of the Catholic church.
On
February 24, 1892, Mr. Brennan was married at Denison to Miss Mary
Pyley, who was born at Chillicothe, Ohio, a daughter of Morris Pyley.
Her father was a farmer and land owner in that vicinity and died
January 22, 1871. Her mother, whose maiden name was Mary E.
Taylor, was born in Ohio, and her father was likewise a native of that
state, so that the family was among the early settlers of the Buckeye
State. Mrs. Brennan's mother is still living. Of the four
children born to Mr. and Mrs. Brenna, the three now living are :
William Wilson, aged eighteen, is a student in the University of Texas;
Robert Emmett is fifteen years of age and in the Denison High School;
Mary Eleanor is ten years of age and also in school. Mr. Brennan
usually spends his vacations in the North and East, principally
visiting his relatives in Montreal. His home is 1027 Gandy street.
Former home of Patrick J. Brennan
1027 West Gandy Street
Later it was the home
of Walter D. Collins
Photo by Brian Christopher Hander, May 2010
Source:
Francis White Johnson and Ernest William Winkler, A
History of Texas and Texans,
vol. 3
(Chicago: American Historical Society, 1914), page
1418.
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