Biography of Captain Simon Brennan Captain Simon Brennan, whose gallant services as a member of the Union armyduring the Civil War won for him the title by which he is familiarly known, andwho is now a prominent citizen of Georgetown Township, Ottawa County, was bornin Nova Scotia, April 22,1840, and is the son of Simon and Elizabeth (Innes)Brennan, likewise natives of Nova Scotia. There were eight children in theparental family, five of whom are now living, two of the brothers having beenkilled while serving in the Civil War. The fifth of the family in order of birth is Simon, of this sketch. At theage of ten years he accompanied his parents to Massachusetts and settled withthem in Boston, where he was a student in the public schools. At the age offifteen years he began to earn his own living, and for one year followed fishingduring the summer and attended school in the winter months. During 1857 he wentto sea, and remained upon the ocean for a year, in the mean time visiting manyof the prominent ports of South America. Afterward he coasted along the shoresof the Atlantic Ocean for one summer, and spent the following winter in school.He then returned to his home in Boston, where he worked on a farm during thesummer months and prosecuted his studies in the winter. In February of 1859, our subject came to Michigan and settled in GeorgetownTownship, Ottawa County, where he engaged in the sawmill business for one year,and later spent twelve months in a shipyard. In April 1861, when our country wascalling upon all its patriotic sons to offer their lives in its service, thename of Simon Brennan was enrolled as a volunteer in Company I, Third MichiganInfantry. Although at that time only twenty-one years of age, he was electedFirst Sergeant of his company, in which capacity he marched to the front. He wasmustered into the State service at Grand Rapids, May 10, 1861, and one monthlater was mustered into the United States service. On the 15th ofJune his regiment left Michigan and marched to the headquarters of the mainarmy, at Washington, D. C. With his regiment he participated in the battle of Bull Run, where theysupported the battery, but were under fire. He was also present at the siege ofYorktown, and the battles of Williamsburgh and Fair Oaks, where the regimentlost heavily and where he was severely wounded in the left arm. For some timeafter being injured, he was incapacitated for active service, and therefore didnot engage in the seven days fighting around Richmond. Upon recovering, he tookpart in Gen. Pope’s campaign, until, on the 28th of August, 1862,he was again wounded, this time in the right shoulder. This injury disabled himuntil after the battle of Fredericksburg. Later the Captain took part in all the active engagements of the Army of thePotomac prior to the battle of the Wilderness; at that engagement he was takenprisoner by the Confederates, and for a time was kept at Macon, Ga., whence,with six hundred other prisoners, he was taken to Charleston, S.C., and retainedin that city for six weeks under fire of our own guns. Subsequently he wasremoved to Columbia, S.S., where he remained until the spring of the followingyear. He was then paroled, and remained on parole until the close of the war,being mustered out June 10, 1865. He was promoted successively through thevarious ranks from Sergeant to Captain, and was discharged with the lattertitle. Returning to Michigan a physical wreck, his constitution impaired by exposureand the hardships of marches and camp life, as well as by the privations enduredwhile in prison, the Captain was unable for some time to perform any manuallabor. Believing that the climate of Colorado would prove beneficial, he wentthither, and for two years engaged in lumbering in that State. Upon his father’sdeath, in 1868, he returned to Michigan, and has since conducted farmingoperations in Ottawa County. He is a general grain agriculturist and markets hisproducts at Grand Rapids. On the 28th of March, 1872, the Captain was united in marriagewith Miss Ruth E., daughter of William Haire, one of the pioneer settlers ofMichigan. One child, Lillian, has blessed this union. A stanch Republican inpolitics, Capt. Brennan has filled the positions of Supervisor of GeorgetownTownship, Clerk, Highway Commissioner, and at one time was nominated for theposition of Sheriff, but was defeated at the polls. Socially, he is identifiedwith O. P. Morton Post., G.A.R. at Manton. Portrait & Biographical Record of Muskegon & OttawaCounties, Michigan 1893, Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company Pg. 519, 520