EDWARD HUGH BRENNAN

In all of Lincoln County there are few men who have been more active in public life, in social clubs, in fraternal organizations and in their own business enterprise than the subject of this sketch, former publisher of the Niagara-on-the-Lake, Advance, now an inspector of the Liquor Control Board of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Brewery Warehouse and Justice of the Peace of the County of Lincoln.

Edward Hugh Brennan was born in Welland County on May 11^th, 1883. His father and mother were the late Luke Joseph and Mary, nee Whitten, Brennan. His father was a bookbinder at St. Catharines and at Welland, Ont. *His brother was A.J.J. Brennan, pharmacist in Welland.

Mr. Brennan attended public school at Welland before starting in the printing business, which he learned while working for the Welland Tribune. He left the Welland Tribune and roamed about the province in the employ of a number of printing shops before he settled in Welland in a job printing establishment of his own, which was opened in 1907. He managed this shop successfully until 1916, when he left to accept a position as ticket agent, and representative of the Grand Trunk Railroad at Suspension Bridge, New York.

After spending three years in the employ of the Grand Trunk, Mr. Brennan went to Burford, Ont., and purchased the Burford Advance, a weekly newspaper, in connection with which there was being operated a job printing business. Mr. Brennan published and managed the Burford Advance for a period of nearly two years before leaving it to go to Niagara-on-the-Lake, where he established the Niagara Advance in the year of 1919. In January 1929, he sold the paper to his son, Nixon E.J. Brennan, who now conducts it.

Mr. Brennan’s activity in public life has been widely and varied. For three years he served on the Niagara-on-the-Lake School Board. So well did he fill the duties of this position that for three one-year terms in succession he was elected as councillor for the same town. Then, in 1914, he was appointed Justice of the Peace of Lincoln County, and still holds this post.

For a period of three years he acted as division clerk of the First Division Court of Lincoln County, from which he resigned in 1928 to become an inspector for the Lincoln Control Board.

Mr. Brennan has taken an active part in the conduct of many fraternal organizations. He is a member of the Niagara Lodge, 2, A.F. & A.M., which is located at Niagara-on-the-Lake. He is also a member of the Niagara Chapter, 55, R.A.M., of which he is a past principal. In 1929 he was elected Grand Superintendent of Niagara District No. 7, of the Grand Chapter of Canada, Past President of the Niagara Agricultural Society, Past President of the Bowling Club of Niagara-on-the-Lake; and being a strong Conservative in policy, was most active as Secretary of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Conservative Association; and member of the St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.

In 1906 Mr. Brennan was married to Hattie Nixon, the daughter of the late James and the late Mary Ann Nixon of Vankleek Hill, Ont. There are two children, Nixon , who has taken his father’s place on the Niagara Advance and Ila H., who was engaged on the Advance for several years. They live with their father on Johnson Street.

Mr. Brennan’s parents are divided between North of Ireland and English ancestry.

A.E. Coombs
History of The Niagara Peninsula and the New Welland Canal
1930