Captain Simon Brennan, whose gallant services as a member of the Union army during the Civil War won for him the title by which he is familiarly known, and who is now a prominent citizen of Georgetown Township, Ottawa County, was born in 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 the parental family, five of whom are now living, two of the brothers having been killed while serving in the Civil War.

The fifth of the family in order of birth is Simon, of this sketch. At the age of ten years he accompanied his parents to Massachusetts and settled with them in Boston, where he was a student in the public schools. At the age of fifteen years he began to earn his own living, and for one year followed fishing during the summer and attended school in the winter months. During 1857 he went to sea, and remained upon the ocean for a year, in the mean time visiting many of the prominent ports of South America. Afterward he coasted along the shores of 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 the summer months and prosecuted his studies in the winter.

In February of 1859, our subject came to Michigan and settled in Georgetown Township, 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 was calling upon all its patriotic sons to offer their lives in its service, the name of Simon Brennan was enrolled as a volunteer in Company I, Third Michigan Infantry. Although at that time only twenty-one years of age, he was elected First Sergeant of his company, in which capacity he marched to the front. He was mustered into the State service at Grand Rapids, May 10, 1861, and one month later was mustered into the United States service. On the 15^th of June his regiment left Michigan and marched to the headquarters of the main army, at Washington, D. C.

With his regiment he participated in the battle of Bull Run, where they supported the battery, but were under fire. He was also present at the siege of Yorktown, and the battles of Williamsburgh and Fair Oaks, where the regiment lost heavily and where he was severely wounded in the left arm. For some time after being injured, he was incapacitated for active service, and therefore did not engage in the seven days fighting around Richmond. Upon recovering, he took part in Gen. Pope’s campaign, until, on the 28^th of August, 1862, he was again wounded, this time in the right shoulder. This injury disabled him until after the battle of Fredericksburg.

Later the Captain took part in all the active engagements of the Army of the Potomac prior to the battle of the Wilderness; at that engagement he was taken prisoner 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 retained in that city for six weeks under fire of our own guns. Subsequently he was removed to Columbia, S.S., where he remained until the spring of the following year. 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 the various ranks from Sergeant to Captain, and was discharged with the latter title.

Returning to Michigan a physical wreck, his constitution impaired by exposure and the hardships of marches and camp life, as well as by the privations endured while in prison, the Captain was unable for some time to perform any manual labor. Believing that the climate of Colorado would prove beneficial, he went thither, and for two years engaged in lumbering in that State. Upon his father’s death, in 1868, he returned to Michigan, and has since conducted farming operations in Ottawa County. He is a general grain agriculturist and markets his products at Grand Rapids.

On the 28^th of March, 1872, the Captain was united in marriage with Miss Ruth E., daughter of William Haire, one of the pioneer settlers of Michigan. One child, Lillian, has blessed this union. A stanch Republican in politics, Capt. Brennan has filled the positions of Supervisor of Georgetown Township, Clerk, Highway Commissioner, and at one time was nominated for the position of Sheriff, but was defeated at the polls. Socially, he is identified with O. P. Morton Post., G.A.R. at Manton.