Albert William Francis Brenan, husband of Beatrice Attie Johnson...married August 1893 in Fordyce, Dallas Co, AR.
According to family lore, he left home in Massachusetts because his parents were pressuring him to enter the priesthood.
(Written in 2005)
The Brenan Family
Massachusetts to Arkansas to Florida
Our family story begins in the years after the Civil War when Francis William Brenan, our
Grandfather, was born to a wealthy family in the Worcester, Mass. Area. The family was in the steel business and were Catholic. Francis was destined according to his family's wishes to become a priest. He was not the eldest of the family and unlikely to inherit the business. He was enrolled in the appropriate school and was on track for the Priesthood. Frank, as he preferred to be called, had other ideas and at 15 he walked away from the School using a frozen riverbed as his means of escape. He used railroads to find his way west and after a few years of jobs on ships and other odd jobs he ended up in Arkansas where the owner of a sawmill was seeking mill hands. He took a position, settled down and became a mill-wright. It was at this time that he met and married Attie Johnson who was l4 years old at the time. Mr. Frank was 25.
The family grew in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas ending up in Fordyce. All of the children in this generation were born in Arkansas. Frank worked as a mill-wright throughout these years. In 1911, the family moved to Florida traveling by train from Arkansas. They came to Dowling Park, Florida, near Live Oak. Mr. Frank found work as foreman of a mill there. The mill was engaged in the business of milling the lumber for the Sears Roebuck kit homes introduced about this time. Over the next years, he and the family moved throughout Florida as work moved from mill to mill depending upon the availability of good lumber from local trees. They lived in Cedar Key, Trilby, Lachoochee, Gainesville, Indian Rocks Beach, and Clearwater before returning to
Live Oak in the late 1930's. Mr. Frank and Miss Attie did whatever they could find to do in the depression years including beach concessions in Cedar Key and Pinellas County and dry cleaning in Gainesville.
Mr. Frank did not attend the Baptist church with the family, remaining outside until services were over. When his daughter, Stella, made her profession of faith in the Missionary Baptist Church, Mr. Frank heard her name called upon which he went inside the church and made his own profession of faith. After that he was a very active churchman often serving as a Lay Minister and become known as Brother Brenan. He was known to be an excellent student of the Bible.
Ultimately a home for Mr Frank and Miss Attie was built behind the large home of daughter Stella and her husband, Sheriff Arch Hunter, on White Street in Live Oak. I visited at this home many times arriving either by Seaboard Railroad train from Jacksonville or Greyhound. I was often accompanied on these trips by Frances Salley, the black lady who cared for us. I can vividly remember that she had to sit in the rear of the Greyhound while I sat in the front. She had the packed lunch and brought it to my seat as we traveled through Baldwin, Sanderson, Olustee, Lake City and then Live Oak. The highway made a right 90 degree turn on to White Street in Live Oak and I was able to get off right in front of Aunt Stella's house. Frances rode on to the Greyhound station
where she waited for the next bus back to Jacksonville.
On my early visits Miss Attie's mother, Grandma Johnson, lived there. I remember her as a bedridden lady of whom I was terrified. My memories are of a very demanding lady with the loud voice. Miss Attie's twin sister, Alice from St. Louis, also visited in Live Oak. Other memories include riding in the Sheriffs car with Uncle Arch, checking out the Suwannee County jail and going to tobacco farms with Myrtis Rogers family. There were chickens in the back yard, an impressive garden and lots of the elements of rural North Florida in the 1940's.
Mr. Frank and Miss Attie lived here until his death in 1948. After that, other changes in the family resulted in Miss Attie moving to Jacksonville to live with her daughter, Clara. A home for her was converted from an outbuilding on the deMontmollin property in the then rural San Jose area of South Jacksonville. This arrangement lasted but a few years as the lifestyle of the younger generation did not fit comfortably with that of Miss Attie. In the 1950's Miss Attie moved to Zephyrhills to live near her daughter, Stella, who had remarried after Arch's death and ran an egg farm located on Hwy 301 between Zephyrhills and Dade City. Once again, I have many memories of traveling by Seaboard Railroad train from Jacksonville to Zephyrhills to visit Grandma Brenan. She had a
small apartment in downtown Zephyrhills and I would walk allover the town. By this time, I could travel alone and Frances Salley was not needed.
Miss Attie ultimately had to move in with Stella due to failing health and she died in the late 1950's. Mr. Frank and Miss Attie are both buried in marked graves in the main cemetery in Live Oak, Florida. Their daughter, Stella, is buried nearby. The other members of the family scattered throughout the eastern United States and the whereabouts of subsequent generations is largely unknown to this branch of the family.
— Harry deMontmollin
According to family lore, he left home in Massachusetts because his parents were pressuring him to enter the priesthood.
(Written in 2005)
The Brenan Family
Massachusetts to Arkansas to Florida
Our family story begins in the years after the Civil War when Francis William Brenan, our
Grandfather, was born to a wealthy family in the Worcester, Mass. Area. The family was in the steel business and were Catholic. Francis was destined according to his family's wishes to become a priest. He was not the eldest of the family and unlikely to inherit the business. He was enrolled in the appropriate school and was on track for the Priesthood. Frank, as he preferred to be called, had other ideas and at 15 he walked away from the School using a frozen riverbed as his means of escape. He used railroads to find his way west and after a few years of jobs on ships and other odd jobs he ended up in Arkansas where the owner of a sawmill was seeking mill hands. He took a position, settled down and became a mill-wright. It was at this time that he met and married Attie Johnson who was l4 years old at the time. Mr. Frank was 25.
The family grew in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas ending up in Fordyce. All of the children in this generation were born in Arkansas. Frank worked as a mill-wright throughout these years. In 1911, the family moved to Florida traveling by train from Arkansas. They came to Dowling Park, Florida, near Live Oak. Mr. Frank found work as foreman of a mill there. The mill was engaged in the business of milling the lumber for the Sears Roebuck kit homes introduced about this time. Over the next years, he and the family moved throughout Florida as work moved from mill to mill depending upon the availability of good lumber from local trees. They lived in Cedar Key, Trilby, Lachoochee, Gainesville, Indian Rocks Beach, and Clearwater before returning to
Live Oak in the late 1930's. Mr. Frank and Miss Attie did whatever they could find to do in the depression years including beach concessions in Cedar Key and Pinellas County and dry cleaning in Gainesville.
Mr. Frank did not attend the Baptist church with the family, remaining outside until services were over. When his daughter, Stella, made her profession of faith in the Missionary Baptist Church, Mr. Frank heard her name called upon which he went inside the church and made his own profession of faith. After that he was a very active churchman often serving as a Lay Minister and become known as Brother Brenan. He was known to be an excellent student of the Bible.
Ultimately a home for Mr Frank and Miss Attie was built behind the large home of daughter Stella and her husband, Sheriff Arch Hunter, on White Street in Live Oak. I visited at this home many times arriving either by Seaboard Railroad train from Jacksonville or Greyhound. I was often accompanied on these trips by Frances Salley, the black lady who cared for us. I can vividly remember that she had to sit in the rear of the Greyhound while I sat in the front. She had the packed lunch and brought it to my seat as we traveled through Baldwin, Sanderson, Olustee, Lake City and then Live Oak. The highway made a right 90 degree turn on to White Street in Live Oak and I was able to get off right in front of Aunt Stella's house. Frances rode on to the Greyhound station
where she waited for the next bus back to Jacksonville.
On my early visits Miss Attie's mother, Grandma Johnson, lived there. I remember her as a bedridden lady of whom I was terrified. My memories are of a very demanding lady with the loud voice. Miss Attie's twin sister, Alice from St. Louis, also visited in Live Oak. Other memories include riding in the Sheriffs car with Uncle Arch, checking out the Suwannee County jail and going to tobacco farms with Myrtis Rogers family. There were chickens in the back yard, an impressive garden and lots of the elements of rural North Florida in the 1940's.
Mr. Frank and Miss Attie lived here until his death in 1948. After that, other changes in the family resulted in Miss Attie moving to Jacksonville to live with her daughter, Clara. A home for her was converted from an outbuilding on the deMontmollin property in the then rural San Jose area of South Jacksonville. This arrangement lasted but a few years as the lifestyle of the younger generation did not fit comfortably with that of Miss Attie. In the 1950's Miss Attie moved to Zephyrhills to live near her daughter, Stella, who had remarried after Arch's death and ran an egg farm located on Hwy 301 between Zephyrhills and Dade City. Once again, I have many memories of traveling by Seaboard Railroad train from Jacksonville to Zephyrhills to visit Grandma Brenan. She had a
small apartment in downtown Zephyrhills and I would walk allover the town. By this time, I could travel alone and Frances Salley was not needed.
Miss Attie ultimately had to move in with Stella due to failing health and she died in the late 1950's. Mr. Frank and Miss Attie are both buried in marked graves in the main cemetery in Live Oak, Florida. Their daughter, Stella, is buried nearby. The other members of the family scattered throughout the eastern United States and the whereabouts of subsequent generations is largely unknown to this branch of the family.
— Harry deMontmollin
Albert William Francis Brenan, husband of Beatrice Attie Johnson...married August 1893 in Fordyce, Dallas Co, AR.
According to family lore, he left home in Massachusetts because his parents were pressuring him to enter the priesthood.
(Written in 2005)
The Brenan Family
Massachusetts to Arkansas to Florida
Our family story begins in the years after the Civil War when Francis William Brenan, our
Grandfather, was born to a wealthy family in the Worcester, Mass. Area. The family was in the steel business and were Catholic. Francis was destined according to his family's wishes to become a priest. He was not the eldest of the family and unlikely to inherit the business. He was enrolled in the appropriate school and was on track for the Priesthood. Frank, as he preferred to be called, had other ideas and at 15 he walked away from the School using a frozen riverbed as his means of escape. He used railroads to find his way west and after a few years of jobs on ships and other odd jobs he ended up in Arkansas where the owner of a sawmill was seeking mill hands. He took a position, settled down and became a mill-wright. It was at this time that he met and married Attie Johnson who was l4 years old at the time. Mr. Frank was 25.
The family grew in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas ending up in Fordyce. All of the children in this generation were born in Arkansas. Frank worked as a mill-wright throughout these years. In 1911, the family moved to Florida traveling by train from Arkansas. They came to Dowling Park, Florida, near Live Oak. Mr. Frank found work as foreman of a mill there. The mill was engaged in the business of milling the lumber for the Sears Roebuck kit homes introduced about this time. Over the next years, he and the family moved throughout Florida as work moved from mill to mill depending upon the availability of good lumber from local trees. They lived in Cedar Key, Trilby, Lachoochee, Gainesville, Indian Rocks Beach, and Clearwater before returning to
Live Oak in the late 1930's. Mr. Frank and Miss Attie did whatever they could find to do in the depression years including beach concessions in Cedar Key and Pinellas County and dry cleaning in Gainesville.
Mr. Frank did not attend the Baptist church with the family, remaining outside until services were over. When his daughter, Stella, made her profession of faith in the Missionary Baptist Church, Mr. Frank heard her name called upon which he went inside the church and made his own profession of faith. After that he was a very active churchman often serving as a Lay Minister and become known as Brother Brenan. He was known to be an excellent student of the Bible.
Ultimately a home for Mr Frank and Miss Attie was built behind the large home of daughter Stella and her husband, Sheriff Arch Hunter, on White Street in Live Oak. I visited at this home many times arriving either by Seaboard Railroad train from Jacksonville or Greyhound. I was often accompanied on these trips by Frances Salley, the black lady who cared for us. I can vividly remember that she had to sit in the rear of the Greyhound while I sat in the front. She had the packed lunch and brought it to my seat as we traveled through Baldwin, Sanderson, Olustee, Lake City and then Live Oak. The highway made a right 90 degree turn on to White Street in Live Oak and I was able to get off right in front of Aunt Stella's house. Frances rode on to the Greyhound station
where she waited for the next bus back to Jacksonville.
On my early visits Miss Attie's mother, Grandma Johnson, lived there. I remember her as a bedridden lady of whom I was terrified. My memories are of a very demanding lady with the loud voice. Miss Attie's twin sister, Alice from St. Louis, also visited in Live Oak. Other memories include riding in the Sheriffs car with Uncle Arch, checking out the Suwannee County jail and going to tobacco farms with Myrtis Rogers family. There were chickens in the back yard, an impressive garden and lots of the elements of rural North Florida in the 1940's.
Mr. Frank and Miss Attie lived here until his death in 1948. After that, other changes in the family resulted in Miss Attie moving to Jacksonville to live with her daughter, Clara. A home for her was converted from an outbuilding on the deMontmollin property in the then rural San Jose area of South Jacksonville. This arrangement lasted but a few years as the lifestyle of the younger generation did not fit comfortably with that of Miss Attie. In the 1950's Miss Attie moved to Zephyrhills to live near her daughter, Stella, who had remarried after Arch's death and ran an egg farm located on Hwy 301 between Zephyrhills and Dade City. Once again, I have many memories of traveling by Seaboard Railroad train from Jacksonville to Zephyrhills to visit Grandma Brenan. She had a
small apartment in downtown Zephyrhills and I would walk allover the town. By this time, I could travel alone and Frances Salley was not needed.
Miss Attie ultimately had to move in with Stella due to failing health and she died in the late 1950's. Mr. Frank and Miss Attie are both buried in marked graves in the main cemetery in Live Oak, Florida. Their daughter, Stella, is buried nearby. The other members of the family scattered throughout the eastern United States and the whereabouts of subsequent generations is largely unknown to this branch of the family.
— Harry deMontmollin
According to family lore, he left home in Massachusetts because his parents were pressuring him to enter the priesthood.
(Written in 2005)
The Brenan Family
Massachusetts to Arkansas to Florida
Our family story begins in the years after the Civil War when Francis William Brenan, our
Grandfather, was born to a wealthy family in the Worcester, Mass. Area. The family was in the steel business and were Catholic. Francis was destined according to his family's wishes to become a priest. He was not the eldest of the family and unlikely to inherit the business. He was enrolled in the appropriate school and was on track for the Priesthood. Frank, as he preferred to be called, had other ideas and at 15 he walked away from the School using a frozen riverbed as his means of escape. He used railroads to find his way west and after a few years of jobs on ships and other odd jobs he ended up in Arkansas where the owner of a sawmill was seeking mill hands. He took a position, settled down and became a mill-wright. It was at this time that he met and married Attie Johnson who was l4 years old at the time. Mr. Frank was 25.
The family grew in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas ending up in Fordyce. All of the children in this generation were born in Arkansas. Frank worked as a mill-wright throughout these years. In 1911, the family moved to Florida traveling by train from Arkansas. They came to Dowling Park, Florida, near Live Oak. Mr. Frank found work as foreman of a mill there. The mill was engaged in the business of milling the lumber for the Sears Roebuck kit homes introduced about this time. Over the next years, he and the family moved throughout Florida as work moved from mill to mill depending upon the availability of good lumber from local trees. They lived in Cedar Key, Trilby, Lachoochee, Gainesville, Indian Rocks Beach, and Clearwater before returning to
Live Oak in the late 1930's. Mr. Frank and Miss Attie did whatever they could find to do in the depression years including beach concessions in Cedar Key and Pinellas County and dry cleaning in Gainesville.
Mr. Frank did not attend the Baptist church with the family, remaining outside until services were over. When his daughter, Stella, made her profession of faith in the Missionary Baptist Church, Mr. Frank heard her name called upon which he went inside the church and made his own profession of faith. After that he was a very active churchman often serving as a Lay Minister and become known as Brother Brenan. He was known to be an excellent student of the Bible.
Ultimately a home for Mr Frank and Miss Attie was built behind the large home of daughter Stella and her husband, Sheriff Arch Hunter, on White Street in Live Oak. I visited at this home many times arriving either by Seaboard Railroad train from Jacksonville or Greyhound. I was often accompanied on these trips by Frances Salley, the black lady who cared for us. I can vividly remember that she had to sit in the rear of the Greyhound while I sat in the front. She had the packed lunch and brought it to my seat as we traveled through Baldwin, Sanderson, Olustee, Lake City and then Live Oak. The highway made a right 90 degree turn on to White Street in Live Oak and I was able to get off right in front of Aunt Stella's house. Frances rode on to the Greyhound station
where she waited for the next bus back to Jacksonville.
On my early visits Miss Attie's mother, Grandma Johnson, lived there. I remember her as a bedridden lady of whom I was terrified. My memories are of a very demanding lady with the loud voice. Miss Attie's twin sister, Alice from St. Louis, also visited in Live Oak. Other memories include riding in the Sheriffs car with Uncle Arch, checking out the Suwannee County jail and going to tobacco farms with Myrtis Rogers family. There were chickens in the back yard, an impressive garden and lots of the elements of rural North Florida in the 1940's.
Mr. Frank and Miss Attie lived here until his death in 1948. After that, other changes in the family resulted in Miss Attie moving to Jacksonville to live with her daughter, Clara. A home for her was converted from an outbuilding on the deMontmollin property in the then rural San Jose area of South Jacksonville. This arrangement lasted but a few years as the lifestyle of the younger generation did not fit comfortably with that of Miss Attie. In the 1950's Miss Attie moved to Zephyrhills to live near her daughter, Stella, who had remarried after Arch's death and ran an egg farm located on Hwy 301 between Zephyrhills and Dade City. Once again, I have many memories of traveling by Seaboard Railroad train from Jacksonville to Zephyrhills to visit Grandma Brenan. She had a
small apartment in downtown Zephyrhills and I would walk allover the town. By this time, I could travel alone and Frances Salley was not needed.
Miss Attie ultimately had to move in with Stella due to failing health and she died in the late 1950's. Mr. Frank and Miss Attie are both buried in marked graves in the main cemetery in Live Oak, Florida. Their daughter, Stella, is buried nearby. The other members of the family scattered throughout the eastern United States and the whereabouts of subsequent generations is largely unknown to this branch of the family.
— Harry deMontmollin
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