“After remaining there for three years, he went to New York and entered the office of the Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Co., as salesman,” Rose noted.Īpplying his skills to other markets, Drennan became a travelling salesman for American companies and then a Montreal brass and iron foundry, the H.R. Leaving home at age 15, Drennan went to Montreal to train in hardware store operation.
He attended Kingston Collegiate Institute (later Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute), concentrating on the classic languages - Greek, Latin, French, English and more. William Melville Drennan was born in Kingston on Nov.
The vacuum left by the vibrant man’s passing was soon filled by his capable and experienced son. It was a sad day in Kingston when 63-year-old Drennan died suddenly on Feb. As well, the businessman ensured time in June 1872 to turn “the first sod on the Kingston and Pembroke Railway.” John Lodge, and was a trustee of Chalmers Presbyterian United Church. Moving through the ranks of membership of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Drennan was also a member of the Ancient St. “When the fire engine-house was built on Ontario Street, he laid the corner stone and was presented with a silver trowel.” In 1846, the fireman was elected a lieutenant of the hook and ladder company, and appointed captain on the passing of the sitting officer. Along with his key role as a director on the board for the House of Industry, Drennan fulfilled a childhood desire to be part of the fire department as “an active member of the hook and ladder company,” Rose said. While operating his businesses, Drennan added a roster of other activities. For all who knew Drennan, “he was a sincere friend, and a frank, honourable opponent.” “He was vigorous in the prosecution of all good works about the city, whose welfare was ever uppermost on his mind,” Rose described.
With politics behind him, the senior Drennan continued to pursue his passions for community improvements.Ĭongenial, outgoing and energetic, Samuel Drennan was regularly chosen to be the master of ceremonies for special local events, including the celebratory welcome of visiting royalty. It was an easy walk from home to his retail and wholesale dry goods store at 295 Princess St. in the 1857-1858 Directory of the City of Kingston. Living in the thriving business district, the Drennan residence was listed as 119 Princess St. Drennan married Anne Jane Boyd and they raised five children - four daughters and one son. The commercial endeavours and political career were enhanced by a growing family. Also, he was president of the Liberal Conservative Association. Winning the one-year term, Mayor Drennan went on serve the city as alderman, retiring from politics in 1879. Warehouses were located at the corner of Princess Street and Bagot Street, and another opened in Ottawa to accommodate distant customers.Ĭivic-minded, Drennan added his voice to the race for the mayor’s seat for 1872. Employing 65 to 100 productive prisoners, “a huge quantity of the finest description of cabinet-ware and furniture is here made,” said Sutherland’s General Directory for the City of Kingston for 1867. Establishing a furniture-making business, Drennan located the operation inside Kingston Penitentiary, using inmate labour. Not one to sit and gather dust, the businessman again changed professions. The collaboration was short-lived, and Drennan carried on in the dry goods business by himself. Realizing that he did not enjoy the work, the newly motivated entrepreneur switched back to form a land-based partnership of Kennedy & Drennan. It was wrecked in November 1854 off Point Pelee, Ont.) (Perhaps Drennan worked on the Great Lakes passenger-and-freighter wooden sidewheel named Mayflower, launched at Detroit in 1849. Drennan “secured the position of purser on the passenger steamer Comet, afterwards the Mayflower, which was finally blown up,” editor George Maclean Rose said in A Cyclopedia of Canadian Biography, Rose Publishing 1886.