Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Brennecke, Billy ???? - 
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Judy Banja http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000757 July 19, 2025, 7:23 pm

Source: Pen Pictures of Friends and Reminiscent Sketches, Altoona, PA: William F. Gable & Co., Mirror Press, 1911
Author: J. N. Tillard

                         BILLY BRENNECKE, Farmer's Lad

                       Raised on The Border of The Town,
         He Spent His Youth in The Country and His Manhood in The City

THE boys who forty years ago hunted squirrels, snipe and other small game in 
the swampy woods now covered by the Eighth and Tenth Wards of the city all 
knew "Billy" Brennecke. He had gone to Hamilton's School and knew all the 
boys of the country side. The old log farm house where his father dwelt and 
the barn where they played "tag" were familiar spots. About all the territory 
below Seventh Street was out in the country, and the boys of Hamilton's 
School, when they were playing "deer" or "hare and hounds," had as their 
runway any territory between Pottsgrove's Mill, at the foot of Brush 
Mountain, and Brennecke's Barn.
  Billy went swimming at "Miller's Bridge" and the "Beech," and clambered 
over the overshot wheel at the old mill when he came there with a "grist." He 
coasted with the others on Hegarty's Hill and chewed slippery elm and gnawed 
birch from the trees along the stream. In short, while he spent his youth 
close on the borders of the town, he was none the less a farmer lad, and the 
writer ran from his blacksnake whip on more than one occasion when he got off 
the sled to resent the furious fusilade of snowballs with which he was 
greeted when he happened to pass the school house at recess time. With the 
single exception of Sam Green, he could crack the aforesaid blacksnake whip 
louder and a great number of times to the minute than any other lad in the 
neighborhood. Then he had a fashion of converting it into a lasso, with which 
h would reach out and grab the mischievous imp who ventured too close to the 
sled or wagon, on deviltry bent. Once the loop was over the offender's neck, 
the jig was up, and he came into the vehicle in a jiffy, there to pay the 
penalty of his temerity.
  But he was good-natured and generous, for all that and, and if his team 
passed when school was dismissed, every youngster who was going his way was 
welcome to a ride. It was a long, cold road that most of the little folks 
traveled to school in those days, and during the hard times of the war, when 
fathers and brothers were away, their clothing was usually scanty enough, and 
frozen feet were not infrequent. So the privilege of a ride on the passing 
farmer's sled was something not to be despised. Probably more boys and girls 
of that neighborhood will remember Mr. Brennecke because of the opportune 
times he came along and provided transportation for them than for any other 
reason, though in later years he lost none of the elements of character that 
made him popular when a youngster. The roughest side of him was always out, 
and his bite was never nearly so bad as his bark. It was once said of a man 
in the neighborhood that "the only friends he had were those who did not know 
him well," but just the reverse was true of Billy. The better people knew 
him, the better they liked him. Sometimes he was bluff and brusque, but he 
was always square and could be depended upon to do just as he promised, a 
better quality in the long run than faithless suavity. If he called you a 
liar or applied any other epithet, he meant it, but he was quick to revise 
his opinion and make amends if he discovered that he had been mistaken. He 
had in him the germ of downright honesty that would never allow him to be a 
hypocrite or fake friendships that he did not feel in order to obtain an 
advantage for himself. While these attributes of character were not specially 
calculated to rapidly make superficial friends, those who came to know him 
well enough to appreciate his sterling qualities were apt to stick to him 
through thick and thin, through evil as well as good report.
  But he did not long remain a farmer. The growing village swept over the 
acres that his father had tilled and they were converted into town lots, 
while Billy drifted into other pursuits. He never lost his liking for the 
society of his kind, and found a congenial occupation in hotel keeping. Here 
he was in his element, especially in running a farmers' hotel. He understood  
the wants of his guests, for the reason that he had been one of them. At the 
White Hall and the Farmer's he always found company that suited him, and 
suited the people who patronized him. He was as much of an institution as the 
house he run, and his popular traits always individualized the place. Being 
built as he was, he was bound to get into politics, and his democratic 
proclivities suited the political complexion of his ward.
  A quarter of a century ago the people of the Fifth Ward sent him to 
represent them in common council, and in 1896 they made a selectman of him 
and kept him there for eight years, and he was by no means a wall-flower 
while he was there. He was not the sort of a fellow who would sit in silence 
when any measure affecting the rights of his constituents was under 
discussion, and always defended what he conceived to be the right thing with 
vigor and earnestness.
  He spoke with no uncertain sound and, whether right or wrong, his fellow-
legislators never had any doubt about his position. He never equivocated or 
evaded, but hit out from the shoulder on all occasions. He did not believe in 
star-chamber methods, but always wanted an open and above-board discussion, 
threshing out his arguments with as much vigor and noise as he flailed 
buckwheat on the old barn floor. Not that he was a buckwheater in legislative 
matters in any invidious sense. Far from it. The man who bought him for a 
fool always had occasion to rue his bargain. He was always after results, and 
he generally got them. He came home with the pork, and didn't sneak in the 
back way, either.
  Recently he was a candidate for mayor and, while he did not succeed in 
landing the plum, he gave the tree a mighty good shake, and he may be more 
successful the next time he tries his hand.
  He is one of the sort of good fellows who go through life looking every man 
in the eye and not asking many favors, and the kind of friends he cares to 
make will always be all wool and a yard wide, warranted not to shrink in the 
washing. More power to his elbow!


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