Services Held Here Saturday For Mr. J. W. Brenner - Thursday morning, January 29, the steadfast, upright spirit of Mr. J. W. Brenner, freed from his pain racked body, took its flight into that world of wider vision and endeavor, where suffering gives place to peace, and the soul knows the happiness of fulfillment. Mr. Brenner was married at Lanarck, Ill., January 25, 1876 to Miss Nancy Jane Shore and in their fifty-five years of married life, they have known the hardships and privations of pioneer life in a prairie country which they overcame with characteristic fortitude, and lived to see that same wild prairie become one of the fairest spots in the land, and to have their unquenchable faith in its future possibilities more than realized. Mr. Brenner was the youngest of the family, five sisters and six brothers preceding him in death. Always an earnest worker in Masonic circles, he was a member of Silver Star Lodge, A.F.& A.M. Siroc chapter and of Gate City Chapter O.E.S. He is survived by his widow and two children, William A. of Chicago and Nellie of Canton. Four years ago in honor of his mother's birthday, William Brenner who is Supt. of long lines of the Bell Telephone Co.'s western division, arranged a long distance conversation from Canton to London, England and Mr. and Mrs. Brenner have the distinction of being the first persons in S.D. to have spoken over the telephone to London. Funeral services were held at the home, Saturday afternoon, Rev. J. H. Kearton officiating and interment made in Forest Hill cemetery, where the Masons read their beautiful burial service. The floral offerings were profuse, a beautiful testimony of the friendship and esteem in which Mr. Brenner was held in the community. The following obituary was read by Rev. Kearton as part of the funeral service:
John Wesley Brenner was born on a farm near Freeport, Ill. on October 30, 1852. He made his own way to start at farming near the place of his birth, but in a few years moved to Grand Junction, Ia. and later to Beloit, Iowa to continue his occupation, and later still he bought the old Bertrand farm near Canton which he operated for many years. During this period he distinguished himself by being one of the first in the midwest to make a scientific study of corn propogation and developed a strain of corn which for general excellence has never been excelled in Lincoln county. After selling the farm he moved into Canton where for many years he has presided over our city courts and made himself a sort of terror to evil doers. As a judge he won the regard of attorneys who were in some cases personally antagonistic.
John Brenner has always been a factor and a force in the communities where he lived. Without opportunities for an early education he was always abreast of the time in general information, and intensely interested in movements for betterment of social conditions. From boyhood his slogans were industry, honesty and courage, and there never was any hesitancy in his choice of between right and wrong. Doing things for the sake of policy was never in his creed. In recent years he awakened more and more to the values in intellectual and spiritual life and sometimes tried to convey his thought in poetic expression. What he may have lacked in facility did not alter the fact of poetic vision and his yearning for the good, the true and the beautiful. In his going the community will recognize the loss of an old prop to good citizenship generally, and the few who knew him best will realize the loss of something bigger and better than the goings and comings of everyday life."