San Francisco County
Biographies
PETER A.
BREEN
Among the more successful and widely known attorneys of San Francisco is Peter A. Breen, who has been actively engaged in law practice here during the past third of a century and maintains a well appointed office in the de Young building. He was born in a San Juan Bautista, San Benito county, California, September 23, 1874, a son of Patrick and Amelia (Anderson) Breen. Patrick Breen was one of the seven children who were brought to California by their parents as members of the memorable Donner party, whose tragic experiences at Donner Lake in the winter of 1846-47, after a vain attempt to cross the summit of the Sierra Nevada mountains, are unparalleled in California’s annals. Thirty-six of the party succumbed to cold and hunger. The Breen family, who were among the survivors, settled in San Juan and became principally engaged in the cattle business, grazing their herds on the extensive ranges in that section. Patrick Breen departed this life in 1899. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Amelia Anderson, had come to the Golden state from Australia as a girl, in company with an aunt, who married and settled in the Livermore valley. Mrs. Breen was a bride at eighteen years of age and was more than eighty-five years old when she passed away in 1928. All of her five children are living.
Peter A. Breen acquired his early education in the public schools of San Juan and afterward entered the University of Santa Clara, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1895. His professional training was received in Hastings College of Law, San Francisco, which conferred upon him the degree of LL. B. in 1898. He has since practiced in San Francisco and his clientage has steadily grown in volume and importance with the passing years. His fidelity to the interests of his clients is proverbial; yet he never forgets that he owes a higher allegiance to the majesty of the law. His diligence and energy in the preparation of his cases, as well as the earnestness, tenacity and courage with which he defends the right, as he understands it, challenge the highest admiration of his associates. He has membership in both the San Francisco Bar Association and the California State Bar Association.
In early manhood Mr. Breen was united in marriage to Miss Laura Lenhart, a native of San Francisco and a representative of an old family of this city. They are the parents of a son and a daughter, namely: John R., a graduate of the University of Santa Clara, who is a civil engineer in the service of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company; and Isabelle, a graduate of the University of California.
Mr. Breen gives his political support to the republican party, while his religious faith is that of the Catholic Church. He belongs to the Olympic Club and is a man of domestic tastes who finds his recreation in gardening, hunting and fishing.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of
San Francisco 3 Vols”, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1931. Vol. 2 Pages 186-187.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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