Henry W. Brendel

Captain Henry William Brendel (December 10, 1857 – September 14, 1940) was an American lawyer and government official.

Early life Brendel was born on December 10, 1857, in Buffalo, New York. He was a son of Christine ( Brost) Brendel and Peter Brendel, who was born in Bavaria and came to Bufalo in the 1850s where he learned the copper trade.

With the exception of two years in a parochial school, where he was instructed in both German and English, he received his education in the public schools of Buffalo.

Career After being admitted to the bar in January 1879 before going into partnership with Gen. James Clark Strong in fall 1879. They practiced together until 1891 when the firm was dissolved and Brendel continued the practice alone for a number of years, He became an active leader of the Republican Party, serving as a member of the Executive Committee and as Treasurer. He was thrice nominated for the Assembly but "his district having a large Democratic majority, he was defeated." In October 1897, Brendel was appointed by President William McKinley to succeed Peter C. Doyle as Collector of the Port of Buffalo. He served in this role until 1906, through McKinley and into Theodore Roosevelt's administration. He was succeeded by Fred O. Murray in 1906.

Afterwards, he continued the practice of law, retaining an active interest in Brendel, Standart and Bagot in the Mutual Life Building, until his death in 1940. Together, Henry and Augusta were the parents of two daughters: They later divorced and he married Isabel Greunke in 1955. Elsa Augusta Brendel (1904–1983), who married Buell Goodsel Tallman II, son of Clarence B. Tallman, in 1926. They separated in 1935, and were divorced in 1937. She later married Lewis C. Conant.

He was a member of the Lutheran St. Stephen's Evangelical Church and the Teutonia Maennerchor singing society. They also had a summer home in Lake View, New York. His widow died in Buffalo on December 17, 1951. In his will, he left $75,000 in trust for his granddaughter Sally.

1937 attempted kidnaping In 1937, his former son-in-law Buell Goodsel Tallman, attempted to kidnap Brendel's granddaughter from Brendel's home at 526 Linwood Avenue in Buffalo. When his daughter tried to stop her ex-husband from leaving with Sally, he shot and killed Brendel's cook, 60 year-old Louisa Stiehl, before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide in Brendel's home.