George A. Bruce
b. ca 1809, Virginia
son of ______Bruce and ______
d. early to mid 1860’s
married Jan 18, 1830 Pittsylvania, Virginia
Elizabeth Ann “Betsy” Lovelace
b. ca 1809, Virginia
dau of ______Lovelace, b. pr before 1790 Va and ______b. pr. bef. 1792 Va
d. Nov. 25, 1888 Luling, Caldwell Co. Texas
Children:
James b. 1830 VA
Julina b. 1833 VA
Thomas D. b. 1834/35 VA
W.G. b. 1837 VA
Charles H. b. 1838 VA
John E. b. 1840 VA
Samuel b. 1842 VA
George W. b. 1846 MO
Campioin b. 1847 MO
Mary b. 1850 MO
Alfred M. b. 1852 MO
Chronology:
(See also separate page on doing Pittsylvania County Research for the Bruce/Lovelace families )
Ca 1809
Birth of George A. Bruce, Virginia
Birth of Elizabet Ann “Betsy” Lovelace, Virginia
1810 Census -- lost. Use tax lists
1820 Census
Jan. 1, 1830 marriage of George A. Bruce and Elizabeth Ann Lovelace, Pittsylvania, Virginia
-- we want to see the actual certificate and if there is a bond posted.
1830 Census
5 Dec. 1839 birth of son John Elhanen Bruce in Campbell Co., Virginia (from online family tree at Ancestry.com_
1840 Census – this appears to be the family
Between 1842 and 1846 they removed to Calloway Co., Missouri
1850 Census District 12, Calloway Co., Missour
George Bruce45 farmer. All b. Virginia except last two ch. b. Missouri
Elizabeth Bruce40
James Bruce20
Julina Bruce17
Thomas Bruce16
Charles Bruce12
John Bruce10
Saml Bruce8
George Bruce5
Campion Bruce3
Mary Bruce0 -- her age is 6/12
Often rounded off numbers (20, 25, 30, 35 etc.) were used to approximate an age –early to mid 20’s; mid to late 20’s etc. )
-- there is no 13 year old W.G. Bruce in this census.
Missouri is a public land state. That means that the first sale of land was from the federal government. Subsequent sales (from individual to individual) were by deed, but the first sale of land results in a land patent that shows ownership. These can be searched at the Bureau of Land Management site.
1860 Census Wilson, Audrain Co., Missouri
Geo Bruce51 famer owns land. This census has everyone b. VA except
B A Bruce51the youngest, A.M. Bruce.
T D Bruce25B. A. probably stands for Betsey Ann
W G Bruce23 – here he is.
C H Bruce22
John E Bruce20
S A Bruce17
G W Bruce14
C J Bruce12
Mary E Bruce10
A M Bruce8
James and Jullina are no longer living with family. They may have married – TO DO: find records.
Sometime in the early 1860’s George Bruce dies. It is unlikely – but not impossible – that he was serving in the Civil War. I’m going to hold off on looking for civil war records at this point. I did do a quick search at subscription database Fold3 to see if there was any indication of a pension for Betsy, but negative result.
“In 1860’s Betsy removed to Luling, Caldwell Co., Texas to live with daughter’s family. She is listed as head of the household there in 1870 and 1880” – but it is more likely she moved in the 1870’s. I don’t find her listed as head of household in Texas in 1870.
1870 census
Can’t find her under Elizabeth or Betsy Bruce; we can look for all her children, because she will probably be with them.
Samuel is with his sister Juliana in Lulling, Caldwell Co., Texas. But Betsey and the rest of the family are not.
Juliana is old enough to be the mother of Edgar D. and the younger children., but Mary E. and Emeline D. could be from an earlier marriage of Haden King)
George is still in Audrain Co., working on a farm.
And here is the rest of the family – My search was B*ce b. Virgina, lived in Audrain County, Missouri. I had been sidetracked by searching Texas, but once I decided to check to see if she was still in Missouri… and she was. I knew the name Bets* or Eliz* Bruce b. Virginia wasn’t going to find her in any state, because I already tried that.
We now know that A.M. Bruce is Alfred M. Bruce
From the actual record we can see that she still owns land in Audrain County.
REMEMBER THE DEWS NAME. We are going to see it again in the supplemental page on doing Pittsylvania County research.
1880census Luling, Caldwell Co., Texas
Betsey A. Bruce 70 she is head of household, b. Vaboth parents b. VA
J.T. Vick32
Mary Vick30
George H. Vick 4
And others… J.T. Vick is her son in law, Mary her dau and George H. her grandson.
And we know she dies Nov. 25, 1888; I assume in Luling, Caldwell Co. Texas.
The FamilySearch Wiki tells us we are unlikely to find an 1888 death record
You have seen the cemetery plot.
Have you found an obituary? There might be one in Luling and /or one in Autdain County Missouri, possibly in Mexico … how do we find which newspapers covered those cities and where can we get the newspapers.