History of Mineola, Texas "Gateway To The Pines"

SIMEON ROBERT BRUCE

Simeon R. Bruce is a descendant of one of the sturdy Scotch colonists of Vermont. His grandfather, Joseph Bruce, came to this country from Scotland and settled in Orange County, Vermont. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and died at an advanced age.

His son, David, was born and reared at Post Mills, Orange County, and became a prominent merchant of that village. He was twice married, his second wife being Mariada Sturtevant, who was also a native of Orange County, and to them were born six children, Charles S., Simeon R., George H., James L., Harry N. and David.

Simeon R. Bruce was born at Post Mills, Orange County, Vermont, December 3, 1839, and was given good educational advantages for the times, attending the common and high schools of his own and neighboring villages. In 1855 he left home and started West and for some years lived in Kane County, Illinois. In the fall of 1859 he came to Texas, stopping first in Montgomery and then in Gonzales County. At that time he was an enterprising young man in search of his fortune and with no home ties, was fee to go where he chose.

In 1861 he entered the Confederate Army, a member of company E, Eighth Texas Cavalry, and fought with the Army of the Tennessee. Beginning with the first engagement at Corinth, he was in all the principal campaigns and battles of that part of the Confederacy, serving at different times on Wharton's and Harrison's staffs. He was wounded at the battle of Perryville while a member of Wharton's staff, and was captured and afterward exchanged at Vicksburg. He rejoined his regiment just before the battle of Murfreesboro, and participated in the engagement and all the following down to Jonesboro, Georgia.

At the close of the war he went North to Minnesota to visit his elder brother, Charles S., who had served in the Federal Army. Returning to Georgia, he was married in November, 1865, to Miss Kate A. Reeves, daughter of Eleazer Reeves, of Oglethorpe, Macon County, Georgia, where she was born, although both parents were natives of North Carolina.

In October, 1866, he moved to Texas and settled in Hunt County, where he engaged in farming and stock raising until January, 1874, when he moved to Mineola, Wood County, and for three years carried on a hotel

He was there employed as a clerk by a leading merchant of the town, and afterward as bookkeeper. When the Bank of Mineola was established he became a stockholder, and has held the position of cashier and has the management of this, one of the leading business adjuncts of the town, at the present time.

He is also engaged in the general mercantile business, being senior member of the firm of S. R. Bruce & Co., one of the most productive dealers in Mineola.

Mr. Bruce has taken an active interest in local affairs, and for the past four years has been city treasurer of Mineola. He is a zealous advocate of higher education, and has given liberally to advance the standard of the schools of his town. He is a prominent member of the Masonic Fraternity, and is an active worker in the order.

He has brought to Texas the sturdy habits and progressive, enterprising spirit of his Scotch ancestors, and this inheritance, combined with his early education and training in the State noted for its men of broad ideas, industrious habits, and strong physical natures, has made him one of the most successful businessmen of the town. He is a genial, hospitable man, noted for his generosity and kindness to the poor and needy. He has a family of five children—Robert Halsey, Carrie Olean, Ernest L., Claude H. and Helen Rosebud.

Jones, Lucille, History of Mineola, Texas, "Gateway To The Pines," [date unknown], pp. 81-83.