Mineola: The First 100 Years

*SIMEON ROBERT BRUCE

Simeon R. Bruce was 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. 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, also a native of Orange County, and to them were born six children, namely — 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, 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 with no home ties and free to go where he chose. In 1861 he entered the Confederate Army, a member of company E, Eighth Texas Cavalry, and fought with the Tennessee Army. Beginning with the first engagement at Corinth, he was in all the principal 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 exchanged at Vicksburg. He rejoined his regiment 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 to Minnesota to visit his brother, Charles S., who served in the Federal Army. Returning to Georgia, he married in November, 1865, Miss Kate A. Reeves, daughter of Eleazer Reeves, of Oglethorpe, Macon County, Georgia, where she was born, but both parents were natives of North Carolina.

In October, 1866, he moved to Texas, settled in Hunt County, and engaged in farming and stock raising until January, 1874, when he moved to Mineola, Texas, and for three years operated a hotel. He was then employed as a clerk by a leading merchant of Mineola, and afterward as bookkeeper. When the Bank of Mineola was established, he became a stockholder, and has held the position of cashier and had the management of this, now one of the leading business adjuncts of the town. He was also engaged in the general mercantile business, being senior member of the firm of S. R. Bruce & Co., one of the heaviest dealers in Mineola. Mr. Bruce took an active interest in local affairs, and for four years was city treasurer of Mineola. He was a zealous advocate of higher education, and gave liberally to advance the standard of the schools of Mineola. He was a prominent member of the Masonic Fraternity, and 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, made him one of the most successful businessmen of the town. He was a genial, hospitable man, noted for his generosity and kindness to the poor and needy. He had a family of five children—Robert Halsey, Carrie Olean, Ernest L., Claude H. and Helen Rosebud.

CHILDREN OF ROBERT HALSEY BRUCE: Maydee Bruce Eddings, Carrie Bruce Flewellen, and Ingram Campbell Bruce.

CHILDREN OF CARRIE OLEAN BRUCE: Minnie Bruce Robertson Davis.

CHILDREN OF ERNEST L. BRUCE: Katherine Bruce Rodgers, Eleanor Bruce McReynolds and Graham Bruce.

CHILDREN OF CLAUDE H. BRUCE: Claude Homer Bruce, Sarah Virginia Bruce Kelley and Simeon Kelley Bruce.

CHILDREN OF HELEN ROSEBUD BRUCE: James Bruce Parrott, and John Rowland Parrott.

*Biographical Souvenir-Texas 1889, Page 123 (ON RECORD IN CAPITOL BUILDING, AUSTIN, TEXAS.)

Mineola: The First 100 Years, pp. 96-97. [full citation unknown]