Transcribed from: Hisory of Stearns County Minnesota By: William Bell Mitchell Volume II Chicago, H.C. Cooper, JR., & Co. 1915 Samuel Milton Bruce was born in Ladoga, Montgomery County, Indiana, Septemeber 9, 1828, son of Charles P. and Angeline (Wright) Bruce. The family history is a most interesting one. The grandfather, William Bruce, came from Scotland, with three brothers and settled in Virginia, afterward locating in Bruceville, Indiana. The father, Charles Bruce, was twice married. By his first wife, Angeline Wright, he had four children, and by his second wife, Nancy Harrison, he had ten children. Samuel Milton Bruce was reared in Indiana, and obtained a good education in the public schools. In 1850 he went to California, but three years later he was called home by the death of his parents. For some years he engaged in the mercantile business, but failing health caused him to seek a home in the Northwest. Accordingly, he came to Minnesota in 1857. From Minneapolis he came to Stearns County with an ox team. He took a claim of 160 acres of government land five and a half miles from what is now Sauk Centre, on the Melrose road. He built a small shanty in order to conform with the legal requirements for holding a claim, but his interests were centered in the village of Sauk Centre. On the present site of the town, the Sauk Centre Townsite Co. had platted the outlines of a town, and had made a squatter's shanty by digging a hole in the bluff near the river and propping up the opening with poles. A dam was being built by Alexander Moore and Edward K. Jacques. Mr. Bruce bought an interest in the townsite company, and he and William T. Dingley erected a log cabin, located on Main street, just across the river from the present business sections. This building served as a hotel for many years. At the first meeting of the Sauk Valley Claim Association, held July 16, 1857, Mr. Bruce was elected president. In the summer of 1858, Mr. Bruce succeeded in getting a postoffice established with Moses W. Adley as postmaster. In the fall of 1858, he went back to Indiana, but returned in the following spring. April 28, 1861, at the first school meeting ever held in Sauk Centre, he was elected clerk. In September 1861, he enlisted in Company I, Third Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, and by gradual promotions he became lieutenant. To give his war record, in the South, as a prisoner, on parole, and in the Indian campaign in the Northwest, would be to recapitulate the history of the regiment up to the early part of 1863. In that year he was sent up to the Red River and Arkansas country, to recruit among the colored people. The recruits were custered in as Company A, 112th U.S. Colored Infantry, with Mr. Bruce as captain. After a short service with his company, he spent nine months in the hospital, and was subsequently discharged for disability. Then he returned to his farm near Sauk Centre. It was in 1872 that he became a clerk in the store of C. M. Sprague, in the village. September 22, 1874, he opened a grocery store on the site still occupied by his buildings. Gradually the business increased, until it became the largest general store in this vicinity. In 1878, he erected a two story brick building, and in 1882, he built two more. The triple building is still standing as a monument to his faith in Sauk Centre. Mr. Bruce was a charter member of the local lodge of Odd Fellows, at various times a commander of the B. R. Palmer Post, G.A.R., and also a member of the Masonic body. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank, and was its vice-president until his death. Mr. Bruce died August 1, 1897, being at that time one of the leading citizens in this part of the county. A man of broad experience, he combined the dignity of the old school with the jovial spirits of the modern business man. He was beloved, trusted and honored, and his death was a distinct loss to the community. S. M. Bruce was married in December, 1862, while still a Confederate prisoner on parole , to Sarah E. Layman, born in Newfield, Thompkins county, New York, August 11, 1840, one of the thirteen children of Martin and Elizabeth Layman, who came from New York state to Peoria county, Ill., in 1845, and located in 1854 in Minneapolis, where they both died in 1886, the father at the age of seventy-eight and the mother at the age of seventy-five. Mr. and Mrs. Bruce have two children: Minnehaha A. and Florence B. Minnehaha A. married J. L. Mullen, now deceased. They have two children, Bruce H. and Arah Elizabeth. Bruce H. married Ethel Finney, of Waverly, Iowa, and they have one son, George Letmond. Arah Elizabeth married Earl Rose, of Sauk Centre, and they have two children, Letmond Lavina and Alice Angeline. Florence Belle Bruce married George Fish, of Sauk Centre, and they have four children: Paul Bruce, George Milton, Clarence and Harry, deceased twins. Best Regards and Happy Ancestor Hunting! Chadd Rose, mailto: tuckman5@intrepid.net ************************************** GENEALOGY - I'M DOING IT!!! After much deliberation And due consideration I have the inclination To look for my relation. So, with much perspiration And a lot of inspiration I'll assume the obligation To trace their emigration. I'll start with the location -- Look through every publication Listing things like embarkation, Occupation and taxation. Then, I'll hope for revelation To help me follow their migration And find proof of immigration To this blessed and great nation. Oh, what joy! What jubilation! Comes with the realization That I've found the combination That will link my generation! >Author Unknown< mailto: tuckman5@intrepid.net