Bios: JOHN M. BRUCE, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens
  
    Copyright.  All rights reserved.
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm
  ************************************************
  
  File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
  Ed McClelland
  
  An html version of this volume may be found at
    
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/lawrence/1908/
  
   ************************************************
   
       JOHN M. BRUCE,
   
   [p. 529] a representative citizen of Mahoning Township, residing on his
   excellent farm of 150 acres, which is situated near Edenburg, is a
   native of this section of Lawrence County, where he was born October 10,
   1842. His parents were Thomas and Agnes (Mitchell) Bruce.
   
   Mr. Bruce comes of Scotch parentage and ancestry and bears a name made
   honorable by his remote forefathers. His grandfather left Scotland when
   his father was small and established the family home in the north of
   England. When Thomas Bruce reached manhood he emigrated to America,
   accompanied by his youngest brother and oldest sister, reaching the
   United States in 1820. He was a stone-mason by trade and he followed
   this in various parts of the country for eight years before he finally
   settled permanently on the farm which his son John M. now owns. Forest
   covered all this region at that time and Thomas Bruce's log cabin was
   one of the first ever built in Mahoning Township. With his brother
   Robert he contracted for and built two locks on the old Erie Canal,
   south of and near New Castle, but after he acquired his land he gave his
   attention almost entirely to clearing and cultivating it. He died in
   September, 1866. He was a man well fitted for the troubles, hardships
   and terrors which attended pioneer life, possessing a sturdy frame and
   robust health, together with the sterling traits of character which
   belong to Scotchmen the world over. He was firm in his political
   attachments, at first a Whig and later a Republican, and was equally
   consistent in his support of the Presbyterian Church. Of his four
   children, John M. is the only survivor.
   
   John M. Bruce was reared to man's estate on the farm he now owns and
   occupies and here he has carried on general farming through the whole of
   his mature life. Mr. Bruce has kept up with the times in his farming
   methods and is numbered with the substantial agriculturists of this
   section. In October, 1894, he was married to Mrs. Mahala (Hill) Bruce,
   who was born near Hillsville, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, and is a
   daughter of John and Maria (Zediker) Hill. John Hill was born in
   Mahoning Township, where he still resides, being now in his eighty-sixth
   year, surviving his wife, who died in December, 1906. The children of
   John Hill and wife were: Mahala; Jennie, who is the wife of David E.
   Myers, residing in Hillsville, and Elizabeth, who is the wife of John
   Mackey, also of Hillsville, a village that was named in honor of the
   Hill family. The Hills settled in Mahoning Township among the very
   earliest people and the grandmother of Mrs. Bruce was a typical pioneer
   woman, surviving all the hardships and deprivations which were difficult
   for even men to overcome, and outlived many of her descendants. She was
   within a few weeks of being 100 years old when she died. By her first
   marriage with C. C. Bruce, Mrs. Bruce has one daughter, May F., who is a
   graduate of the New Castle High School. In politics, Mr. Bruce is a
   Republican. He is a member and liberal supporter of the Methodist
   Episcopal Church at Edenburg.
   
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
   
   20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and
   Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing
   Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
   
   Updated: 2 Nov 2001