For years we have grappled with conflicting evidence from the trees of others like FamilySearch, on findagrave.org, and other data about my grandmother’s great-grandfather. His name is Isaac Bruce. He had a son named Thomas Joyner Bruce who had a daughter who was my grandmother’s mother. The question has been, who were Isaac Bruce’s parents?
At first, we had Robert Bruce and Margaret Parlier as Isaac’s parents. Yet, all of these sources mentioned show that his parents were Azariah Benjamin Bruce and Martha “Patsy” Keeling (see FamilySearch image below). It’s not just FamilySearch and FindaGrave. It is also many member trees on ancestry.com, and other places, too. Some of the sources conflict with Isaac’s age, as well. They have him born about 1826. So what do we do about it?
Start with What We Know
As usual, we start with what we know. I know my mom and my grandma. I know my mom’s dad and her siblings. I know where my grandparents grew up, where their people came from most recently. Using that information, I can find my grandparents’ parents. My mom’s parents both came to central Illinois from southern Illinois. We have the information we need to satisfy the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) regarding my grandmother’s grandfather, Thomas Joyner Bruce, and his father Isaac Bruce. But were Azariah and Martha Isaac’s parents?
Looking for Hints
In order to help flesh that out we went ahead and added Azariah to our tree in ancestry.com to see about any hints. We did get several from other trees including findagrave.com as a source. So for a while we left the tree like that. If Isaac was born about 1815 then Martha would have been near thirty-eight when he was born. That’s not completely out of the realm of possibility, but that is a bit old. That said, Margaret Parlier would have been near thirty-six.
At the Library
Recently as we were on a history/family history trip, we spent several days in the area where the Bruces lived in southern Illinois. We went to libraries and courthouses in the counties in question. We visited many cemeteries, too. The libraries each had local history books. In History of White County Illinois, written in 1883, we finally found the answer! In the section about Indian Creek Township on page 707 we found this revealing paragraph:
Among the first settlers may be named: John Vineyard, who came from Tennessee in 1815; Esquire Touball came the same year; Robert De Board came from Tennessee in 1816; William McKinzie came from the same State the same year, and is now living; John Collard and Daniel Powell came in 1816, the former still living. Isaac J. Bruce was one of the early settlers, having been brought here by his father, Robert Bruce, in 1818, when only two years of age. He was educated in the old log-cabin style, —without any floor in the building, and a log out for a window. This log school-house stood near where the village church now stands at Middle Point. He married Lucy Walters in 1840, and they raised ten children; three died. The names of the living are —Elizabeth, William A., James T., Benjamin J., Mary F., Susan, Albert Lucy S., Josephine and Thomas J. Mrs. Bruce died in 1878; she was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church at Union Chapel. Mr. Bruce lost his eye-sight in 1832, and is totally blind.
This single paragraph solved our problem completely. Isaac’s father is named. It was Robert. We also learned:
- His middle initial
- His age
- When he came to Indian Creek Township (where my grandmother was born)
- His wife’s name (matching known information)
- The year they married (also matching other data)
- Where he went to school
- Information about the school building
- The names of his living children including our Thomas J
- The year of death of Lucy his wife
- Where she went to church
- And that by 1832 Isaac was blind
Other names in the paragraph are also pertinent to our family tree. My grandmother’s first husband was named DeBoard. Her grandmother was a McKinzie/McKenzie. How great is all of that information! The person who wrote it likely knew Isaac J. Bruce.
This same type of information is found in so many wonderful local history sources. Histories might have been written about a village, town, city, or county. Check them all at the local library. Many of them have been converted to e-book format as well. You might find them on Google Books, archive.org, linked on ldsgenealogy.com, and others.
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If you need any help finding your ancestors, just let us know.
