| Sources:
1. Marriage Record:
2. 1820 Census Index/Images (online at Ancestry.com, Image
#1 of 7 — indexed "Bown"; list was roughly
alphabetized; extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):
| 1820 |
NY |
Essex Co. |
Jay |
Roll M33_69 |
p. 419 |
Ln. 31 |
Bruse Joseph |
100100-20100-0-100 |
These data indicate:
| No. & Sex |
Age Class |
Therefore Born |
Individuals Inferred |
| 1 male |
9 or under |
1810-1820 |
= Joshua Franklin (b. 1816/7) |
| 1 male |
19-25* |
1794-1801 |
= Joseph (b. 1795/6) |
| 2 females |
9 or under |
1810-1820 |
= Daughter B
= Daughter A |
| 1 female |
16-25 |
1794-1804 |
= Rebecca (b. 1796/7) |
| 1 |
person engaged in agriculture |
| *In the 1820 Census, the third column is
age class 16-18 and the fourth column is age class 16-25, which means any
individual in column three is duplicated in column four. So,
for an accurate representation of the household, the number in column three
should be subtracted from the number in column four. If, after the
subtraction, any individuals remain in column four, then they have to be
age 19-25, thus creating a "new," more precise age class. |
Also listed: Joseph's brother, Jonah
BRUCE (indexed "Bruer"). (The page
image at Genealogy.com is sharper than the one at Ancestry.com, though
Joseph and Jonah are mis-indexed there, too.)
3. 1830 Census Index/Images (online at Ancestry.com, Image
#3 of 20; extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):
| 1830 |
NY |
Essex Co. |
Jay |
Roll 114 |
p. 290 |
Ln. 25 |
Joseph Bruse |
001 001 - 002 001 |
These data indicate:
| No. & Sex |
Age Class |
Therefore Born |
Individuals Inferred |
| 1 male |
10-14 |
1815-1820 |
= Joshua Franlin (b. 1816/7) |
| 1 male |
30-39 |
1790-1800 |
= Joseph (b. 1795/6) |
| 2 females |
10-14 |
1815-1820 |
= Daughter B
= Daughter A |
| 1 female |
30-39 |
1790-1800 |
= Rebecca (b. 1796/7) |
4. 1840 Census Index/Images (online at Ancestry.com, Image
#11-2 of 26; extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):
| 1840 |
NY |
Essex Co. |
Jay |
Roll 282 |
pp. 100-101 |
Ln. 22 |
Joseph Bruce |
000 120 100 - 000 010 100 |
0400000 |
These data indicate:
| No. & Sex |
Age Class |
Therefore Born |
Individuals Inferred |
| 1 male |
15-19 |
1820-1825 |
= ? |
| 2 males |
20-29 |
1810-1820 |
= Joshua Franklin (b. 1816/7)
= ? |
| 1 male |
40-49 |
1790-1800 |
= Joseph (b. 1795/6) |
| 1 female |
20-29 |
1810-1820 |
= Daughter A or B |
| 1 female |
40-49 |
1790-1800 |
= Rebecca (b. 1796/7) |
| 4 |
persons employed in agriculture |
It's hard to say who the extra males are, but they are not with our subjects
in 1830, so are not their sons. Listed next to Joseph's older brother,
Jonah
BRUCE (æ 50-60), who is next to Jonah's son, Benjamin BRUCE (æ
20-30).
5. 1850 Census Every-Name-Index/Images (online at Ancestry.com,
Image #51 of 66): Jay, Essex Co., NY, Roll M432_504, p. 213A, 3025/3099,
enumerated 13 Sep 1850, official enumeration date 1 Jun 1850 (extracted
by Diana Gale Matthiesen):
| Joseph Bruce |
54 |
M |
|
Farmer |
4000 |
|
| Rebecca |
33 |
F |
|
|
|
|
| Franklin |
33 |
M |
|
" |
|
|
| Lorrain |
32 |
F |
|
|
|
|
| Louisa |
8 |
F |
|
|
|
|
| Robert |
3 |
M |
|
|
|
|
| Daniel Hopper |
15 |
M |
|
|
|
|
| Hannah Felt |
33 |
F |
|
|
|
|
The blanks in the birthplace column are presumably intended to mean "NY,"
but if Joseph's parents didn't move to Jay until 1804, then Joseph was
born in MA. Rebecca's age has to be wrong if she's Franklin's mother
(as it says in Joshua Franklin's bio, see below). Earlier censuses
say she was born by 1800, so she is most likely 53, not 33. Listed
next to Joseph's nephew, Nymphas BRUCE, son of his brother, Jonah
BRUCE.
6. 1860 Census Every-Name-Index/Images (online at Ancestry.com):
can't find, and I even did a page-by-page search of Jay. Also didn't
find their son, Joshua Franklin, who should also be in Jay. Were
they missed by the enumerator? Or did they slip off to Canada for
a few years?
7. H.P. Smith. 1885. History of Essex County [New
York]. D. Mason & Co., Publ., Syracuse, NY (online at Ancestry.com).
On p. 717:
| Bruce. The Bruce family is among the first families of Jay.
Their ancestor, Benjamin Bruce, first settled in Jay in 1804. He
was a shoemaker by trade and a soldier of the Revolution. He died
September 11th, 1839, leaving six children: Joseph, Jonah,
Anna, Polie, Phila, and Hannah. Joseph was married to Rebecca
Houghton, a native of Vermont, and the venerable Joshua F. Bruce,
of Jay, is her only son... |
8. Messages posted to the BRUCE Surname Board (online at
RootsWeb.com/Ancestry.com). |