ky-footstps-digest Tuesday, September 21 1999 Volume 99: #6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Slowm@aol.com To: ky-footstep-i@rootsweb.com Subject: BIBLE: BRUCE, NORVELL, 1832-1900, Fleming Co Ky Part 3 Date: Monday, September 20, 1999 2:24 AM The balance of the Family Bible of William P. BRUCE and Orra B. NORVILLE is a collection of newspaper articles glued in the Bible. I shall not try to copy them but will condense them. The first is an obit notice for William Pickett BRUCE along with a picture of him. There is no date or name of newspaper It states he is one of the oldest and most widely-known hotel manages in the city, and died at the Hotel Alms at 10.20 last night. It states he is a lineal descendant of Robert Bruce, hero of the famous battle of Bannockburn. He died from erysipela which developed into dropsy. He had for several years the entire charge of the financial affairs of Mrs. Eleanor C. Alms, widow of the late millionaire merchant, Fred H. Alms. He was born in Fleming County, Kentucky in 1832, and engaged in business in Carlisle. In 1859 he wedded Miss Orra Norvelle of that place where she later died as did two sons of the couple. In 1865 he went to Ohio and operated a store at Glendale. When the Palace Hotel was completed he and the late D. C. Shears assumed managemnt of the hosteiry. A few years later he went to the Hotel Emory, and from there to the Alms. He was a prominent member of the Ninth Street Baptist Church. He was an enthusiast as regards pure food. The article mentions property he bought but the paper has disintegrated but the name 'Middletown' could be made out as well as the word 'Farm'. He was the father of the Bannockburn Club, composed of capitalists living at the Hotel Alms and annually the club made a pilgrimage to the farm. It seems that William Pickett Bruce was a genealogist of sorts. He spent every available moment for the last 15 years of his life preparing a chart of the human race from Adam and Eve to the present day. His walls were covered with slips of paper detailing the growth of humanity and the leading events since the birth of man. Relatives at his bedside were his brother, Henry C. Bruce of Covington; two sisters, Mrs. C. W. McIntyre of this city, and Mrs. F. M. Peale, of Columbus and a grandson, William Cooper Bruce. Funeral services at the Hotel Alms with the Rev. Warren Partridge, his pastor and friend officiating. Death of Jimmie BRUCE (handwritten date 1871) James Chappell Bruce died Monday August 21, of typhoid fever at the Merchants Hotel in Cincinnati. Mentions an aunt, Mrs. Mary Munger. Had a pony named Jeff. States he was buried in "our beautiful cemetery, along side of his mother". This gives rise to this article being in a newspaper at Carlisle Ky. THOMAS. (handwritten date 1890) Mrs. Sallie Thomas, widow of O. H. P. Thomas of Maysville, Ky and daughter of the late George S Bruce of this city. Died at the residence of C. W. McIntyre, No, 97 Ashland Avenue, Waltnut Hills, Cincinnati, Ohio on June 4. She was dressed to go to Church and as she tied her bonnet, she suddenly clasped her hands to her breast and exclaimed, "Oh, I am so sick." She seemed to rally but four days later, she "gradually grew worse until the hour of high noon, on Thursday, when her spirit took is fligh to join the great company of those 'who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb'." Sallie was born in Fleming county, Ky August 18th, 1829. On Oct 9, 185, she married O. H. P. Thomas, a successful and prominent business man of Maysville, Ky. Five children: Emily Tolle, Luellen Chappell, Bessie, Benjamin F., and George S. Luellen died in 1875 and was followed by her father July 1878. Member of the Baptist Church in early life and affiliated with the Episcopal Church in later years. Daughter Bessie now Mrs. R. J. Jones of Etewanda, California. After a visit with Bessie, she traveled with son George an extended tour of the Pacific Coast, going as far as Alaska. On returning, she came over the Canadian Pacific R. R., visited Montreal, Quebec and New York City and was in Washington last October at the convocation of the Knights Templar. Funeral on June 7th at the home of her son-in-law George T. Hunter of Maysville. All of her children attended the funeral except Bessie. Two brothers, Wm. P. Bruce of Cincinnati, and Henry C. Bruce of Covington; sisters, Mrs. C. W. McIntyre, of Cincinnati, and Mrs. J. A. Chappell, of this city; her nieces Miss Annie McIntyre, Miss Florence Bruce and Mrs. W. S. Spencer; Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Wood, Miss Nannie Jones and Mrs. Annabel Pearce, of Cincinnati; J. A. Chappell, W. S. Spencer and a large number of Maysville relatives and friends. Burial in Maysville city cemetery beside husband and daughter. FREE AT LAST Col Bruce Buries His Old Colored Auntie (handwritten date Dec. 1889) "My old auntie is dead." The speaker was Col. W. P. Bruce, the very well-known bookkeeper of the Hotel Emory. Tears were in his eyes and voice as he said it. Old auntie was an old colored woman named Liza Franklin and she died last night in a miserable tenement building on lower Stone street, aged seventy-five years. Auntie was in our family all her life until the liberation of the slaves. When she was twelve years of age my grandfather gave her to mother and she assisted in the rearing of myself and six brothers and sisters. I suppose I have taken nourishment from her breast in infancy. We all loved her. Like with tried and trusted servants generally of slavery times she was almost as near to the family those days as though related. She nursed us through all our ills-sleeping always in my mother's room so that she could the better attend our wants. She comforted and encouraged like a mother during our distresses and sorrows. Is it any wonder my heart is tender this morning with old auntie dead down there in those miserable quarters? She followed a couple members of our family north from Kentucky when she was freed, and we have mainly kept her since. She had a big strapping daughter and son-in-law, however, and when they called on me last evening to meet all the expenses of her burial I thought they were asking rather too much and put them of with only a couple of dollars. After I had gone to bed, though, I could not sleep for thinking of auntie. I hadn't been there long before I got up fully determined as to what I should do in the case. I lost no time in calling on an undertaker and making every arrangement for the burial of auntie. I shall take this body down to the old home in Carlisle, Nicholas county, Ky., and there lay it away for the long rest in the beautiful cemetery and the family lot by the side of my father, mother, wife and son, where it belongs. Poor auntie! she ofted said she never knew what hard times were until freedom came. The old home was a grand palace indeed in comparison with the quarters in which she last night breathed out her life." To be continued in Part 4 End of ky-footsteps-digest V99 #06 ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. 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