Lena Mae Bruce Terrell

Lena Mae Bruce Terrell

TexasConfirmed

Daughter of Charles Brooks Bruce · 1903–1960

Born

in Texas

Parents

Charles Brooks Bruce & Ida Alice Montgomery Bruce

Sources

7

Research status

Research status: CONFIRMED as a daughter of Charles Brooks Bruce and Ida Alice Montgomery Bruce. Two census pages, read from the images, list her in their house: in April 1910, on East Main Street at Cuero, Lena May, daughter, 7, the fifth of six children S1358; in January 1920, at Cuero, Lena May, daughter, 17, single, beside her brother Willard B. (Millard) S1402. The Texas death index names her parents as Charles Bruce and Ida Montgomery S2265. Her married name rests on family notices read as machine text: she is the Mrs. R. Terrell of San Antonio named as a sister in the 1942 obituary of Mary Bessie Bruce Barnard S1758, and the notices of her own death in 1960 name her husband, her brother M. B. Bruce and her sisters Mrs. Jeff Gordon and Mrs. E. C. Morris of San Marcos S2262. Added to the family tree on 18 October 2026.

Life in the order the records give it

Burial1960

Lena Mae Bruce Terrell died in a San Antonio hospital on 20 December 1960, aged 57, and was buried in Roselawn Memorial Park, San Antonio, after a service on Thursday 22 December S2262 S2265. She was born in Texas on 12 September 1903, by the Texas death index S2265; the census ages of 1910 and 1920 agree on the year. Probable confirm or correct → The day of birth and the burial rest on an index line and on newspaper text; no certificate image has been read.

Work1960

She was a member of Jefferson Methodist Church and organised the Tejas Service Club during World War II, of which she was a charter member, by her 1960 death notices S2262. Two sons and six grandchildren survived her; their names are not given here, as they may be living.

Census2026

History of this card. 18 Oct 2026

card written when she was added to the family tree (PA-1018F), from the 1910 and 1920 census pages (S1358, S1402), the Texas death index (S2265) and her 1960 death notices (S2262).

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Parents1924

Daughter of Charles Brooks Bruce and Ida Alice Montgomery Bruce. Sister of Mary Bessie Bruce Barnard, Dora Inez Bruce, Millard Brooks Bruce and Alma Kathryn Bruce Gordon; a brother, Orie (Orin M.), has no card. In February 1924 her mother’s death notices name her as Miss Lena May Bruce of San Antonio S1730.

Open questions what is probable, weak or missing — confirm or correct it

Probable

Probable confirm or correct → Wife of Rigdon Terrell (1904–1987) of Mosel and Terrell Co., San Antonio, by her 1960 death notices S2262; she was already Mrs. R. Terrell in 1942 S1758. He was born at La Vernia, Wilson County, lived in San Antonio from infancy, went to work for a plumbing firm at 14, opened the mechanical contracting firm Mosel & Terrell Co. with L. C. Mosel in 1947, and died at San Antonio on Monday 2 March 1987, aged 82 S2264. Weak: no record of the marriage has been read, and both notices were read as machine text; his birth date, 18 July 1904, is from a Find a Grave memorial only, and that memorial places his grave in San Fernando Cemetery No. 3, where the 1987 story says Roselawn. He married again in 1962. Rigdon Terrell has no card here. Know more? Use “Add to this record”.

Weak or missing

What is weak or missing: no birth record and no death certificate image has been read; the day of birth is from an index; the marriage to Rigdon Terrell has not been found. Know more? Use “Add to this record”.

In the record Generation 4 — Kristin's great-grandparents and their siblings

1. S13581910 census — Chas. Bruce household, East Main Street, ward 1, Cuero, DeWitt County, Texas, ED 35, sheet 11B, lines 73–80, April 1910. Ancestry, “1910 United States Federal Census”, record 168626225. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 4 October 2026. Confirmed Bruce, Chas., head, 45, first marriage of 18 years, born Texas, rural mail carrier, owns his house free; Ida, wife, 36, married 18 years, 6 children born and 6 living, born Texas; children Mary 17, Inez 15, Orie 13 (a delivery boy for a department store), Millard 11, Lena May 7 and Alma 3. This enumerator gives Ida’s parents as born in Mississippi; the 1900 census and her death certificate say Tennessee, which the card keeps. The index misses Alma on line 80 and misreads the surname as “Bence”. Also serves the card of Dora Inez Bruce, the Inez on line 76.
2. S14021920 census — C. B. Bruce household, Cuero, DeWitt County, Texas, ward 1, ED 35, sheet 4B, lines 97–100, January 1920. Ancestry, “1920 United States Federal Census”, record 109354356. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 4 October 2026. Confirmed Bruce, C. B., head, owns the house free, 54, born Texas of Tennessee-born parents, a rural mail carrier; Ida, wife, 45, born Texas; Willard B., son, 20, single; Lena May, daughter, 17, single. Ida’s father’s birthplace is hard to read (Alabama?); the 1900 census and her death certificate say Tennessee. The index reads the daughter as Laura May; the image says Lena May. The son is Millard of 1900 and 1910. A younger daughter, Alma, is indexed with the family but falls on the next sheet, which was not read.
3. S1730Death and funeral notices — Mrs. Ida Alice Bruce, San Antonio Light, 6 February 1924, p. 19, and 8 February 1924, p. 26. Newspapers.com, images 1258332288 and 1258332486. Machine-read text read on 4 October 2026; the page images have not been opened. Probable She died on Tuesday 5 February 1924 at 4:45 p.m. at 320 Devine Street, aged 49, having come to San Antonio from San Marcos about a month before; the body was sent to Cuero. Survivors: son M. B. Bruce; daughters Misses Alma and Lena May Bruce of San Antonio, Mrs. F. Bernard of Houston and Mrs. F. C. Morris of San Marcos; brothers Harvey Montgomery of Pilgrim and J. L. Montgomery of Austin. Machine-read text, not checked on the page image. It agrees with her death certificate and the 1924 city directory (S1401) on the day and the address and adds nothing on her parents. It does not settle which daughters were Mrs. Bernard and Mrs. Morris: the notices give husbands’ initials only. Serves the card of Ida Alice Montgomery Bruce.
4. S1758Indexes and newspaper notices — Mary Bessie Bruce (Mrs. John Frederick Barnard), died Houston, Texas, 1 November 1942. FamilySearch: Texas Deaths index (K3SV-BPF) and Texas Death Index (VZ6M-8LR); Find a Grave index (QVGP-VGC9); 1900 census index, DeWitt County (M3LP-DV3); 1920 and 1940 census indexes (MCSD-1X6, K47K-9C1); for her husband, Texas Deaths index (KSYB-1L3), Find a Grave index (QVLD-V1RY) and the Texas county marriages index (Q2ZY-VKCW). Newspapers.com, Houston Chronicle: 2 November 1942, p. 19 (image 1199210886); 4 November 1942, p. 37 (image 1199211045). Index text and machine-read text only; no image read. Probable Death index: Mary Bessie Barnard, born 20 October in Texas, died 1 November 1942 at Houston, father Charlie Bruce. Grave index: Mary Bessie Bruce Barnard, 20 October 1894 – 1 November 1942, Cuero. 2 November notice: Mrs. Mary Bessie Barnard, 48, of 1122 East Twenty-Seventh, in Houston 19 years; husband John F. Barnard; a brother M. B. Bruce of San Antonio; sisters Mrs. R. Terrell of San Antonio, Mrs. Jeff Gordon and Mrs. Inez Morris of San Marcos; the body to be sent to Cuero. 4 November notice, from Cuero: the former Miss Mamie Bruce, daughter of the late C. B. Bruce, for many years a rural mail carrier. Husband: John Fredrick Barnard, born 1 December 1890 in Texas, died 10 May 1975 at Houston, grave at Cuero. Marriage index: John F. Barnard and “Marnie” B. Bruce, DeWitt County, no date on the index line. Index and machine-read text only: no image has been read. The year of birth is 1894 in the grave index and the 1920 and 1940 census indexes, and October 1892 in the 1900 census index; her mother is not named; the marriage index gives the county and no date, and spells her name “Marnie”, taken as Mamie. Mrs. Inez Morris of San Marcos is probably her sister Dora Inez Bruce, on the forename and the place alone; no record of that marriage has been found. Her son is in the notices and is not named here. Serves the cards of Mary Bessie Bruce Barnard, Dora Inez Bruce, Alma Kathryn Bruce Gordon and Charles Brooks Bruce.
5. S2262Death notices — Mrs. Lena Mae Terrell (Lena Mae Bruce), died San Antonio, Texas, 20 December 1960. Newspapers.com, San Antonio Light, 21 December 1960, p. 36 (image 1262658176); San Antonio Express-News, 22 December 1960, p. 29 (image 1278540179). Machine-read text only; no page image read. Probable “Mrs. Lena Mae Terrell, age 57, … passed away in a local hospital Dec. 20. Mrs. Terrell was the wife of Rigdon Terrell of Mosel and Terrell co.” Survivors: her husband, two sons, a brother, M. B. Bruce, of San Antonio, sisters Mrs. Jeff Gordon and Mrs. E. C. Morris of San Marcos, and six grandchildren; interment Roselawn Memorial Park. The sons are not named here, as they may be living. The brother and sisters are her siblings Millard, Alma and Dora Inez of the Cuero census pages (S1358). What it does not settle: her date of birth and the marriage.
6. S2264Obituary and death notice — Rigdon Terrell, died San Antonio, Texas, 2 March 1987. Newspapers.com, San Antonio Express-News, 5 March 1987, p. 43 (images 1269410856 and 1276043594). Machine-read text only; no page image read. Probable “Rigdon ‘Grandpa’ Terrell, age 82, of San Antonio, died Monday, March 2, 1987”; a retired mechanical contractor; born at La Vernia, he lived in San Antonio from infancy, went to work at 14 for Martin Bauml Plumbing Co., and in 1947 opened Mosel & Terrell Co. with L. C. Mosel; burial in Roselawn. The husband of Lena Mae Bruce Terrell (S2262). His second wife, sons, stepdaughters and sister are not named here, as they may be living. A Find a Grave memorial (69410563), not an original record, gives his birth as 18 July 1904 and his grave in San Fernando Cemetery No. 3.
7. S2265Texas death index — Lena Mae Terrell, died San Antonio, Bexar County, 20 December 1960. FamilySearch, Texas death record index, record K341-CM3. Index only; the certificate image has not been read. Probable Born 12 September 1903; died 20 December 1960 at San Antonio; father Charles Bruce, mother Ida Montgomery. Agrees with the 1910 and 1920 census pages of the Bruce house at Cuero (S1358, S1402) and with her death notices (S2262).