The Proeger Family · Generation 4 — Kristin's great-grandparents and their siblings

Mary Bessie Bruce Barnard

Daughter of Charles Brooks Bruce · 1894–1942

Mary Bessie Bruce Barnard

Probable

Daughter of Charles Brooks Bruce · 1894–1942

Born
in Texas
Died
on 1 November 1942
Parents
Charles Brooks Bruce & Ida Alice Montgomery Bruce
Sources
4

Research status

Research status: PROBABLE as a daughter of Charles Brooks Bruce and Ida Alice Montgomery Bruce. The evidence is strong: the index of her Texas death record names her father as Charlie Bruce, and the Houston Chronicle of 4 November 1942 calls her the former Miss Mamie Bruce, daughter of the late C. B. Bruce, for many years a rural mail carrier, which is what the 1910 census page calls Charles Brooks Bruce of Cuero S1758S1358. It stays Probable because her own records are indexes and the machine-read text of newspaper pages: no image of them has been read, and none of them names her mother.

Evidence: The index of her Texas death record gives Mary Bessie Barnard, born on 20 October in Texas, died on 1 November 1942 at Houston, father Charlie Bruce; the Find a Grave index gives her birth on 20 October 1894, the same day of death and her burial at Cuero; the Houston Chronicle of 4 November 1942 calls her the former Miss Mamie Bruce, daughter of the late C. B. Bruce, for many years a rural mail carrier (S1758); the 1900 and 1910 census pages of the Bruce household list a daughter Mary B. and Mary (S1357, S1358); a Texas county marriage index lists John F. Barnard and “Marnie” B. Bruce in DeWitt County (S1758). The evidence is strong. Weak or missing: Her own records are indexes or the machine-read text of newspaper pages, and no image of them has been read; her year of birth is given two ways, 1894 and 1892, and 1894 cannot stand beside her sister Dora Inez, born in August 1894 by the 1900 census; her mother is not named in any of her records; the marriage index line gives no date and spells her name “Marnie”. Not yet confirmed. Know more? Confirm or correct this →

Life in the order the records give it

Burial1942
Mary Bessie Bruce Barnard, called Mamie, died on 1 November 1942 at Houston, Harris County, Texas. She was born in Texas on 20 October; the year is given two ways. The Find a Grave index gives 1894, and her age at death, 48, and the indexes of the 1920 and 1940 censuses agree with it; that year is followed in the heading of this card and on the Ancestry tree. The index of the 1900 census of DeWitt County gives October 1892. The 1900 page also lists her sister Dora Inez, the second child, as born in August 1894, and two sisters cannot have been born two months apart, so one of the two readings of 1894 is wrong; the image of her death certificate or of her gravestone would settle it. The day and place of death are from the index of the Texas death records and the Texas Death Index; the Houston Chronicle of 2 November 1942 says Mrs. Mary Bessie Barnard, 48, of 1122 East Twenty-Seventh, had lived in Houston for 19 years S1758.
Burial1942
The notice of 4 November 1942, sent from Cuero, says services were held there on the Tuesday, and the notice of 2 November says her body was to be sent to Cuero; the Find a Grave index gives her burial at Cuero, DeWitt County, Texas. The burial is Probable: no stone or cemetery record has been read, and no cemetery is named. The Find a Grave index puts her husband’s grave at Cuero as well, in 1975 S1758.
Census2026
History of this card. 12 Oct 2026
card written when she was added to the family tree as a daughter of Charles Brooks Bruce and Ida Alice Montgomery, from the death and grave indexes, the 1900 census index and two Houston Chronicle notices of November 1942 (S1758). Later the same day, 12 Oct 2026 — her husband was added to the Ancestry tree and the county of the marriage added from a marriage index (S1758); the card said he was not yet on the tree. The grade is unchanged: nothing was read from an image.

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

Probable
Probable confirm or correct → Daughter of Charles Brooks Bruce and Ida Alice Montgomery Bruce. Sister of Dora Inez Bruce and Alma Kathryn Bruce Gordon. She is probably the Mary B., aged 7, who heads the list of children on the 1900 census page of their house, and the Mary of the 1910 page S1357S1358, and the Mrs. F. Bernard of Houston of her mother’s death notices in 1924 S1730. Her own obituary names as survivors a brother, M. B. (Millard) Bruce of San Antonio, and three sisters, Mrs. R. Terrell of San Antonio, Mrs. Jeff Gordon and Mrs. Inez Morris of San Marcos S1758.
Probable
Probable confirm or correct → Wife of John Frederick Barnard (1 December 1890 – 10 May 1975). The evidence is strong: a Texas county marriage index lists John F. Barnard and “Marnie” B. Bruce in DeWitt County, Texas, a spelling taken here as Mamie, and her obituary of 2 November 1942 names her husband as John F. Barnard. The index line carries no date, so the date of the marriage has not been read, and the register page has not been read from an image. His own dates, born in Texas and died at Houston, are from the index of the Texas death records and the Find a Grave index. He is on the Ancestry tree; he has no card here S1758. Her son is not named here.
Weak or missing
What is weak or missing: her own records are indexes or the machine-read text of newspaper pages, and no image of them has been read; her year of birth is given as 1894 and as 1892, and 1894 does not fit beside her sister’s birth in August 1894; her mother is not named in any of her records; her marriage is known from an index line that gives DeWitt County and no date, with her name spelled “Marnie”. Know more, or think this is wrong? Use “Add to this record”.

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

Mary Bessie Bruce Barnard · Sources

Citations

Sources cited on this card

4 of the record's sources are cited here. The numbering is the record's own; the full list, with where else each is cited, is at Sources.

  1. S13571900 census — Chas. B. Bruce household, Precinct 1, DeWitt County, Texas, ED 25, sheet 7B, lines 74–79, 14 June 1900. Ancestry, “1900 United States Federal Census”, record 70553254. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 4 October 2026. Confirmed Bruce, Chas. B., head, born August 1864, 35, married 8 years, born Texas, parents born Tennessee, farmer, owns his farm free; Ida A., wife, born February 1874, 26, married 8 years, 4 children born and 4 living, born Texas, parents born Tennessee; children Mary B. (Oct 1892), Dora I. (Aug 1894), Orin M. (Mar 1897) and Millard (Feb 1899). ⚠ Ida’s month and year of birth, her Tennessee-born parents and DeWitt County tie this to her card. “Married 8 years” fits the 18 November 1891 marriage. Also serves the card of Dora Inez Bruce, the Dora I. on line 77.
  2. 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.
  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. Her son is in the notices and is not named here. Serves the cards of Mary Bessie Bruce Barnard, Dora Inez Bruce and Alma Kathryn Bruce Gordon.

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