Bruner Family Research: Eli Woodruff Bruner and Mary Elizabeth Collins

Purpose of this file

This document traces the Bruner family from their Indiana origins through their westward migration, focusing on Eli Woodruff Bruner (c. 1827, Indiana) and his wife Mary Elizabeth "Polly" Collins (c. 1827, Kentucky). For the Collins and Reed ancestry of Mary Elizabeth, see the companion Collins-Reed research file.

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1. Henry Hickman Bruner and Sarah Ann Bridges (Eli's parents)

Henry Hickman Bruner (also recorded as "Hickman Burner" or "Henry Bruner") was born c. 1806 in Kentucky. His father was Adam Peter Bruner Sr. (1763-1846) and his mother was Elizabeth Rice (1765-1842). Hickman appears on a 1810 census in Breckenridge County, Kentucky as a child in his father's household.

He married Sarah Ann Bridges in Lawrence County, Indiana in 1824 (marriage record on FamilySearch). Sarah was born c. 1804 in Kentucky. She was illiterate (marked as unable to read or write on the 1860 census).

Hickman died 1874 and is buried in Sullivan Gardens, Tennessee (Bruner Cemetery). Sullivan County is in northeastern Tennessee, near the Virginia border, intriguingly close to the Collins-Reed origin territory. Sarah Ann Bruner's death date is unknown; her daughter Sarah Ann Taylor (née Bruner, b. c. 1842) died 1922 in St. John, Whitman County, Washington, yet another branch of the family ending up in Washington State.

The 1830 Daviess County, Indiana census

Henry Bruner appears on the 1830 census in Daviess County, Indiana (FamilySearch, page 372). The household is large:

Category	Count	Notes
Males under 5	2	One is Eli (age ~3, born c. 1827)
Males 5-10	1
Males 10-15	2	Too old to be Hickman's children (married 1824)
Males 15-20	1	Too old to be Hickman's children
Males 40-50	1	NOT Hickman (he'd be ~24). An older relative.
Females under 5	1	Possibly Nancy Ellen (b. 1830, newborn)
Females 5-10	1	Possibly Lucinda (b. 1825, age ~5)
Females 10-15	1	Too old to be Hickman's daughter
Females 15-20	1	Too old to be Hickman's daughter
Females 30-40	1	Sarah Ann Bridges (age ~26, borderline for this bracket)

The male 40-50 is likely an older relative (not Adam Peter Bruner Sr., who would be 67). Hickman's own family within this household: himself (~24, possibly counted in the 15-20 or 20-30 bracket, though no 20-30 bracket is filled), Sarah (~26), Lucinda (5), Eli (3), and Nancy Ellen (newborn). The older members (males 10-15, 15-20; females 10-15, 15-20) are probably siblings, in-laws, or the older relative's children.

The Bruner family is confirmed in Daviess County, Indiana from at least 1830. This is the same county where Eli and Mary Elizabeth appear as newlyweds in 1850.

Known children of Hickman and Sarah:

Name	Born approx.	Birthplace	Evidence
Eli Woodruff Bruner	c. 1827	Indiana	1860 census (age 33, born Indiana)
Adam Bruner	c. 1837	Indiana	1860 census (age 23, Farm Laborer, born Indiana); 1850 census (age 15)
Absalom Bruner	c. 1838	Indiana	1850 census (age 12, born Indiana)
Sarah Bruner	c. 1841	Indiana	1850 census (age 9, born Indiana)
D.M. Bruner (David M.)	c. 1847	Illinois	1860 census (age 13, born Illinois); 1850 census (age 4)
E.G. Bruner	c. 1860	Missouri	1880 Gothic, CO census (age 20, Blacksmith, born Missouri). Emma Clifford's brother who was in the Colorado mining camp.

The children's birthplaces trace the Bruner migration: Indiana (through late 1830s) → Illinois (c. 1847) → Iowa (by 1850) → Missouri (by 1860).

Hickman Bruner on the censuses:

1850 census, Center Township, Appanoose County, Iowa (page 32, Family 37/37):

• Hickman Burner, 45, M, Farmer, $400 real estate, born KY
• Sarah, 47, F, born KY
• Adam, 15, M, Farmer, born IN
• Absalom, 12, M, born IN
• Sarah, 9, F, born IN
• David M, 4, M, born IL

Located just two pages from the Andrew/Bradley Collins household (page 34B, Family 70/70) in the same township enumeration. The Bruner and Collins families were neighbors.

1860 census, Summersett Township, Mercer County, Missouri (page 112, Family 815/815):

• Hickman Bruner, 54, M, Farmer, $500 real estate, $300 personal, born Kentucky
• Sarah, 56, F, born Kentucky (cannot read or write)
• D.M., 13, M, born Illinois (attending school)

Listed directly below Eli Bruner's household (Family 814/814). Father and son farming adjacent properties.

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2. Eli Woodruff Bruner (c. 1827 – between 1870 and 1880)

Eli Woodruff Bruner was born c. 1827 in Indiana. He worked as a blacksmith, a trade that appears to have run in the Bruner family (his brother or nephew E.G. Bruner was also a blacksmith in the 1880 Gothic, Colorado census). Eli was literate (no illiteracy mark on any census).

Marriage to Mary Elizabeth Collins

Married 1850, Appanoose County, Iowa (per FamilySearch; original marriage record not yet located). The 1850 Davies County, Indiana census confirms the marriage: both Eli (23) and Mary (22) have the "married within the year" box checked.

Mary Elizabeth Collins (c. 1827, Kentucky) was the daughter of Jesse Collins and Mary Reed, a mixed-race couple from Clay County, Kentucky. She was listed as born in Kentucky on every census (1850, 1860, 1870, 1880). She was illiterate on the 1850 census (marked as a person over 20 who cannot read or write) but may have gained literacy later (the 1860 census does not mark her as illiterate, though this could be an enumerator omission).

Eli's death

Eli Woodruff Bruner died between 1870 and 1880. He appears on the 1870 Mercer County, Missouri census (age 43, Blacksmith) but is absent from the 1880 census, where Mary Elizabeth is listed as widowed in Benton County, Arkansas. No death record has been located. His death date and place remain unknown.

Open question: Did Eli die in Missouri before the family moved to Arkansas, or did the family move together and Eli died in Arkansas? The 1880 census shows Mary as head of household in Hico Township, Benton County, with three children still at home. If Eli had died in Missouri, Mary may have moved to Arkansas to be near other family members (her daughter Mariah Emma married J.L. Davis in Benton County in 1881).

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3. Census timeline for Eli and Mary Elizabeth

1850: Davies County, Indiana (newlyweds)

Name	Age	Sex	Birthplace	Notes
Eli Bruner	23	M	—	Married within the year ✓
Mary	22	F	—	Married within the year ✓. Cannot read or write.

No children yet. The couple married in Appanoose County, Iowa, in 1850 and moved to Indiana, where Eli's family was originally from.

1860: Summersett Township, Mercer County, Missouri (page 112, Family 814/814)

Name	Age	Sex	Occupation	Birthplace	Notes
Eli Bruner	33	M	Blacksmith	Indiana	$400 RE, $200 PE. Can read and write.
Mary	33	F	—	Kentucky	Illiteracy box NOT checked (may have learned to read).
E.E.	7	M	—	Indiana	Born c. 1853
M.E.	6	F	—	—	Born c. 1854. This is Mariah Emma Bruner.
C.G.	5	M	—	—	Born c. 1855
O.M.	4	F	—	—	Born c. 1856
N.W.	3	M	—	Illinois	Born c. 1857
E.H.	1	M	—	Missouri	Born c. 1859
Adam	23	M	Farm Laborer	Indiana	Eli's brother, not his son.

Hickman Bruner (Family 815/815) listed directly below with wife Sarah and son D.M. Father and son on adjacent properties.

Children's birthplaces trace the migration: the older children born in Indiana (through c. 1856), then Illinois (N.W., c. 1857), then Missouri (E.H., c. 1859). The family moved from Indiana through Illinois to Missouri in the late 1850s.

1870: Somersett Township, Mercer County, Missouri (page 195, Family 3/3)

Name	Age	Sex	Occupation	Birthplace	Notes
Bruner Eli	43	M	Blacksmith	Indiana	$3,500 RE, $615 PE. Significant property growth.
Mary	43	F	Keeping House	Kentucky
Elizabeth	17	F	—	Indiana	Born c. 1853
Mary E	16	F	—	Indiana	Mariah Emma Bruner. Born c. 1854 (or Oct 1853).
Christopher	15	M	—	Indiana	Born c. 1855
Olive M	13	F	—	Indiana	Born c. 1857
Albert W	12	M	—	Illinois	Born c. 1858
Eli A	10	M	—	Missouri	Born c. 1860
James F	8	M	—	Missouri	Born c. 1862
Georgia	7	F	—	Missouri	Born c. 1863

By 1870, Eli's real estate has grown from $400 to $3,500 and personal estate from $200 to $615. He has built a substantial blacksmithing business over the decade. The family now has 8 children at home, ages 7-17.

1880: Hico Township, Benton County, Arkansas (page 342, Family 310)

Name	Age	Sex	Relation	Occupation	Birthplace	Father born	Mother born
Mary Bruner	53	F	Head	Housekeeping	Kentucky	TN/VK?	TN/VK?
Albert W.	22	M	Son	Farming	Illinois	Ind	Ky
James F.	19	M	Son	Farmwork	Missouri	Ind	Ky
Georgia Ann	11	F	Daughter	At School	Missouri	Ind	Ky

Mary is now widowed and head of household. Eli has died sometime between 1870 (Mercer County, MO) and 1880 (Benton County, AR). Only three of the eight children remain at home. Albert (22) and James (19) are farming. Georgia Ann (11) is at school.

The parent birthplace columns for Mary's children consistently show Father: Indiana (Eli) and Mother: Kentucky (Mary Elizabeth). These confirm the known facts.

Mary's own parents' birthplaces are confirmed as both Virginia. This is Mary Elizabeth herself reporting: she says both her father and mother were from Virginia. This is consistent with Mary Reed being listed as born in Virginia on the 1850 census. For Jesse Collins, whose FamilySearch profile says Kentucky, the Virginia designation may reflect the family's deeper Virginia origins (Thomas Collins in Louisa County, Meredith born in Virginia) or Jesse may have actually been born in Virginia before the family moved to Kentucky.

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4. The Bruner children: full list with known fates

FamilySearch lists the following children for Eli and Mary Elizabeth:

Name	Born approx.	Birthplace	Known fate
David Bruner	c. 1851	Indiana	Died 1857, age ~6. First child. Tragically young death.
Elizabeth Ellen Bruner	c. 1852	Indiana	"Elizabeth" age 17 on 1870 census. Died 1905.
Mariah Emma Bruner	Oct 30, 1853	Martin, Indiana	Married John Clifford, then J.L. Davis, then Dunlap. Died Dec 4, 1933, Wheatland, CA. See Collins-Reed research file, Section 10.
Christopher Columbus Bruner	c. 1855	Indiana	"Christopher" age 15 on 1870 census. Later fate unknown.
Olive Marie Bruner	c. 1857	Indiana	"Olive M" age 13 on 1870 census. Death cert 1917 (listed mother as "Mary Bridges," an error).
Albert Woodruff Bruner	c. 1858	Illinois	"Albert W" in 1870 and 1880. Farming in Arkansas with widowed mother.
Eli Hickman Bruner	c. 1860	Missouri	"Eli A" age 10 on 1870 census. Named after father and grandfather.
James Finlay Bruner	c. 1862	Missouri	"James F" in 1870 and 1880. Farming in Arkansas with widowed mother.
Mary Elizabeth Bruner	Unknown	Unknown	Named after mother. Unknown fate.
Georgia Ann Bruner	c. 1863	Missouri	"Georgia" age 7 in 1870; "Georgia Ann" age 11 in 1880, at school in Arkansas.

Note: David Bruner (1851-1857) fills the apparent gap between the 1850 marriage and the surviving children. Mary Elizabeth had her first child approximately one year after marriage, but he died at age six. The initials "E.E." on the 1860 census refer to the second child, Elizabeth Ellen (age 7), not to David (already deceased).

Note: The initials on the 1860 census (E.E., M.E., C.G., O.M., N.W., E.H.) map to the 1870 full names (Elizabeth, Mary E/Emma, Christopher, Olive M, Albert W [N.W. may be Albert's middle initial written differently], Eli A). Some discrepancies exist in the initials.

The middle name Woodruff appears in both Eli himself and his son Albert Woodruff Bruner. The middle name Hickman (from grandfather) appears in Eli Hickman Bruner (the son). The naming pattern honors both sides of the Bruner family.

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5. The Bruner-Collins connection in Indiana (REVISED)

Jesse Collins and Mary Reed's children born in Indiana (Matilda c. 1830, Reuben c. 1834, Lloyd c. 1836) overlap with the Bruner family's Indiana years. However, the 1840 census rules out the hypothesis that Mary Elizabeth Collins was living in the Bruner household.

1840 census, Martin County, Indiana: Hickman Bruner's household contains exactly 6 people, all accounted for by his known family:

Category	Count	Identity
Male under 5	1	Absalom (b. c. 1838)
Male 5-10	1	Adam (b. c. 1835)
Male 10-15	1	Eli Woodruff (b. c. 1827, age ~13)
Male 30-40	1	Hickman (b. 1806, age ~34)
Female 10-15	1	Nancy Ellen (b. 1830, age ~10)
Female 30-40	1	Sarah Ann Bridges (b. 1804, age ~36)

No extra females. Mary Elizabeth Collins (~13) and Delilah Collins (~12) are not in this household. The Bruner family is in Martin County (adjacent to Daviess County where they were in 1830). Note: Martin County is where Mariah Emma Bruner was born in 1853, confirming the family stayed in this area for over a decade.

Revised assessment: The Bruner and Collins-Reed families had similar migration routes (Kentucky → Indiana → Illinois/Missouri → Iowa), but there is no confirmed evidence that they knew each other before converging in Appanoose County, Iowa, in the mid-to-late 1840s. The 1850 marriage of Eli and Mary Elizabeth was most likely a meeting in Iowa, where both families had settled as neighbors in the same county, rather than the culmination of a childhood acquaintance from Indiana.

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6. The move to Arkansas and Mary Elizabeth's death

Between 1870 and 1880, two things happened: Eli died and the family moved from Mercer County, Missouri to Benton County, Arkansas. The order is unclear:

Possibility 1: Eli died in Missouri, and Mary moved to Arkansas afterward, possibly to be near her daughter Mariah Emma (who married J.L. Davis in Benton County, Arkansas in February 1881).

Possibility 2: The family moved together to Arkansas for economic reasons, and Eli died there.

By 1880, Mary is a 53-year-old widow running a household with two farming sons (Albert 22, James 19) and a daughter in school (Georgia Ann 11). The other children have left home. Mariah Emma, now "Emma Clifford" after her first husband's death, is in Colorado but will marry J.L. Davis in Benton County in 1881.

Mary Elizabeth Collins Bruner died May 19, 1887 in Siloam Springs, Benton County, Arkansas. She was approximately 60 years old. By the time of her death, her daughter Emma was living in the same town (Elizabeth Jane Davis was born in Siloam Springs in 1883).

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7. E.G. Bruner: the brother in the mining camp

E.G. Bruner (probably Eli A. Bruner, Eli's son, or a younger brother) appeared on the 1880 Gothic, Gunnison County, Colorado census (page 248, line 11) as a 20-year-old Blacksmith, born Missouri, father born Indiana, mother born Kentucky. He was on the same census page as Emma Clifford (Mariah Emma Bruner) and her three children.

E.G. Bruner's presence in Gothic explains why Emma moved to a Colorado mining camp as a young widow: she went where her brother was working. He had followed the Bruner family trade of blacksmithing to a silver boomtown where the demand was high. Emma worked as a housekeeper while he worked the forge.

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8. Migration timeline summary

Year	Location	Event
c. 1806	Breckenridge County, Kentucky	Hickman Bruner born. Father: Adam Peter Bruner Sr. (1763-1846).
1810	Breckenridge County, KY	Hickman in father's household (1810 census)
1824	Lawrence County, Indiana	Hickman marries Sarah Ann Bridges
c. 1825-1827	Indiana	Lucinda Bruner born (c. 1825), Eli Woodruff Bruner born (c. 1827)
1830	Daviess County, Indiana	1830 census: Henry Bruner household (multi-generational). Eli is a 3-year-old boy.
1830s	Daviess County, Indiana	Bruner family established. Collins-Reed family also in Indiana (Matilda, Reuben, Lloyd Collins born there).
Late 1840s	Illinois	Bruner family passes through (David M. born there c. 1847)
By 1850	Appanoose County, Iowa	Hickman Bruner in Center Township. Collins families also there.
1850	Appanoose County / Daviess County, IN	Eli marries Mary Elizabeth Collins. Couple moves to Indiana (Daviess Co). No children yet.
1851	Indiana	David Bruner born (first child). Dies 1857, age 6.
1852	Indiana	Elizabeth Ellen Bruner born
1853	Martin, Indiana	Mariah Emma Bruner born (Oct 30, 1853)
Late 1850s	Illinois → Missouri	Family moves west.
1860	Mercer County, Missouri	Eli (Blacksmith, $400 RE) and Hickman (Farmer, $500 RE) on adjacent properties.
1870	Mercer County, Missouri	Eli's estate grown to $3,500 RE. 8 children at home. Peak prosperity.
1874	Sullivan Gardens, Tennessee	Hickman Bruner dies. Buried in Bruner Cemetery. (Sullivan County, NE Tennessee, near Virginia border.)
1870-1880	Unknown	Eli Woodruff Bruner dies. Date and place unknown.
1880	Benton County, Arkansas	Mary widowed, age 53, with Albert (22), James (19), Georgia Ann (11).
1880	Gothic, Colorado	E.G. Bruner (Blacksmith) and Emma Clifford (Housekeeper) in mining camp.
1881	Benton County, Arkansas	Emma marries J.L. Davis in same county as her widowed mother.
1887	Siloam Springs, Arkansas	Mary Elizabeth Collins Bruner dies, age ~60.

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9. Open questions

1. Where and when did Eli Woodruff Bruner die? Between 1870 (Mercer County, MO) and 1880 (Mary widowed in Benton County, AR). Search Missouri and Arkansas death records, probate records, and cemetery records.

2. Which Indiana county were the Bruners from? Davies County is where Eli and Mary appear as newlyweds in 1850. Search the 1840 Indiana census for "Hickman Bruner" or "Hickman Burner" to find the family's base.

3. Mary Elizabeth's parents' birthplaces on the 1880 census. The far-right columns for Mary's row need to be read at higher resolution. If they say Virginia (father) and Kentucky (mother), or vice versa, this would provide another data point on Jesse Collins and Mary Reed.

4. The Bruner-Collins connection in Indiana. Were both families in the same Indiana county in the 1830s? Finding Hickman Bruner on the 1840 Indiana census and comparing the location to Jesse Collins's family would test this hypothesis.

5. What happened to Elizabeth Ellen, Christopher Columbus, Eli Hickman, and Mary Elizabeth Bruner (the daughter)? These children appear on the 1860 and/or 1870 censuses but are not in the 1880 household. Death records, marriage records, or later censuses could trace them.

6. The Appanoose County marriage record for Eli and Mary. FamilySearch says the marriage took place in Appanoose County, Iowa, in 1850, but the original image is not available. The record might name Mary's father.

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Source index

Sources are shared with the Collins-Reed research file. Key Bruner-specific sources:

ID	Description
S26	1860 census, Summersett Township, Mercer County, MO, page 112
S27	1870 census, Somersett Township, Mercer County, MO, page 195
—	1850 census, Davies County, Indiana: Eli Bruner (23) and Mary (22), married within the year
—	1880 census, Hico Township, Benton County, Arkansas, page 342: Mary Bruner (53, widowed)
—	1850 census, Center Township, Appanoose County, Iowa, page 32: Hickman Burner household
—	1860 census, Summersett Township, Mercer County, MO, page 112: Hickman Bruner household (Family 815/815)
S40	1880 census, Gothic, Gunnison County, CO: E.G. Bruner (20, Blacksmith, born MO)

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Change log

• 2026-09-14: Created. Compiled from census records (1850 Davies Co IN, 1850 Appanoose Co IA, 1860 Mercer Co MO, 1870 Mercer Co MO, 1880 Benton Co AR, 1880 Gunnison Co CO) and FamilySearch data. Documents the Bruner family from Indiana through Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas, with the E.G. Bruner/Gothic Colorado connection and the open question of Eli's death.