Mariah Emma Bruner
Called Emma; daughter of Eli Woodruff Bruner and Mary Elizabeth Collins. Widowed at about 25 with three small children when John Marshall Clifford died in 1879, she was keeping house at the silver camp of Gothic, Colorado, in 1880, and in 1881 married John Lewis Davis in Benton County, Arkansas. In 1893, as Mrs. Emma Davis, she married John Dunlap at Delta, Colorado, and as Emma Dunlap lived with her daughter Jessie (Clifford) Holbrook in Washington in 1910 and 1920.
Life
- 1853Born30 Oct 1853, Martin County, Indiana
The day is from Find a Grave; the county from FamilySearch. "M.E.," 6, in 1860; "Mary E," 16, born Indiana, in 1870; 26, born Indiana, in 1880; 27 in January 1881.
compiledprobableSources
- Find a Grave index entry, Emma Mariah Bruner Dunlap, Wheatland Cemetery
- 1860 U.S. census, Summersett Township, Mercer County, Missouri, Bruner households
- 1870 U.S. census, Somersett Township, Mercer County, Missouri, Eli Bruner household
- 1880 U.S. census, Gothic, Gunnison County, Colorado: Emma Clifford household
- 1860LivedSummersett Township, Mercer County, Missouri
In her parents' household, as "M.E.", 6.
documentedprobable - 1870Lived
- c. 1872Married John Marshall Cliffordc. 1872-73
No marriage record found. She was at home in July 1870, and their first child was born in October 1873. Perhaps in Arkansas.
inferredprobable - 1880LivedGothic, Gunnison County, Colorado
Head of household, as "Emma Clifford", housekeeper.
documentedproven - 1881Married John Lewis Davis6 Feb 1881, Benton County, Arkansas
Licensed 26 Jan 1881, as "Mariah M. Clifford," aged 27; by W. C. Dewitt, minister.
documentedproven - 1893Married John [H.?] Dunlap16 Aug 1893, Delta, Delta County, Colorado
As "Mrs. [?] Emma Davis," both of Delta; by J. H. Gill, minister, in the presence of her daughter Jessie Clifford and Mrs. J. H. Gill.
documentedproven - 1910Lived3rd Precinct, Kitsap County, Washington
In her daughter's household, as "Emma Dunlap", widowed.
documentedproven - 1920LivedMercer St, Seattle, Washington
In her daughter's household, as "Emma Dunlap," mother, 66, widowed.
- 1933Died4 Dec 1933, Wheatland, Yuba County, Californiacompiledprobable
- —
Family
- Father
- Eli Woodruff Bruner
In Eli and Mary Elizabeth's household in 1860 and 1870 (neither census gives relationships); her children's records give her maiden name as Bruner; her brother Heck was with her at Gothic in 1880.
inferredprovenSources
- 1860 U.S. census, Summersett Township, Mercer County, Missouri, Bruner households
- 1870 U.S. census, Somersett Township, Mercer County, Missouri, Eli Bruner household
- Social Security NUMIDENT record, Elizabeth Jane Myers
- Washington State certificate of death, Eli W. Clifford
- Reasoning:
research/collins-reed/meredith_collins_research.md
- Mother
- Mary Elizabeth Collins
As for her father. In 1880 she gave her mother's birthplace as Kentucky (and her father's, wrongly, as Kentucky too).
inferredprovenSources
- 1860 U.S. census, Summersett Township, Mercer County, Missouri, Bruner households
- 1870 U.S. census, Somersett Township, Mercer County, Missouri, Eli Bruner household
- 1880 U.S. census, Gothic, Gunnison County, Colorado: Emma Clifford household
- Reasoning:
research/collins-reed/meredith_collins_research.md
- Spouse 1
- Spouse 2
1 child
- Spouse 3
- John [H.?] Dunlap
She used the name Emma Dunlap from 1910 to her death.
documentedprovenSources
- Certificate of marriage, John [H.?] Dunlap and Emma Davis, Delta, Colorado, 16 Aug 1893
- 1910 U.S. census, 3rd Precinct, Kitsap County, Washington, Holbrook and Dunlap entries
- Find a Grave index entry, Emma Mariah Bruner Dunlap, Wheatland Cemetery
- Photograph of Emma Dunlap and her family, with identifications
Pedigree
Notes
Called Emma. Widowed at about 25 with three small children when John Clifford died in 1879. In June 1880 she was “Emma Clifford,” 26, housekeeper, at the silver camp of Gothic, Gunnison County, Colorado, with Orlando, Eli and Jessie, and her brother Heck (“E. G. Bruner”), blacksmith, enumerated alongside them. In 1881 she married J. L. Davis in Benton County, Arkansas, where her widowed mother lived; with his two adopted children, Sigel Charles and Pluma Davis, the family had five children before their daughter Elizabeth Jane was born at Siloam Springs in 1883.
On 16 August 1893, as Mrs. Emma Davis of Delta, Colorado, she married John [H.?] Dunlap there, her daughter Jessie Clifford, then seventeen, a witness (record). As Emma Dunlap, in 1910 she was in her daughter Jessie’s household in Kitsap County, Washington, and in January 1920 in Jessie’s household on Mercer Street, Seattle. Seated at the center of the family photograph of about 1930-32. She spent her last years in Jessie’s town of Wheatland, California, and is buried there.
Open questions
- The Dunlap chronology. She married John Dunlap at Delta in 1893 as “Mrs. Emma Davis,” and was a widow by 1910, while John L. Davis lived until 1914 (per FamilySearch): how her marriage to Davis ended (a divorce?), and when and where John Dunlap died, are not known. His middle initial on the certificate is unclear.
- The Clifford marriage record, c. 1872-73 (Arkansas or Iowa).
- The 1900 census, under any of her four surnames.
- Her son Eli’s death certificate gives her birthplace as Missouri; every census says Indiana.