During Dr Bruce's tenure, the church received 189 new members and baptized 91, and the manse was "altered and redecorated," according to Presbyterians Pioneer at Matawan, p. 44. For some reason, his annual salary remained $1,500 throughout his years of service at FPC Matawan.
According to the 1850 Federal Census, Dr Bruce's father was a 45 year old farmer named Abraham Bruce living in Moon, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. He had $3,500 worth of property. His wife was Christina (44) and their children were Emma (13), Hannah (11), Maria (9), William (6), George (4), and Abraham (2).
According to the 1860 Federal Census, Dr Bruce was a 7 year old living on a farm in the village of New Sheffield in Moon, Beaver County, Pennsylvania in the household of the widowed 53 year old Christina Bruce. He was the youngest of six children, his elder siblings being Emma (23), Hannah (21), William (17), George (14), and Abram (11).
According to the 1870 Federal Census, Dr Bruce was an 18 year old living on a farm in Moon, Beaver County, Pennsylvania in the household of 64 year old Clara Bruce. His siblings in the household included Emma (33), William (25), George (23), and Amanda (10). The farm was worth $9,800 and their personal property $1,000.
According to the 1880 Federal Census, Dr Bruce was a 27 year old seminary student living in the Village of Sheffield in Hopewell, Beaver County, Pennsylvania with the 74 year old widow Christianna Bruce and a sibling Abraham, a 31 year old dentist.
Dr Bruce does not appear in what remains of the 1890 Federal Census, which was mostly destroyed by fire.
Presbyterian Issues: The General Assembly of 1892 shows that Dr Bruce served as a commissioner to that assembly, which was held in Portland, Oregon in May. He represented the Synod of Missouri from the Presbytery of Kansas City and reported an address of No 3, 208 East Twelfth Street in Kansas City. The case of Dr Briggs and Revisionism was a major issue at the time. Dr Bruce was on the Standing Committee for Publication and Sabbath School Work.
According to The Descendants of Francis Graves of Gloucester County and Essex County, Virginia, Dr Bruce married Elizabeth Smith Graves on 14 June 1893. She was born 7 July 1870 to David William Graves and his wife Julia Ann Crockett. Elizabeth's father, David Graves, was a Baptist minister, and her maternal grandfather was a Cumberland Presbyterian minister.
The Presbyterian Ministerial Directory, Vol I, 1898 , ed by Edgar Sutton Robinson, reports that Charles H Bruce was a minister of the Presbyterian Church USA (Northern). He was born in New Sheffield, Pennsylvania; earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1879 from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania; studied at Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny, Pennsylvania from 1879 - 1881; was licensed by the Presbytery of Erie in 1880; was ordained by the Presbytery of Council Bluffs on 18 October 1882; served as pastor in home ministry at Menlo, Iowa from 1881 - 1885, then as pastor at Union City, Pennsylvania from 1885 - 1887, Fifth Church in Kansas City, Missouri from 1887 - 1897, and currently was pastor elect of the Presbyterian church in Muncy, Pennsylvania since 9 July 1897. He received his doctorate of divinity in 1895. [BRUCE, Charles H, Muncy, Pa - Born New Sheffield, Pa.; Ag. C., Pa, BA, 1879, DD, '95; Stud. Wn. T. S., Pa., '79-81; Lic. Apr 14, '80, Pby of Erie; Ord. Oct. 18, '82, Pby. of Council Bluffs; P. Menlo, Ia., HM, '81-85; P. Union City, Pa., '85-87; P. Fifth Ch., Kansas City, Mo., '87-97; PE, Muncy, Pa., July 9, '87 - . ]
According to the 1900 Federal Census, Dr Bruce was a 46 year old preacher living on Washington Street in Muncy, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. The census provides his birth as being in July 1853. His 29 year old wife Elizabeth was born in July 1870 in Missouri to a father from Virginia and a mother from Missouri. Dr Bruce and his wife had been married seven years. Three children were living in the household: Laura (May 1887), Mildred (Sep 1894), and Margaret (Aug 1896). The census suggests that Elizabeth had had three children and all were surviving, but the eldest child in the household was not hers. Laura's mother was born in Pennsylvania.
According to the 1910 Federal Census, Dr Bruce was a 57 year old working for the Presbyterian church and living in Aberdeen, Brown County, South Dakota. He and his wife Elizabeth (39) had been married 17 years, this being his second marriage and her first. Elizabeth was born in Missouri to a father born in Virginia and a mother from Kentucky. Four children were living with Dr Bruce and his wife in 1910: Laura (22), Mildred (15), Margaret (13), and Charles Jr (9). Given her age, Laura was a product of Dr Bruce's first marriage. This census suggests Laura's mother was a Missouri native, while the previous census said her mother was born in Pennsylvania. The census says Elizabeth had had five children, but only four had survived. Theoretically, this could mean that Elizabeth lost two children, as one of the four remaining children was not her natural child.
Dr Bruce of Aberdeen, SD, visited the Chicago office of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church in 1910 at Room 48, 328 Wabash Avenue, according to Woman's Work, Vol 25, p 238.
According to the 1920 Federal Census, Dr Bruce was a 62 year old Presbyterian clergyman living in Matawan, Monmouth County, New Jersey. He and his parents were all Pennsylvanians by birth. His wife was Elizabeth, age 49, born in Missouri to a father from Virginia and a mother from Missouri. The Bruces had three children living with them in 1920: Daughters Mildred, age 25, and Margaret, 23, were both born in Missouri and working as public school teachers. Their son Charles H Bruce, Jr was age 19, born in Pennsylvania, and not employed. They resided at 230 Main Street in Matawan. Their neighbors at 234 Main Street were 55 year old Baptist clergyman William N Ludwig and his wife Sadie. The Ludwigs were both New York natives; his parents were both from Germany.
According to the 1930 Federal Census for Pennsylvania, Dr Bruce was a 77 year old retiree living with his wife Elizabeth and son Charles Jr at 234 Daugherty Avenue in Sharon, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. The son was a 28 year old dentist at the time. This census says that Dr Bruce was first married about 1883, while his marriage to Elizabeth occurred about 1894.
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