Christian George Bruder, deceased, was born in Bavaria, Germany, December 14, 1828, and was one of a family of three sons, of whom one remained in his native land and died there several years ago. In 1852 Christian G. Bruder and his brother, John, the former a blacksmith and the latter a shoemaker by trade, emigrated to America to seek their fortunes in the new world. John found employment and settled first at New York and later at Memphis, Tennessee. He has long since passed away and is survived by only one daughter, Mrs. Charles Eberhart, who resides with her husband in Memphis, Tennessee, but has often been a visitor in Granville.
Mr. Bruder of this review on coming to the United States took up his abode at Granville, and after working as a journeyman blacksmith for a time opened a shop on his own account in 1854. On the 3d of September, of that year, he was married to Miss Anna Gertrude Opper, an aunt of Christian G. Opper, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. The first child of this marriage was a daughter, Mary, now the wife of John Lantz, who resides at McCool Junction, Nebraska. The second, a son, J. T. Bruder, resides with his family at Burnside, a suburb of Chicago, and is a foreman in the Pullman car shops. On the 3d of May, 1870, the wife and mother was called to her final rest, and on the 24th of May, 1871, Mr. Bruder was again married, his second union being with Magdaline Barbara May, a native of Bavaria, Germany. The children of this marriage are three in number: Leonard G., who is a bookkeeper for the Davis Coal Company, at Chicago; Carrie M., at home ; and Fred V., who is employed in the electrical department of the Pullman car shops at Chicago.
By the characteristic German energy, thrift and frugality, Mr. Bruder in his business affairs gained a competence sufficient to warrant a life of comparative ease and rest during his declining years and about thirteen years prior to his death he sold his shop and retired from the exhaustive labors of blacksmithing, after which he devoted his time to the supervision of his property interests that he had acquired, and to the care of his home and garden. He was a man to whom indolence and idleness were utterly foreign, therefore, after he left the shop he always busied himself with the interests of the home or his property. In 1873 he made a trip to the fatherland with his wife and their children, spending the greater portion of the years 1873 and 1874 in Germany. In 1894 he once more visited his native country, where he remained for about three months. He remained a most vigorous man until within a short time prior to his death, when it was noticeable that time and disease were making inroads upon his health, and on the 25th of October, 1903, he passed away. In his death the community lost a good man. He was quiet and unassuming in manner, but thoroughly reliable and honorable at all times and had a kind word for everyone, while many a good deed was attributed to him and the poor and needy frequently found in him a stanch and helpful friend. He is remembered as one of Granville's best citizens and one whose life record is indeed worthy of emulation. His widow, a bright and intelligent German lady, still resides upon her old home purchased by her husband many years ago, and in addition to this and a while block of village property he left two hundred and forty acres of good land in Livingston county. Mrs. Bruder and her daughter now make their home in Granville, but spend their winters in the south.
Source: Past and Present of Marshall and Putnam Counties Illinois authored by John Spencer Burt and W. E. Hawthorne in 1907, page 496.
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