Brunie’s parents were divorced in 1878, when he was 4 years old.  The 1880 census shows 6-year-old Brunie living with his father, his Martin grandparents, and his two brothers in Falls City, Nebraska (although his name looks more like “Brinner” or “Boinner” there).  (His sister Stella was not in the household but was instead living with his mother and her new husband in St. Louis.)  In November 1880, Brunie’s father remarried, so he suddenly had a new stepmother and half-a-dozen step-siblings.

In 1885, two state census records, collected 5 months apart, show 11-year-old Brunie and his siblings living with his father and stepmother in Cass County, Iowa, in January, and then in Seward County, Nebraska, the following June (although, again, his name looks more like “Banner” in the Iowa census).

The next record of any sort that I have found for Brunie is a newspaper report from 1898 indicating that he was then living in Hotchkiss, Delta County, Colorado (The Delta Independent, 30 Dec. 1898, p. 3).  For the period from 1885 to 1898, I don’t know whether he had followed his evangelist father from place to place, or whether he might have spent some of that time living with his mother and stepfather.  It makes sense that he would have come to Delta County in the late 1890s, though, as he had many relatives there, including his father, both of his brothers, an uncle, three aunts, and several cousins.

I assume he was in Hotchkiss at the time of the 1900 census, but he apparently was overlooked, as he is not listed anywhere in that census.  Interestingly, the Delta Independent of 7 June 1901 (p. 1) reported that Brunie had attended a local ball game in the company of Miss Edith Wilmot (among others).  This is interesting because, 4 months later, Brunie married Edith Estelle Wilmot at Hotchkiss, 9 October 1901.  Edith had been born 15 March 1879 in Evergreen, Jefferson County, Colorado, the daughter of Roswell O. and Miranda C. (Adams) Wilmot.  Her family had moved to Hotchkiss by the time she was 12 years old.

After marriage, Brunie and Edith remained in Hotchkiss for several years.  Both of their children were born there, and they were:

• Audrey Martin, 1904–1968 (married Curtis Don Havins).
• Arthur Wilmot Martin, 1907–1979 (married Eva May Smith).

Since Brunie wasn’t listed in the 1900 census, I’m not sure what his occupation was in the early years of his marriage.  In the 1910 census, he was listed as a liveryman in a stable, and he may have been doing the same thing 10 years earlier.  We know, however, that in 1905 the county commissioners (one of whom was Edith's father) appointed him to be the road overseer for District 3 in Delta County (Delta Independent, 13 January 1905, p. 1).  Over the next few years, Delta County newspapers included several mentions of Brunie and his crew working on various road projects around Hotchkiss.  In 1906, however, a local newspaper accused him of graft in connection with his road work, based on what was probably a case of clumsy bookkeeping.  Fortunately, other papers came to his defense and gave him a chance to respond.  His explanation must have satisfied the county commissioners, for they reappointed him to the post in 1907.

On 6 May 1910, the Delta Independent (p. 3) reported that Brunie had sold his livery barn and was preparing to move to Oregon.  If he actually made such a move, he didn’t stay long.  As of 17 February 1911, the Paonia Newspaper (p. 5) was reporting that Brunie had taken a two-year contract with a local box mill, about 5 miles northeast of Paonia, to haul logs into the mill and haul out the finished boxes.  (These “boxes” most likely included many wooden crates used for shipping peaches and other fruits that grew in Delta County’s extensive orchards.)

Early in 1912, it was not just logs and boxes that Brunie was hauling, but also more than 1,000 feet of large steel flumes being used to replace old wooden flumes on the Fire Mountain irrigation canal (Delta Independent, 19 Jan. 1912, p. 6).

The meanderings of Brunie and his family between 1912 and 1918 are hard to figure out.  Based on brief mentions in the Delta Independent:

• In November 1912, Brunie and the family returned from Blaine, Washington, and were expected to remain in Hotchkiss, although Brunie promptly left for Oklahoma to “look after some business matters.”  (Note:  Brunie's father, who died in 1911, had reportedly owned a farm near Coweta, Oklahoma.  It could be that Brunie had inherited some or all of that property and had gone to Oklahoma to manage or dispose of it.)
• In June 1914, Brunie and the family arrived from “the coast.”  They were met in Delta by Edith’s mother (“Mrs. R. D. Wilmot”), who took Edith and the children back to Hotchkiss for a visit while Brunie went on to Oklahoma “to look after his oil lands.”
• In July 1914, Edith and the children left Hotchkiss to go meet Brunie in Whitewater, Colorado.  They were thinking of moving to Whitewater.
• In March 1915, Brunie returned to Hotchkiss from Nowata, Oklahoma, where he had been for the past three months.
• In January 1916, Brunie and a friend (C. W. Roe) left for the new gold camp of Otman, Arizona, where they planned to “look over the situation for a few weeks.”
• In July 1916, Brunie and the family left for Thermopolis, Wyoming, where he expected to find employment as a carpenter in the oil fields.  “The health of his little son made it necessary for him to change climates . . ..”
• In June 1917, Edith’s mother went down to Delta to meet Edith, who planned to stay in Hotchkiss for the summer.  Story did not state whether the children were with her.

Sometime in 1918, finally, the family moved to Long Beach, California, where they would remain.  Brunie’s draft registration card, submitted in September 1918, gives his address as 531 Cherry Ave. in Long Beach.  It also says that he was then a carpenter in the employ of C. L. McGrew.  On 15 April 1919, the Long Beach Press-Telegram (p. 5) reported that prowlers had stolen $100 worth of carpentry tools from Brunie at that same address.

A somewhat different address was given in the Long Beach City Directory for 1919; it lists “Bruno C. Martin,” carpenter, and his wife Edith living at 1045 Cherry Ave.  The 1920 census also shows Brunie, Edith, Audrey, and Arthur at the 1045 address, and identifies Brunie’s occupation as “Carpenter.”  However, an ad in the Long Beach Daily Telegram of 23 Mar 1920 (p. 2) identified Brunie as a “Contractor” and named him among the “prominent business men of Long Beach.”

As of 1930, according to that year’s census, Brunie and Edith were at 1130 Hoffman Ave. in Long Beach, with 23-year-old Arthur.  (Audrey, by this time, had married and moved out.)  Brunie and Arthur are both identified as carpenters in the house-building industry.

The 1940 census shows Brunie and Edith at 1710 Orizaba Ave. in Long Beach.  Their son Arthur (“A. W. Martin”) and his wife Eva May live next door at 1712 Orizaba Ave.  The census also says all of them had lived at the “same place” in 1935.  Brunie is still a carpenter in the building construction industry; Arthur is a cabinet maker in retail construction.

The next record we have for Brunie is a note in the Long Beach Independent of 14 August 1948 (p. 15) saying that Brunie had admitted driving drunk.  He was fined $125 and his driver’s license was taken away permanently.  His address given there was 3225½ East 15th St., Long Beach.  The 1950 census shows Brunie and Ethel still at the 15th St. address, with no other household members.  No occupation is listed for Brunie there; the census says that he is “unable to work.”

Brunie and Ethel resided on East 15th for the rest of their lives.  Ethel died there, at home, on 14 April 1955, and Brunie passed on 11 months later, 21 March 1956, at El Encanto Sanitarium in what is now City of Industry, California.  Both of them were laid to rest at Melrose Abbey Memorial Park in Anaheim, California.  The Independent of Long Beach ran short obituaries for both of them, which are transcribed below.  Bear in mind, though, that Brunie was actually two years older than what is shown in his obituary and on his tombstone.*