James Bruce

James Bruce (March 20, 1763 – May 12, 1837), was a Virginia merchant and patriot who became the third wealthiest man in the United States before his death, and whose descendants wielded both political and economic power.

Early life and education

The son of the former Diana Banks and her husband Charles Bruce (d. 1792) was born in Orange County in the colony of Virginia.

Some traced his paternal (Bruce) ancestry from George Bruce, who emigrated to Rappahannock County in the Northern Neck by 1668 and died in 1715, with his son and grandson (both named Charles Bruce) moving south and westward to King William and then-vast Orange County. One version ends with his father Charles dying in 1792 at this son's plantation in Halifax County. An alternate version, insists Capt. Charles Bruce died at Soldier's Rest in Orange County in 1792. Yet another version claims this man's grandfather (also James) emigrated from Scotland in the 18th century and his son Charles of Soldiers Rest plantation in Orange County served in the American Revolutionary War out of Winchester.

Career Bruce became the partner of his Petersburg employer, as well as opened a new branch store in Amelia County.

Bruce remarried more than a decade after his first wife's death, this time in Nelson County, to Elvira Cabell Henry, daughter of prominent planter and politician William Cabell Jr. (1759-1822). She was the widow of Patrick Henry Jr. (who had died less than two years after their marriage in 1804), and would also survive this man. The Bruces initially lived at her Woodburn estate, near the county seat. They had two sons and daughters, but only Charles Bruce and daughter, Ellen Bruce Morson (1820-1862) reached adulthood and married. The son was named for Bruce's unmarried brother Charles Bruce, whose estate he inherited. That Charles Bruce would become one of the wealthiest men in Charlotte County and a state senator, and one of his grandsons (William Cabell Bruce) would become a U.S. Senator (from Maryland), and several more descendants would support the Southern aristocratic tradition into the next century.

Death and legacy Bruce traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in January 1837, seeking medical treatment, probably for cancer. Some time in March, his doctors realized he would not recover, and Bruce died on May 12, 1837. his eldest son erected a monument to his memory at Berry Hill, which is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. James is the grandfather of U.S. Senator William Cabell Bruce. Letters between Bruce and his son, James Coles Bruce, as well as ledgers of his business, are held by the Special Collections Division of the University of Virginia Library. Other family papers, especially dealing with Bruce's trade in slaves, are held by the Virginia Historical Society. Blueprints used by Bruce to build houses for overseers and slaves at his plantations in Halifax and Charlotte Counties are included in the book Cabin, Quarter, Plantation: Architecture and Landscapes of North American Slavery.