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At left is one of the earliest-known coats of arms for the Brunner family. The primary colors on the coat of arms are gules (red)—signifying military fortitude and magnanimity, and argent (white or silver)—representing peace and sincerity. The three diagonal stripes ('bends') across the shield stand for defense or protection. The circle ('roundel') on top of the helmet with the flotté design (wavy bands of argent and 'azure'—blue) is called a fountain. It represents a pool or spring of pure water, and is a symbol of purification.
The Brunner name was first found in Austria and Tyrol, where the family would later play a large role in the political conflicts of the area—which is why there's so much red in the coat of arms. Austria, which was originally home to a Celtic people, was conquered by the Roman Empire in about 15 BC. Following the fall of Rome, Austria was repeatedly invaded by barbarian tribes, such as the Vandals, Visigoths, and Huns, who swept in from the east. During the 5th and 6th centuries, the Alemanni, Avars and Slavs settled Austria. The Avars were defeated in 785 by the Frankish emperor Charlemagne, who set up the East Mark, which later became known as the Österreich.
Austria was ruled by the Babenburger dynasty until 1278, when they were succeeded by the Hapsburg dynasty, which ruled Austria until the 20th century. During this time, the Bruner family grew, prospered and spread across Europe.
Some of the first American settlers of this name or some of its variants were: Jacob Brunner, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1728; Heinrich Bruner, who came to Philadelphia in 1731; and Francis Bruenner, who landed in Philadelphia in 1840.
 A map of the Frankish Kingdoms in the Carolingian Empire of Europe during the 9th Century, when they dominated the continent. (Click here to enlarge.) |
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We will probably never know who Frederick was named after, but this was a time when there were many Fredericks reigning as monarchs, so he could have been named after a member of royalty, or else another family member.
Frederick married CHRISTINE NAFSKER (born @1824 in Switzerland). We first find Frederick and Christine in the 1860 United States Census, residing in Cleveland. Their children are Samuel (8), Peter (4), Frederick (2) and Christian (11) who is not listed again in another Census. Interestingly, Christian is listed as having been born in Ohio, while Samuel, born three years later, was reportedly born in Bavaria.
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Cleveland was growing rapidly when Christian Frederick Brunner arrived, due to the Ohio River and Erie Canal, completed in 1832, which realized the city's potential as a major port near the Great Lakes.
Industries and people flocked to this newly created business center, and leather products were needed for clothing and industry. Frederick was a shoemaker, and probably also made harnesses and saddles. He was probably a tanner, as well. (Most men in his profession had to tan hides in order to get leather and add income.) When a farmer killed a cow, a calf, or an old ox, he brought its hide to Frederick, who scratched the farmer's initials on it, cleaned it, dehaired it, and soaked it for six months in a solution of tanbark, until the hide became leather. Frederick would have kept half of the hide as payment for tanning (which he used for customers with no animals), and kept the hair—which he could sell to be mixed with plaster. Typically, the farmer's half of the hide was hung in the shop, next to the wooden lasts shaped to the feet of the farmer, so that there'd be no mix-up as to which leather would be used for which family's shoes. Dress shoes were made with calfskin, and work shoes from cowhide. He cut the uppers by patters, stretched them over the customer's last, and tacked to to them in order to let the leather set. Then he sewed the sole on with two "wax ends"—stout linen threads with waxed ends to pass through the holes cut into the leather with an awl. Each hole carried two threads, one for the upper and one for the sole.
Most shoemakers were "cat whippers"—traveling leathersmiths who went house-to-house throughout the towns and villages. But Cleveland was growing so fast that Frederick could stay in one place and the business ould come to him. So in staying in one place, Frederick was probably a pretty good salesman and schmoozer—servicing the local community, in order to remain in one area long enough to raise a family. Here's a listing of all of his children with Christine:
CHILDREN OF C. FREDERICK BRUNER AND CHRISTINE NASKER | |
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"German"-Americans were actually the largest ethnic contingent to fight for the Union in the American Civil War (which is ironic, since most of them immigrated to avoid a civil war in Germania). More than 200,000 native-born Germans, along with another 250,000 first generation German-Americans, served in the Union Army, notably from New York, Wisconsin, and Ohio. Only a few hundred served in the Confederacy, being primarily 3rd and 4th generation descended from those who had migrated to the Carolinas in the 18th century and early 19th century.
Frederick and his young family probably turned out with the rest of Cleveland to view President Lincoln's body in Public Square when the casket was transported across the country in 1865:
 Cleveland residents line up to view the body of President Lincoln, on 28 Apr 1865. |
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In the 1870 Census, Frederick's family is listed as living in Brooklyn, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. (Brooklyn is in what we now know as the greater Cleveland area, but at this time was probably a short distance south of the city, in a farming area.) "CF" Brunner is 52 in this Census, married to 46-year-old Christine. Their children are Samuel (17), Peter (14), Frederick (11), Albert (8), Gottfreid (6), Elizabeth (4) and Christine (6 months).
In the 1880 Cleveland city directory, he's listed as a retired shoemaker living at 685 Lorain. It's confirmed by that year's Census, but in that document 63 year-old Frederick had only been unemployed for two months. It also lists Christine (56) but only three children: Albert (a "moulder", age 19), George (a cigar maker, age 17) and Elizabeth (14 and in school). Christine is no longer listed, and apparently died young.
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Albert received at least some basic schooling, because he was listed as an eight-year-old student on the 1870 census. But by the age of 18, according to his listing in the next United States census, he was working as a molder. Albert then worked as a day-laborer in various professions for the next thirty years in the Cleveland area, in various directories as a teamster, a "huckster," "saloon," handyman, and day laborer.
On the seventh of October in 1890, Albert married MARY WAGNER (4/3/1872 - 3/3/1925). The Cuyahoga County Records show that Albert's mother, Christine, applied for a Marriage License on behalf of Albert Brunner and Mary Wagner on October 2, 1890. Christine couldn't write, but placed her mark, "X", on the application. Her name was then written in by the witness, Deputy Clerk, H. A. Schwab.
 The marriage license of Albert A. Brunner and Mary Wagner, signed (with an "X"), by Christina Brunner. |
Albert Brunner and Mary Wagner were married in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 7, 1890 by Pastor William Renter. They resided at 3922 Prospect; Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1880-1890's as shown in the scrapbook of Mary Wagner Brunner. Albert and Mary look to be a proud, handsome couple, always well-dressed and dignified.
By 1910, Albert had become a varnish maker, called a "förnsler" in German. He would control the equipment to melt, cook, and mix gums, oils, turpentine, and naphtha, for use in manufacture of varnishes. Albert worked under trying and dangerous conditions. The fumes were not only carcinogenic, they created a terrible smell in the neighborhood on the days he cooked varnish. Fire was a common occurrence, and he was constantly reminded to place his work shop far enough away from other buildings so that they would not be endangered. Copal and amber were probably the worst offenders because they had to be melted before they would dissolve in a solvent. When melting these resins, Albert would keep a wet blanket nearby to smother a fire in case anything ignited.
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The 1900 Census shows Albert's family—now spelled "Brunner"—residing at 56 Colgate in Cleveland. Whether the name change was Albert's idea or the census-takers, we don't know. But from then on, the name would always be spelled with two n's The Brunners ran a small farm on this property. Their granddaughter Marjorie Carlin recalled that Albert had two horses, which he kept in a barn in back of the house, that she would ride.
The Brunner/Wagner union produced two extremely talented and industrious children (two sons died young). The caste systems of Europe were nonexistent in America, and Albert's children would take full advantage of all of the opportunities available to them in a free country.
In fact, the Brunner children were practically the embodiment of the American Dream for poor German immigrants: They were the progeny of a varnish maker/day laborer, who would go on to become business owners, painters and millionaires, and did it all with style, creativity and flair.
Mary and Albert had the following children:
CHILDREN OF ALBERT BRUNNER AND MARY WAGNER | |
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 The marriage license of Albert G. Brunner and Emma Lynch (click here to enlarge). |
On April 16, 1912, Albert married EMMA WILSON LYNCH, formerly of Painesville, Ohio, at St. Coleman's church in Cleveland. Emma was the daughter of WILLIAM LYNCH and related to the poet Robert Burns, through her mother SARAH BURNS.
Emma was raised by her Aunt in Painesville, Ohio, after her mother died. According to MARJORIE CARLIN, Emma's daughter, she had a cousin named Dorothy Giblin (she married Philip Giblin). Dorothy and Emma were very close as children. Dorothy Giblin lived in Painesville, Ohio and had a son who was a priest. Marge Carlin saved a news clipping from when her mother and father married in 1912. Albert Brunner was listed in the wedding announcement in the local newspaper as working at the firm of "Brunner & Sons." It added:
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EVENTS Lynch-Brunner Miss Emma Lynch, formerly of Painesville, was married at St Coleman's church, Cleveland, Tuesday morning, April 16 to Albert Brunner of the firm of Brunner & Sons. After a wedding breakfast at the Hollenden, they came to Painesville and spent the day with Mrs Brunner's aunt, Mrs L. G. Loomis, with whom she lived while attending school here. They were accompanied by her brother, J. D. Lynch of Grand Rapids, Mich, Mrs P. T. Ferrie and Mrs S. E. Burns of Cleveland. A bridal dinner was served at _______. After an informal reception during the evening, the party returned to Cleveland where, after May 1, Mr & Mrs Brunner will receive their friends at their pretty new home on 83rd Street. |
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Al Jr. bought only the best food, clothes, and cars, but was just as generous with everyone else as he was to himself. He grew more prosperous, more important, and always more popular, with his Christmas card list numbering in the hundreds every year. His grandson, CARLETON MARCHANT HAUSE, JR., remembers taking out a secretary in college on a first date, only to discover that she knew Al well from work, where he had been schmoozing the staff expertly, shrieking with delight when she learned the identity of Carl Jr.'s grandfather—and yup, she had one of his Christmas cards on the mantle.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Speaking of grandchildren, Albert and Emma had three daughters, two in West Virginia—all cute, all popular, and all married off very quickly:
CHILDREN OF ALBERT BRUNNER AND EMMA LYNCH | |
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 Marjorie, Jeanne and Helen during the 1920s. |
After the marriage, Al was employed by the Donald P. Cochrane Paint Company, who transferred him to Wheeling, West Virginia. He was transferred back to Cleveland a few years after his daughter, Jeanne, was born in 1918. Albert's World War I draft card says just as much. (Shown below. Notice under "race," the interviewer has written the politically sensitive "German," which Albert has made him cross out and change to "white.")
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It was about five years later that Mary passed away. The Cleveland Public Library's Necrology File (Reel #011) lists an obituary (source unknown) that reads: "Brunner-Mary (nee Wagner), beloved wife of Albert, mother of Elmer C. and Albert G., age 52 years, suddenly, Monday p.m. Funeral from late residence, 7103 Colgate Avenue, Thursday, March 12, at 2:30 p.m."⁴
Albert Sr.'s Certificate Of Death lists his occupation as Varnish-Maker, and his date of death as October 26, 1927. His parents are shown as Fred Brunner and Christine Nasker, both having been born in Switzerland. He was residing at 7103 Colgate at the time of his death. He is buried at Alger Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.⁵
In about 1928, Albert Jr. was transferred to Detroit, Michigan. He and the family moved into a flat at the corner of Santa Rosa (then called Wark) and Buena Vista in Detroit. After a few years they moved down the street to 13133 Santa Rosa. (The first City Directory in which his name appears is the 1935 Detroit Directory, which lists him as a Sales Representative living with his wife, Emma, at 13133 Wark.)
Al was credit manager for John P. Cochran Co., but the Great Depression came shortly after their move, and the company went bankrupt—even though Al worked without wages. At that time, there were no safety nets in America for unemployed heads of families. So with a wife and three daughters to support, Al had to find a way to make some cash. He started sculpting and painting ceramic statutes and sold them door to door. If you question the talent, industriousness and ingenuity of Al Brunner, imagine selling knickknacks to broke homeowners during the Great Depression, and making enough money from it to support five people. (Al's grandson, James Carlin, remembers the ceramic statues still stored in his grandfather's garage on Santa Rosa during the 1950s.)
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The Great Depression had taking its toll on the auto industry: At the onset, US President Herbert Hoover requested that industry freeze worker wages [from dropping] to fight off disaster. So Henry Ford astounded the car industry and the entire country by announcing a wage increase—to a seven-dollar day, a one-dollar increase over his previous daily minimum for common labor. Ford's gesture was page-one news, and he was labeled a hero of the working man. But the publicity obscured Ford's real agenda, reported by the New York Times: He was cutting wages severely in the middle and upper brackets of labor, firing a man in one division and rehiring him for less in another division, and cutting costs at his subsidiaries. For instance, Kelsey-Hayes, which made Ford's wheels, had to cut the wages of its toolmakers from $1.10 an hour to eighty cents, and increase the hours of the night shift to fourteen a night, seven nights a week.
So Al inherited a general manager's nightmare—he was being assaulted by Ford on one side and labor unions like Jimmy Hoffa's teamsters on the other (there was a dramatic 'sit-down' strike by the union in 1936 and then his workers walked out in the "wildcat strike" engineered by Hoffa). Al's son-in-law, JOHN CARLIN, was employed at Ford in the Purchasing Department, and later enjoyed telling his kids about Harry Bennet, the enforcer for Henry Ford, whose security men assaulted the UAW organizers on the Miller Road overpass. But somehow "AG" kept his factory running smoothly through all of it.
Meanwhile, his daughters quickly won the hearts of many a Michigan man. Helen, the eldest, married a millionaire, but that didn't stop her from dating Schoolboy Rowe of the Detroit Tigers. (Helen married three times, altogether. Helen lived a pretty wild life. When she stayed at the home of her sister, Jeanne, and slept in the room of Jeanne's son, Carl Jr., Helen hid liquor bottles everywhere—under furniture, in the shoe box for Carl Jr.'s tennis shoes, and even hung them on strings outside the bedroom window, concealing them in the ivy on the walls. She died from liver failure on 03 May 1966 in Chevy Chase, Maryland.) Marjorie married auto worker JOHN CARLIN, JR. Meanwhile, Jeanne met CARLETON MARCHANT HAUSE, SR. Al liked Carl so much that he gave him a job at Kelsey-Hayes, while Jeanne quit school to raise a family.
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Jeanne grew up to be a down-to-earth, patient woman who loved to laugh. She delighted in being a mother, grandmother, and eventually a great-grandmother (although everybody just called her "Grandma").
While Jeanne was attending Wayne State University, she met and married a student at Eastern Michigan University named CARLETON MARCHANT HAUSE (24 Jul 1917 - 08 Jun 1983) on the 17th of August, 1938, in Indiana. They had their first child, a son named CARLETON MARCHANT HAUSE, JR., on November 25, 1939. This was quickly followed with a daughter, MARJORIE JEANNE HAUSE, on December 18, 1942. Carleton Jr. remembers Jeanne as a wonderful mother who loved him fiercely and unquestioningly, and who taught him valuable lessons on being a good parent: "No matter what I did, no matter how how big or small, she was always proud of me, and let me know it." Jeanne then completed college and started a teaching career after Marjorie was in school (Marjorie became a very talented painter, like Al, and makes her living today as the artist "Tugboat Tillie").
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But tragedy struck the Brunner family when Emma died in Detroit, on March 5, 1951. The March 7 obituary for Emma in the Cleveland Press (Cleveland Necrology File, Reel #096) reads: "Brunner, Emma W., Mar. 4. In Detroit, formerly of Cleveland, beloved wife of Albert G., mother of Helen Meskill and Marjorie Carlin and Jeanne Hause and 5 grandchildren. Funeral service at Fred Wood Funeral Home, Detroit, Mich., Thursday, Mar. 8, and St. Cecelia's Church Detroit, Mich., 10 a.m." She was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield, Michigan. Touchingly, Al had two headstones made—one with his name, so that the graves of he and his wife would look and age identically.
  VIDEO: Albert Brunner visits California in 1963. |
 Albert and Carl Jr. pose after fishing in Lake Erie, in 1950. |
In 1959, Jeanne and Carleton Sr. moved to California, both working as teachers, where Al often visited them.
Finally, Albert Jr. quit working and took up painting—of course, quitting work was impossible for Al—he learned oil painting quickly and turned out a lifetime's worth of paintings in a few years. (Watching his father expertly mix paints and varnishes in his youth probably helped.) Al first tried paint-by-numbers to learn the process, then announced he was ready for his first orginal work. The family braced itself for a series of cheap, messy oils... but Al amazed them all once again! His first painting was a beautiful, dramatic ocean scene (shown above), and Jeanne Hause remembered her father visiting her house on Lake Erie and studying the characteristics of the waves on the lake to incorporate into his painting. Most impressive of all was the fact that he turned out to be extremely talented! Financially secure, he retired to paint full time.
But then Albert began suffering a debilitating series of heart attacks. But Al being Al, it never stopped him from working—he just kept painting in his hospital room! Then he was told by his doctor that he suffered from "hardening of the arteries—the same illness that had taken his wife—and that had only a little while to live. He spent his time visiting relations and friends, spending his money freely on the people he loved. But something strange happened between heart attacks: He lived another twenty years! Albert Godfrey Brunner ended up living with relatives in Broward county, Florida, practically penniless, but with many great paintings... and greater friends. In 1971, Albert took his grandson and his wife to dinner at the Top Of The Ponchatrain restaurant to celebrate his grandson's graduation from law school. His grandson remembers Albert telling them the one thing he never could imagine when he was young would be for a plane to fly. When he was young around the turn of the century it was not conceived by him that an object could fly in the air. What would he say about computers, the Internet, fax machines and cell phones? A gentlemen's gentlemen, Albert died January 12, 1972 at 33064 Pompano Beach, Broward County, Florida, at the age of 80. Albert Brunner is buried next to his wife and daughters in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield, Michigan.
Jeanne and Carleton, Sr., retired in California in the early 1980's. He died on 1984, and she followed him on 15 May 2000. They were survived, and missed constantly, by the following children:
CHILDREN OF JEANNE BRUNNER AND CARLETON HAUSE | |
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TOP PAINTING: The first known painting by Albert Godfrey Brunner.
NOTES ON THIS PAGE:
¹—A "Christian Friedrich Brunner" was baptized on 30 Nov 1817 in Bern, Switzerland; The father was Johannes Brunner; the mother was Elisabeth Raeber Lefeber (FHL Film Number: 2005319).
²—Cleveland Public Library Necrology File, Reel #011: "71-year-old Fred C. Brunner was buried in the Monroe Cemetery of Cleveland, Ohio, on April 24, 1889."
³—Cleveland Public Library Necrology File, Reel #011 Unknown source, October 28, 1900. "Brunner-Christina, aged 76 years, widow of Fred C. Brunner, October 26. Funeral from residence, No. 2 Dearborn St., Monday at 2 o'clock, standard. Friends invited."
⁴—Cleveland Public Library Necrology File, Reel #011: Mar. 12, 1925; Source: unknown, Reel #11: Brunner-Mary (nee Wagner), beloved wife of Albert, mother of Elmer C. and Albert G., age 52 years, suddenly, Monday p. m. Funeral from late residence, 7103 Colgate avenue, Thursday, March 12, at 2:30 p. m."
⁵—Cleveland Public Library Necrology File, Reel #011: Oct. 29, 1927; Source: Cemetery record, Reel #11; Brunner-Albert, husband of the late Mary; dearly beloved father of Albert G. and Elmer C., brother of Godfrey J., suddenly Wednesday, Oct. 26, age 66 years. Funeral Saturday, Oct. 29, at his late residence, 7103 Colgate avenue at 2:30 p. m. 1927. age 66. Alger Cemetery Cleveland, Ohio."
⁶—Cleveland Public Library Necrology File, Reel #011: Dec. 04 1939; Source: unknown. "Brunner: Godfrey J., beloved husband of Alice M., father of Myrtle Leisk, Emanuel G. Brunner, Washington, D. C., Gladys Rannow of Athens, O., and grandfather; residence 1335 W. 89th. Friends may call at Wm. R. & Roy A. Daniels' Funeral Home, 15800 Detroit ave., where services will be held Monday, Dec. 4, at 3 p. m."
⁷—Cleveland Public Library Necrology File, Reel #014: Aug. 20, 1926; Source: unknown. "Chandler-Elizabeth (nee Brunner), age 60, beloved wife of the late Albert W., mother of Charles and Clarence, grandmother of Lester Neville and Mary Chandler, Tuesday, p. m. Funeral Friday, Aug. 20, from her late residence, 7720 Dearborn avenue, at 2:30 p. m."
SOURCES FOR THIS PAGE:
- Brunner family records, by Jim Carlin, great, great-grandson of Frederick Bruner (.txt file).
- Cleveland Public Library, located in Cleveland, Ohio operates the Main Library on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland, 27 branches throughout the city, a mobile library, a Public Administration Library in City Hall, and the Ohio Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled.
- "Descendants of George Peter Bruner" by Harlan Keith Bruner.
- "Joseph Brunner of Rothenstein, Schifferstadt, and Frederick" by Donald Lewis Osborn.
GENEALOGY CHRISTIAN FREDRICK BRUNER (1817 - 1889) married CHRISTINE NAFSKER (1824 - 1900) and begat... ALBERT A. BRUNNER (1861 - 1927) who married MARY WAGNER (1872 - 1925), and begat... ALBERT G. BRUNNER (1892 - 1972) who married EMMA LYNCH (1891 - 1951) and begat... JEANNE BRUNNER (1918 - 2000) who married CARLETON MARCHANT HAUSE, SR. (1917 - 1983) and begat... CARLETON MARCHANT HAUSE, JR. (1939-2014) who married MARTHA WENK (b. 1940) and begat... JEFF (who married LORI ANN DOTSON), KATHY (who married HAL LARSEN), ERIC (who married MARY MOONSAMMY), and MICHELE HAUSE (who married JOHN SCOTT HOUSTON).  The Cuyahoga River in 1870. | |
COUSINS, COLLABORATORS & CO-CONSPIRATORS... |
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