Rufus Bruce, a native of Chester, Vt., and son of Rev. Rufus Bruce, came to Wolcott on horseback during the summer of 1831, and bought 100 acres of land on road 22 corner 17. paying therefor $200.00. He then hired a man to slash five acres of the heavy timbered land, and returned to Chester, where he soon after, December 14, married Mary Hovey. In January, 1832, he hired a man to bring them and their household effects to Wolcott, where, for the first six months, they resided in the house with John Phelps, on road 17. In August, 1832, however, their log house was completed, and they moved into it, where they resided until 1846, when a new frame building was completed, the same now occupied by their son, M. Bruce. Mr. Bruce was a brick-maker by trade, though he had taught school in Chester for several years. He was one of the nine original members of the Freewill Baptist church society in this town, which has since become extinct. He died June 17, 1874, aged over seventy years. His wife survived his death three years.
