The daughter of John Casper and Johanna Christina Wegner. John Casper Wegner was born in Saxony, Germany (1829-1907). Johanna Christina Wegner was born in Prussia, Germany (1839-1922).

In 1886, Augusta Henrietta Wegner married Henry Ryerson Bruce (1852-1939) who was born in Colton, St Lawrence, New York. This was his 2nd marriage.

Survivor of Peshtigo Fire Dies at 104

Stevens Point, Wis. -- Services will be Wednesday for the last living survivor of the Peshtigo fire, Mrs. Augusta Bruce, 104, who died Sunday at the Portage County Home here.

Mrs. Bruce was born Aug. 4, 1869, on Washington Island off Door County. Her family settled in the Peshtigo area just before the fire that began Oct. 8, 1871. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John C. Wegner, were German immigrants.

She used to recall her father telling about the fire that claimed more than 1000 lives. The family took refuge in the Peshtigo River as the blaze roared through the lumber camp, killing 800 persons in that town alone.

An additional 300 persons died in the area west and south of Peshtigo and about 50 more in Door County across Green Bay. The more widely remembered Chicago fire, which started the same day, claimed about 250 lives.

After the blaze, the Wegner family moved to Green Bay and, in 1877, moved to a farm near Dorchester in Taylor County. In 1886, Augusta married Henry Bruce, a timber camp foreman. In 1909, the couple moved to Park Falls.

Bruce died in 1940 and Mrs. Bruce went to California, where two of her children lived, but returned to Wisconsin a short time later. She lived at the county home since 1966.

Survivors include four daughters: Mrs. Estella Nelson, Medford, Mrs. Florence Hansen, Vallejo, Calif., Mrs. Irene Somers, Menomonie, Mich., and Mrs. Carl (Alice) Menzel, Stevens Point; one son John, San Jose, Calif.; 18 grandchildren, 50 great-grandchildren, and 10 great-great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Boston Funeral Home, where the body will be at 9 a.m. that day. Burial will be in Nola Cemetery, Park Falls.

[Milwaukee Sentinel State News, Tuesday Feb. 12, 1974, Page 5, Part 1]