Jules C. Brus

JULES C. BRUS is one of the successful farmers of Kansas, where he has maintained his residence for upwards of thirty years, and that he has attained a high standing in the community is the result of his own efforts. There is a deep satisfaction in the thought that everything a man owns is the result of his own work and thought, and such satisfaction Mr. Brus is justified in feeling.

Jules C. Brus, son of John and Sophia Brus, was born in France in 1842. The father died in France and the mother in New York. Their son, Jules, was a mere child during the troublous years which immediately preceded the establishment of the first republic, in 1848, but he has distinct recollection of the reign of Napoleon III, who ruled France with an iron hand until the disasters of 1870. Mr. Brus was educated in his native country and when a young man served in the French army. He remembers the proclamation of the Republic in 1872, following the siege and surrender of Paris and the fearful times of May, 1871. It was in 1872, while his country was still in an unsettled condition that he bade farewell to the scenes of horror and came to the United States. Arriving in America he went direct to the state of Connecticut, where he gained employment in the woolen mills. Later he moved to Philadelphia and after working for a short period in the mills of that city he came west to Kansas City, Missouri. There he sought and found outdoor employment and was gardener at the Shawnee mission for many years, during which time he lived with the frugality in which he was reared, saving such amounts as he could from his earnings. In 1905 he was in a position to buy a tract of land thirty acres in extent, where he lives today engaged in general truck gardening. In addition to the farm on which he lives, Mr. Brus owns a place at South Park, Kansas, where he makes a specialty of raising watercress, which he sells to the high class trade of Kansas City. Mr. Brus is as successful in his way as his brother, who is vice consul of France for the former lives a contented life, undisturbed by political or other cares. Mr. Brus is a Republican, but he has never cared to dabble in politics.

In 1875 Mr. Brus returned to France and there married his sweetheart, Marie Coperen, immediately returning to America. Four children were born to the union, Amie, at home with his parents; Leon; Marie Louise, wife of Ernest McDonald, and Lou J. who died in infancy.