Little did Emery Bruley realize when he built the original Tufts house in 1885 that he and future occupants would experience such a fantastic period of growth in the community and the country… The house as it stands today reflects the changes of that period as well as the personalities of each succeeding generation of owners.

The house was built in two sections. The north half, built by Bruley (a blacksmith, inventor, and prominent businessman) still contains the original plate glass windows with their etched, brilliant cut glass borders and the identifying initial "B."

The brochure tells about subsequent owners. We know Emery traded the house to Richard Dewhurst, a pioneer citizen, first Neillsville lawyer, lumberman, state legislator, and founder of the Neillsville Bank.  Dewhurst added the larger section to the south with matching by windows, well house with windmill and a small porch.  At this point in time, the house with its angles, gingerbread, iron cresting, corbels and turret looked decidedly Victorian.

Indoor bathroom facilities, including a built in six foot copper bathtub, were thought to be the first in the area.  This was a convenience for guests only.  A carriage house-stable was added with space for as many as seven driving horses and two cows.

The first photograph shows the house around 1890 before Dewhurst added the elegant colonial portico with Greek ionic columns, now giving the house the Colonial or Classical Revival style.

Richard Dewhurst died in 1895.  His daughter Mary and her husband William Hemphill became tenants of the house that Mary inherited when her mother died in 1922.  Hemphill was a banker; both he and his wife served as president of the Neillsville Bank.

After Mrs. Hemphill died in 1958, the house was owned until 1961 by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Stoll who sold the home to Colonel and Mrs. William B. Tufts.  Tufts descended from early Wisconsin pioneers, served in World War I and was on General Douglas MacArthur’s staff in World War II.  The Tufts did extensive remodeling, adding a graceful divided stair way, combining two sitting rooms, and installing beautiful crystal chandeliers.  Tufts died in 1963 before the renovation was completed.  Mrs. Tufts completed the project and moved into the house in 1965.  She filled the home with fine antique furniture, oriental rugs, and mementos of her extensive travels.  She and her husband had planned years before that the home would become a historical museum.  When she died in 1982 Jennie Tufts willed the house to the city of Neillsville.

In August of 1983, Aunt Dede, Cousin Jane O’Connor, and I were able to visit the Museum.  We were graciously received and overwhelmed by the beautiful house.  I had heard about the initial "B" etched in the front windows of the house.  I regarded this decoration as suspect (read ‘ostentatious’) until I saw the actual windows.  The eight-inch border of each window is etched with deer, flowers, and other pretty designs.  The "B" is beautifully done at the center of the top border.  The windows are absolutely lovely as are the house and grounds.  Emery would be proud.  His descendants who visit the museum will also be proud.

1886 It was to the former Dewhurst home that Emery brought his bride Margarette (Maggie) McGinnis after their marriage on 24 August 1886.  Grandmother and Grandfather Brule’ married at a Presbyterian service performed by Neillsville pastor Rev. W. T. Hendren as the Catholic Church had not come to Neillsville.  Agnes McGinnis and Mary E   Bruley represent both bride and groom’s families as witnesses.

1888 Anita Mae a.k.a. Sophie Mary joined Emery and Maggie on 8 April 1888.  Phyllis has the lovely baby portrait of her mother done in pastel by an artist from Marshall Field of Chicago.  Anita married Joseph Franklin Wiesner, also of Neillsville, in 1912.  They became the parents of Virginia Ruth born 14 December 1913, Margaret Jean on 3 March 1917, and Phyllis Marie on 18 September 1919.  Jean became the wife of Kenneth Chamberlain in 1938.  Phyllis and Frank Choura married in 1945.

1889 Maude Elizabeth was Emery’s and Maggie’s second child.  Born in Neillsville on 15 November 1889, as an adult she married Philip Henry Griffin 15 November 1912.  Their daughter Jane was born 12 February1918.  Jane married Richard J. O’Connor in 1942.

1891 Ruth Lucille, the third child, arrived on 31 January 1891.  She married first young attorney Winfred Cyril Dittmer of Seymour, Wisconsin in 1917.  He died from mastoid infection six months after their marriage. She married Noble Brown Ritchey of Franklin, Indiana on 8 October 1920. They were my parents.  I was born 26 February 1924 and married John J. Knox in 1952.

Not long after Mother’s birth, her grandfather Thomas died in Ottawa, Canada on 18 Mar 1891.  He was 75.  A Canadian researcher could find no obituary for Thomas.  Per family tradition, Emery was in charge of settling his father’s estate.  No probate for Thomas’ estate was filed per 1983 correspondence from the Archives of Ontario. Although he disliked his stepmother, he supposedly saw to it that she inherited Thomas’ lead mine.

That elusive lead mine, if it existed, has been impossible to locate because no one knew the name of the mine.  Without the name the Canadian authorities cannot locate it.  After much research, I have concluded perhaps Thomas owned stock in a lead mine and those shares were what Elmire received.  The Kingdon mine at Galetta on the Ottawa River, near Amprior, Ontario, also near Ottawa, was an early producer, briefly active in the 1880’s, then reactivated in 1914 and operated until early 1930’s.

1893 At the Chicago World’s Fair grandfather bought a German sewing machine, complete with display cabinet.  Part of the lower cabinet was turned into a handsome desk which Phyllis has; drawers from the upper part were turned into small cabinets by Aunt Dede and these I enjoy.  I also have a large Victorian mirror; from my Brule’ grandparents home.

1894 The lovely house that Emery and Philomene built didn’t attract nearly as much local attention as the House that Emery Built in 1894!

There are differing stories about the exact reason Emery built the second house, but the end result is the same.  My mother’s version: Emery had a row of trees in the front of his yard. The trees were parallel to the street.  He was very proud of these trees which were either maple or black walnut.  There was a wooden sidewalk that followed the row of trees but was closer to the street.

The town constable announced the street was to be widened.  Grandfather had no problem with this until he learned his wooden sidewalk would be moved inside the row of trees and closer to the house.  Emery said he would have the sidewalk inside his tree row.  The constable waited until Grandfather was out of town.  Grandmother awoke one night to find lanterns lighting the front yard, and a crew of men busily moving the wooden sidewalk inside the row of trees.  When Grandfather returned to Neillsville, he was furious.

He quietly approached the owner of a lot which adjoined the constable’s.  This lot was 25 feet wide and very deep.  Emery bought the lot.  Zoning laws were not in place back then.  Emery promptly had a house built that was exactly 25 feet wide and quite long.  It was designed with a large front room and a long hallway with rooms coming off the hallway.  He then had the house painted bright red!  Emery rented the house free or for a nominal charge to anyone who gave music lessons or who had many children.  The house was directly in the constable’s view and hearing.  When asked how the house got there, emery said he guessed a cyclone brought it.  "Cylone" became its name forever after.  Both the constable and Emery had been blacksmiths in the early days; may have been more to the story than just the sidewalk.

1899 Marie Blondine Evangeline was the youngest child of Emery and Maggie. She was born 6 October 1899.  Her two older sisters were each allowed to choose a name for her.  You can tell which names appealed to preteens Anita and Maude.  As an adult, Marie married William Thomas Bracken on 30 November 1922 at La Crosse, Wisconsin.  They had no children of their own, and were very fond of their nieces.

1900-1905 The census for 1900 gives Emery’s occupation as ‘spoke manufacture.’  He was 56, Maggie 37, Anita 12, Maude 10, Ruth 8, and Marie seven months old.  Martha Wagner was a live-in helper.

Mother said her father manufactured spokes for Studebaker wagons.  He invented a way to put metal rods in the center of each spoke, thus a much stronger wagon wheel could be produced.  She told me had had one spoke factory; then built another in a better location where the logs could come down the river.  I believe there was a factory at Cadott, Wisconsin and/or Neillsville.  I think he had a partner in the spoke business.  Aunt Dede said Emery also owned a ginseng farm with Pat Molloy as manager.

Emery’s much younger brother Edward died on 19 April 1902.  Mother told me her Uncle Edward did not want nails in his coffin and Emery made certain wooden pegs were used.  Mother wrote, "Uncle Ed was a dear - could entertain a group of youngsters by the hour.  He had a small farm right in Neillsville.  It had a pretty house and beautiful lawn.  I was ten when he died and heartbroken."

It was in 1904 when Emery patented his first two metal fence posts.  The following year he formed the Bruley Steel Fence Post Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Family tradition says these metal fence posts were used along the Green Bay and Western Railroad right of way.  Louis Jorgenson, a brother-in-law, was an executive with the railroad.

Aunt Dede recalled Shell, Boat & Boyd, a Milwaukee manufacturing company, wanted to produce, market and distribute the fence post under their name and pay Emery a royalty.  He preferred to have his own name on the post, which turned out to be an unfortunate choice as presumably Grandfather did not have the capital to proceed as the established company would have had.  The metal fence post was a clever, needed invention.

Grandfather is said to have held 14 patents which included fence posts, a wrecking bar, and railroad crossing signals with flashing lights.  I checked patents prior to 1898 and these were not among them.  The only later patents checked are Emery’s for his three styles of fence posts patented in 1904 and 1905.  The drawings for these patents are not quite the same as the fence post actually produced and sold.  If the posts were made as late as World War I the company would soon have been unable to get the needed steel.

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