Mary Bruner was born in March 1825 in Point of Rocks, MD. Little is known of her early years, however, on September 16, 1838, at the age of 13, she gave birth to a son, Rufus Bruner.
Sometime before 1850, Mary and Rufus moved to the little village of Berlin (now Brunswick). [Documentation for this: The 1850 census taker listed the following people living together in Petersville District, which included Berlin: • Michael Breslin, age 45, born in Ireland • Mary Breslin, age 26, born in Maryland • Rufus Breslin, age 11, born in Maryland\
There is a Michael Brislin (1803 – April 22, 1854) buried in the Old Berlin Cemetery. I assume the census taker got the first names of Mary and Rufus and assumed they were part of Michael’s family. Otherwise, the ages seem to match reasonably well.]
About 1854, Mary married an Irishman, Bernard (Bernie, Bill) McDonald, 5 years older than she. Bernard was a railroad hand at the time, and later became a superintendent.
Mary’s son Rufus was still living at home when the Civil War broke out. In the fall of 1861, it was apparent that the South was serious about their efforts to invade the North, and Rufus, now 23 years old, enlisted in the Union infantry along with several other men from Berlin in the Potomac Home Brigade. This unit was charged with guarding the B&O Railroad, but when major conflicts broke out, they were involved. These included the Battle of Harper’s Ferry (September 1862), the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1863), and the Battle of Monocacy (July 1864). After the war, Rufus returned home, married (but had no children), and worked on the railroad. He and his wife Helen lived with his mother for a few years, then (by 1870) moved into their own home in Berlin. He died of consumption (TB) on February 2, 1897, as was buried in the Old Berlin Cemetery. Apparently, he was later reinterred, as his name and dates are inscribed on a tombstone shared by his wife (who died in 1927) in the Mountain View Cemetery in Sharpsburg, MD.
Interestingly, in all the censuses starting with 1850, it was Mary, not her husband, who was credited with owning the property where they lived. We have records of the following properties having been purchased or sold by her: • 1865: Lot #75 (on Third Street, now S. Maple Ave, beside where “Mommer’s” used to be, across from Dr. Horine’s pharmacy.) • 1867: Lot #4 (on Bridge or First Street, beside the old lock house, now on B&O property on Virginia Ave. extended). • Also of note, her nephew John McDonald sold lot #24 in 1881. (This is the current site of Beans in the Belfry and the adjacent apartment building. Another building on this lot was taken down to make room for the new bridge.) Mary “was known among railroad men as Mother Mac. For over 50 years she kept a boarding house there. Railroad officials when visiting Brunswick always went to her house for some of her famous mince pies and apple dumplings.” [Source: Obituary in Mail, Hagerstown] - 35 -
