The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Non-Cemetery burial, Specifically: Jacob was buried at Bald Ridge on the northwest corner of his farm
No cemetery found in Find-A-Grave in June 2020
Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:
Author: William Myers Cheak
Jacob Bruner (Brunner) was born 19 March 1764 in Frederick County Maryland; the son of Johann Henrich “Henry” Bruner and Maria Magdelina Sellers. He was baptized on Oct. 18 1764 in Frederick County, Maryland according to records of the Evangelical Reformed Church records. Jacob married Maria Margaret Cline in Maryland.
As a young boy, Jacob was taught the hat makers trade after the death of his father. Jacob enlisted in Frederick Town, Maryland and served as a private in the Maryland troops on different tours including three months in Captain Malairs Company in the fall of 1779; under Major Bailey in 1780 and six months in the spring of 1781 in Captain Thomas Beatty’s company. He was discharged after the surrender of Cornwallis. According to his pension statements most of Jacob’s service during the revolution was guarding Tory prisoners in Frederick Maryland and New Jersey.
After his marriage to Margaret Cline on 19 Aug 1784, Jacob moved to Millerstown, now Woodstock Virginia where he became a hat maker and teacher of German and English. In 1804, the Bruners moved to Greene County TN with all of their children. They made a home on Lick Creek near Baileyton. Jacob lived and farmed there the rest of his life. He also taught English and German and hosted camp meetings. Many of their neighbors were also revolutionary war patriots. His youngest son, Othneil, married a daughter of soldier Daniel Jones of nearby Hawkins County. He was granted a revolutionary war pension in 1832 and died 10 Aug 1847. He, his wife and several family members are buried in the northwest corner of their farm atop Bald Ridge in the Lost Mountain community near Baileyton in Greene County, TN.
Before moving to Tennessee Jacob was a member of the Dutch Methodist Church but in Tennessee joined the Methodist Episcopal Church as there were no other Dutch Methodists nearby. He was a deeply religious man all of his life.
During their marriage Jacob and Margaret had twelve children, ten of whom survived to have families of their own. One son John was killed while in service in the War of 1812 at Lookout Mountain, TN. Many of his adult children migrated west, most to Indiana and Arkansas while some remained in Tennessee.
Jacob’s Grandfather Joseph settled his family in Frederick Maryland and named the home place Schifferstadt in memory of their home in Germany. The stone home built by Joseph and one of his sons still bears the name Schifferstadt and is the oldest building in Frederick County. It is operated as a museum by the Frederick Landmarks Foundation showcasing German colonial architecture.
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