Biography of J. Bruce Pessell, page 160 / 161.  History of Northeast 
Indiana; LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Vol. II, under the 
editorial supervision of Ira Ford, Orville Stevens, William H. McEwen, and 
William H. McIntosh.  The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago and New York, 1920.

   J. Bruce Pessell.  It is always pleasant and profitable to contemplate 
the career of a man who has made a success of life and won the honor and 
respect of his fellow citizens.  Such is the record of the well-known 
citizen whose name forms the caption of this sketch, than whom are more 
whole-souled or popular man it would be difficult to find in the community 
where he has his home.
   J. Bruce Pessell, postmaster of Butler, Indiana, was born at Quincy, 
Michigan, on August 17, 1882, and is the son of Henry D. and Susanna E. 
(Watkins) Pessell, the latter of whom was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia.  
Henry D. Pessell was born in Devonshire, England, and at the age of fifteen 
years came to the United States, locating at Quincy, Michigan, where he 
grew to manhood.  He was a farmer by vocation and was successful in his 
business affairs.  Under President Cleveland's administration he was 
appointed postmaster of Quincy, serving one term of four years.  In 1903 
he was fatally stricken by lightning and his widow died in 1908.  They 
were active members of the Episcopal Church.  Mr. Pessell was greatly 
interested in Freemasonry, having taken all the degrees of the York Rite 
and those of the Scottish Rite up to and including the thirty-second 
degree.  He was eminent commander of the Commandery of Knights of Templar 
at Coldwater and had an appointment from the grand commander of Knights 
Templar of Michigan to go to Porto Rico in the interest of that order.  
Mrs. Pessell was a member of the Order of Eastern Star. Politically Mr. 
Pessell was a democrat and stood high in the councils of his party 
locally.
   To Henry D. and Susanna were born eight children, of whom seven are 
living, namely: George, superintendent of the city water works at Los 
Angeles, California; Arthur, assistant baggage master on one of the 
railroads running into Los Angeles; Lucile, who is a teacher in a 
poltechnic school in Los Angeles; Sarah, of Glenellyn, Illinois; Fred, a 
manufacturer of butter at Arcadia, Ohio; Cora, who lives in the old home 
at Quincy, Michigan; and the subject of this sketch.
   J. Bruce Pessell attended the public schools of Quincy, being a 
graduate of the high school, after which he attended and graduated in the 
agricultural course from the Ohio State University. During the ensuing 
three yeas he was employed in the making of butter and ice cream at 
Cleveland, Ohio, and in 1904 he came to Butler and engaged in the same 
line of work, in which he was successful.  On February 11, 1915, he was 
appointed postmaster of Butler, and is now serving his second term in that 
position, this reappointment meeting with the hearty approval of the 
patrons of the office whom he had faithfully served for four years.  
Attentive to the interest of the people of the community and courteous in 
his dealings with them, he has won a host of friends.  Mr. Pessell is also 
captain of the Butler fire department. Fraternally he is identified with 
the Masonic order, in which he has met with distinctive preferment, being 
a past master of the Blue Lodge, a past high priest of the Chapter and 
past illustrious master of the Council.  Religiously he and his wife are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the advancement of which 
they are deeply interested.
   Mr. Pessell was married to Addie Austin, of Quincy, Michigan, and their 
union has been blessed by two children, Rovella and Clyde.  Mr. Pessell is 
well endowed with those qualities which go to the making of good citizens, 
and he has won and retains the esteem of his fellow citizens to a marked 
degree.

Submitted by:
Arlene Goodwin
Auburn, Indiana
Agoodwin@ctlnet.com