From RootsWeb
From Historic Wake Forest Cemetery (pdf)
John Bruce Brewer – At age 17, John joined the Junior Reserves as Sergeant in Company K, 2nd Regiment North Carolina. His grandfather, Samuel Wait, was the founder of Wake Forest College. After the war, Brewer graduated from Wake Forest College and later served as President of both Chowan College and Averitt College of Danville, Virginia.
From Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography edited by Lyon Gardiner Tyler
John Bruce Brewer, A. M.
As president of Roanoke Institute for Young Women (formerly Roanoke College), Professor Brewer since June. 1907, has at that institution continued the work to which forty-five years of useful life have been devoted—the education of the young. The greater part of his time he has been at the head of institutions of learning devoted, as is Roanoke Institute, to the education of young women, fifteen years of his life having been given to Chowan Baptist Female Institute, Murfreesboro, North Carolina, six years to Franklin Female Seminary, Franklin, Virginia, and seven years to Roanoke Institute. His long service as an educator is not duplicated in the state, nor is his varied and successful experience as the head of prominent female institutions of learning.
President Brewer is a son of John Marchant Brewer, born in Nansemond county, Virginia, in 1820, a merchant of Wake Forest, North Carolina, until the civil war, served in the Confederate army, then became a farmer, died aged eighty-seven years. He married Ann Eliza Waite, born in Washington. D. C., who died aged seventy-five years. Children: John Bruce, of whom further; Mary A., married William P. Perry; Samuel Waite; William Cary; Sarah M., married L. W. Bagley; Richard Louis; Harriet Bruce, married Dr. J. B. Powers; LydiaBruce, married N. B. Josey; Dr. Charles E.; Jesse, died in infancy.
Professor John Bruce Brewer, son of John Marchant and grandson of John Brewer, was born at Wake Forest, North Carolina, August 26, 1846. He attended the local schools until the last year of hostilities between the North and South, then entered the Confederate army, enlisting May 2, 1864, in the Seventieth North Carolina Regiment; was engaged at the battles of Kingston and Bentonville, surrendering with General Johnson’s army to General Sherman, his service covering exactly one year. He engaged in farming one year after the war, then entered Wake Forest College, whence he was graduated in 1868. He began teaching at once, securing a positon at Mapleville. North Carolina, where he taught two years. He then located for eleven years at Wilson. North Carolina, teaching six of these years in Wilson Collegiate Institute, and five years in Wilson Collegiate Seminary, as instructor of modern languages. He had become well known as an educator, and in 1881 was elected president of the Chowan Baptist Female Institute, of Murfreesboro, North Carolina. He continued the honored head of that institution for fifteen years, the school prospering under his administration, while he was growing in experience, knowledge and reputation. He was absent from the teacher’s platform for several years, but again took up the work in which he had been so successful. For six years he was president of Franklin Female Seminary, Franklin, Virginia, being elected president of the faculty of Roanoke Institute at Danville, Virginia, in 1907, succeeding Dr. R. E. Hatton. Roanoke Institute, founded in 1859, originally bore the name “The Union Female College,” which in 1864 was changed to “Roanoke Female College.” In 1904 it was again changed to “Roanoke College,” and in 1910 to meet the wishes of the “Baptist Education Commission of Virginia,” it was given its present name, “Roanoke Institute.” of Danville, Virginia. The “Institute” continues to do collegiate work, its courses of study being even more extensive and thorough than when it bore the name “College.” Professor Brewer, in addition to his office as president, also occupies the chair of mathematics. His high standing as an educator is fully recognized, and his reputation is founded on years of splendid work and achievement. He is a member of many educational societies, and has contributed largely to the literature of his profession. He is a member of the First Baptist Church of Danville.
Professor Brewer married, July 2, 1873, m Franklin, North Carolina, Ann Elizabeth Joiner, born in Franklin, daughter of W. H. and Julia H. (Timberlake) Joiner. Mrs. Brewer’s father died from exposure while serving in the Confederate army, in which five of her brothers also served, two bravely meeting their death in battle. Julia H. (Timberlake) Joiner died in 1874. Children: Julia B.; Thomasson; Ann Bruce,married Claude Gore; John Bruce, deceased; Mary A., married D. A. Fenton; Jessie T., graduated from the Baptist University for Women, Raleigh, North Carolina, pupil of Rafael Joseffy, New York City, now teacher of piano, Roanoke Institute for Young Women; William H., deceased; Miriam, died in infancy; Louise, died in infancy; Elizabeth.