My Family Tree

Nelson Brace served in the Boer War. There is a paragraph in the Summerside paper in 1900 about Nelson returning from the War. He emigrated to the United States in 1903, where he married Catherine McLellan from Charlottetown in 1905.

from PEI Archives:
Nelson Talmadge Brace was baptized in Hampton, Prince Edward Island on 24 September 1883, the son of Richard Knight Brace, merchant, and Mary Olivia Schurman. As a young man he was part of the first Island contingent (named the Second (Special Service) Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment) to be sent to the Boer War. The contingent of 31 men left Charlottetown in October of 1899, arriving in Capetown on 29 November. They did not see active combat however until February of 1900 at the battle of Paardeburg where Brace was wounded. The contingent returned home in November of 1900 but Brace reenlisted and returned to South Africa.
Following the war, Nelson Brace married Catherine A. McClellan of Charlottetown and moved to the United States. They settled in the greater Boston area of Massachusetts where Nelson pursued a career in the transportation industry with the R.S. Brine Co. The Braces had two sons who survived childhood, Richard Nelson (1910 -1991) and Bruce Albert (1916- ) and a daughter Eleanor (1906-1964).
Nelson Brace died in 1953.

"Nelson T. Brace, aged 24, is the son of R. K. Brace of this town. He went to the front with the First Contingent and was wounded in the last fight at Paardeberg. Notwithstanding his wound, with invincible determination, he clung to the regiment and with it marched victoriously into Bloemfontein. In the general advance, he endeavoured to keep his place but finally succumbed at Winberg. However, after a short rest, he and Hedley McKinnon started north and the "Boys" who entered Pretoria, were astonished to find "Nelson and Hedley" bobbing up serenely the second day after the occupation of that city; they had defied the orders of Lord Roberts that no details should go farther than the Vaal and with consummate pluck, and perseverance, had almost been in at the death."

1910 US census: Nelson, Catherine, Nellie (Eleanor) and mother Olivia in Massachusetts.

Strangely enough, this is the family:

name: Norm T Beau (on the written form this could be Norman or Nelson Brace)
birthplace: Canada
residence: Everett Ward 2, Middlesex, Massachusetts
marital status: Married
immigration year: 1904
father's birthplace: Canada, mother's birthplace: Canada
family number: 514
page number: 30
Household Gender Age Birthplace
self Norm T Beau M 27y Canada
wife Catherine Beau F 26y Canada
dau Nellie Beau F 4y Massachusetts (Eleanor)
mother Olivia Beau F 55y Canada
Annie Mutch F 47y Canada
Citing this Record: "United States Census, 1910," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M2VC-YSH : accessed 05 Dec 2012), Norm T Beau, Everett Ward 2, Middlesex, Massachusetts; citing sheet 30B, family 514, NARA microfilm publication T624, FHL microfilm 1374610.

In the 1920 census, three children were with their parents - Richard, Bruce and Eleanor.
In the 1930 census:
Nelson T Brace M 47
Catherine A Brace F 46
Richard N Brace M 19
Bruce A Brace M 13
Charles O'Brien M 24
Eleanor O'Brien F 24 (daughter)

for Nelson in the Boer War see The Island Scrapbook by Benjamin Bremmer Charolottetown, Prince Edward Island: Irwin Print. Co., 1932 came from the website "Our roots/nos racines"
http://www.nosracines.ca/e/toc.aspx?id=6068
Islanders and the Boer War by Darin MacKinnon and Boyd Beck in the Island Magazine.
Military databases on the National Library website

The sketch of Nelson Brace came from the website http://vre2.upei.ca/islandmagazine/
the Island's Florence Nightingale by Boyde Beck, also from the Island Magazine. The caption under the picture reads:
Technically,Pope and her Canadian nurses were only to nurse Canadian troops in South Africa, but once on the scene, that regulation was ignored.Nevertheless, it is unlikely Pope ever got to nurse any of the Island wounded, such as Nelson T. Brace.
From Annie B. Mellish, Our Boys Under Fire (Charlottetown,1900).

assembled by Jane Dyment