William Edward was born in 1846 in Charlottetown, the son of George Brace and Hannah Mann. He married Catherine S. McDonald in Massachusetts in 1874 and they had four children: Hannah E. (1875-1894), William E. (1876-1893), John A. (1878-?), and Charles (1880-1902).
In the 1880 census, William and Catherine were living in Boston where he was a boot and shoe maker. They had four children in this census: Hannah (1875), William (1876), John (1878) and Charles (1880).
Catherine died three years later, in 1883.
In the 1900 census, William was living with two sons, Charles (20) and William (18). Is this second William a mistake? When Charles died, his obituary described him as being the youngest son of William Brace. Also, this William would have been born before the first child named William died.
William Sr. was a policeman, Charles was an engineer, and William a clerk.
Their children William, Hannah, and Charles all died of some kind of TB. There is no death record for John, but he could not be identified in census records after 1880.
After Catherine's death, William married Mary C. Knecht in 1905. Her family had lived next to him. They had two children, neither of whom were mentioned in their mother's obituary (1949).
William is in the US census until 1920.
Brace, William February 3 1923 at Dorchester, Massachusetts at age 72 leaving widow and two children. He was retired from the Boston Police Department, as a policeman.
Second wife Catherine was in the 1930 census with her daughter Mary Catherine.
This looks like the family in the 1910 census:
name: Catherine M Brace
birthplace: Massachusetts
relationship to head of household: Wife
residence: Boston Ward 16, Suffolk, Massachusetts
father's birthplace: Massachusetts, mother's birthplace: Massachusetts
family number: 517, page number: 22
self William V Brace M 58y Canada
wife Catherine M Brace F 32y Massachusetts (Mary Catherine Knecht)
son Gertrude N Brace M 4y Massachusetts (Arthur N?)
Citing this Record "United States Census, 1910," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M2KB-VSQ : accessed 09 Jan 2013), Catherine M Brace in household of William V Brace, Boston Ward 16, Suffolk, Massachusetts; citing sheet 22A, family 517, NARA microfilm publication T624, FHL microfilm 1374633.
Citing this Record: "United States Census, 1880," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MHXT-VHT : accessed 08 Dec 2012), William E Brace, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; citing sheet 143B, family 0, NARA microfilm publication T9-0560.
