Clemens Bruning is one of the leading business men of Breda, Carroll County, with whose interests he has been identified since the spring of 1879, the town of Breda being at that date but a small hamlet. On settling here in 1879 he engaged in the mercantile business, which he still continues under the firm name of Bruning & Son, and from the first has been one of the prominent citizens. In the fall of 1879 he bought the lumber interests of Mr. Simpson, and is still engaged in dealing in lumber, and to this business he added the sale of agricultural implements, and being a man of good business qualifications, combined with persevering industry, he has been successful in his various enterprises. Mr. Bruning is a native of Germany, born in the year 1830, and was reared in that county till attaining the age of eighteen years. He then, in 1848, immigrated with his father’s family to America, they locating in Grant County, Wisconsin. Clemens Bruning subsequently left Grant County for Illinois, and for some time was engaged in mining in the vicinity of Galena. He lived in Wisconsin and Illinois until coming to Carroll County in 1879, as before stated. The father, J. H. Bruning, continued to reside in Grant County until his death. In politics Clemens Bruning, the subject of this sketch, is a Democrat. In his religious faith he is a Roman Catholic. He was married in Grant County, Wisconsin, to Miss Mary A. Arts, a sister of William Arts, of Carroll. Thirteen children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bruning, of whom eleven are still living, seven sons and four daughters.

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