J. F. Bruster, a well known farmer of the Fifth District, was born November 26, 1845, in White County. He is the youngest child of William and Kittie (Finley) Bruster. The father was born in 1796 in Virginia, and married in 1820. He immigrated to Tenn essee in 1825, arriving here without funds. He made shoes at night while learning the tanners’ trade. For twenty-five years he was a tanner at Sparta, where, in 1841, he purchased a farm and engaged in farming and stock raising, making a specialty of blooded stock, amassing considerable wealth. He was a Whig. His death occurred in 1852. The mother was born in 1803 in Kentucky, and died in 1884, a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Our subject was educated in Alabama and Tennessee. In 1866 he began farming and stock raising. In 1876 he entered into the mercantile business, and sold out five years later to W. J. Winstead. He married, in 1866, Amanda, daughter of Daniel and Rachel Sinvil of this county. Eight children were born to this union, seven of whom are living. Mr. Bruster is a stanch Democrat. He and his wife are earnest and esteemed members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.

Source:   Goodspeed Pub. Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present; Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of the Counties of White, Warren, Coffee, DeKalb, and Cannon, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Original Observations, Reminiscences, Etc., Etc. Nashville: Goodspeed Pub. Co, 1887.