lawyer, politician, historian, forester, b. Feldhausen, Oldenburg, Germany. He migrated to the U.S. when he was 16. While working as a reporter on a Milwaukee newspaper, he studied law and was admitted to the bar (1892). He became prominent in Milwaukee while serving as city attorney (1894- 4898). He was a member of the state forestry commission (1897-1899), and from 1902 to 1904 was assistant forester at the Biltmore School of Forestry, Ashville, N.C. Bruncken served as legislative reference librarian for California (1904-1909). In 1909 he became assistant registrar of copyrights in the Congressional library, serving in this position until 1916 when he was dismissed for alleged statements critical of President Wilson. He later returned to Milwaukee. A Republican, he was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in 1924. He was secretary of the Milwaukee Harbor Commission (1925-1931). Bruncken wrote extensively on German-American history, was the author of works on forestry, and a translator for the American Legal Philosophy Series. Who's Who in Amer., 15 (1928); New York Times, May 6, 1916; C. J. Child, German-Amer. in Politics (Madison, [1939]); Milwaukee Journal, Sept. 18, 1933.Learn More
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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]
