Col. Christopher Truby and Isabella Bowman
Husband Col. Christopher Truby 1 2
Born: 1736 - Bucks Co, PA 2 3 Christened: Died: 20 Feb 1802 2 4 Buried: - German Cemetery, Greensburg, Westmoreland Co, PA
Father: Christopher Truby ( - ) 2 Mother:
Marriage: - Bucks Co, PA
• Note: This may be the same person as : Christopher Truby.
Wife Isabella Bowman 2 4
Born: Abt 1738 Christened: Died: 24 Aug 1801 2 5 Buried: - German Cemetery, Greensburg, Westmoreland Co, PA
Children
1 M Michael Truby 2 6
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
2 M Christopher Truby 2 4
Born: 1761 4 Christened: Died: 1845 4 Buried: - near Millers Eddy, Perry Twp, Armstrong Co, PA
3 M Jacob Truby 2 4
Born: - Bucks Co, PA Christened: Died: - Bucks Co, PA Buried:
4 M John Truby 2 7
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Magdalena Raymer ( - ) 8
5 F [Unk] Truby 9
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Dr. Simeon Hovey (1763-Abt 1837) 10
6 F [Unk] Truby
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
7 F [Unk] Truby
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
General Notes: Husband - Col. Christopher Truby
Truby: This name has existed in Pennsylvania since early in the eighteenth century. A family of this name was in Bucks County by 1736, and the name had reached Westmoreland County before the revolution. From both these counties, however, it seems early to have disappeared. Various items relating to persons of this name may be gathered in the old records and more modern documents, but their correct relations among themselves are not so readily determined. The following is given as a probable account only.
(I) Christopher Truby (spelled Trewbey in the record) was naturalized in Philadelphia in September, 1740; he had then resided at least seven years in America, and was of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Unless he be the same person as Christian Trueby, whose will, dated November 6, 1753, was proved in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on the twenty-sixth of the same month, we have no further knowledge of him. This Christian Trueby was of Hilltown township; he names his wife Catharine, and six children were then living. Holding the identity of a person under these slightly differing names as probable, Col. Christopher Truby is naturally supposed to be among the six children. [GPHAV, 841]
He came to western Pennsylvania from Bucks County, where he was born, and settled on land which is now part of the site of Greensburg, Westmoreland (then Bedford) County, about 1771. He was one of the important men of the region in his day, having been commissioner for Westmoreland county in 1774, and justice of the peace June 11, that year. On Aug. 18, 1784, he was reelected justice of the peace and judge of the court of Common Pleas of the county. He owned a blockhouse or fort on his property in Hempfield township, Westmoreland County, which was a place of refuge for the early settlers. He built the first courthouse at Greensburg. During the Revolutionary war he was extremely active in the Colonial cause. In February, 1778, he was a captain of the Westmoreland county militia, his son Michael (who was an early settler of Kittanning, Armstrong County) acting as drummer whenever the company was called into service. In 1790 Christopher Truby served as lieutenant colonel in General Harmar's campaign against the Indians, he and Maj. James Paull commanding the battalion of Pennsylvania militia. A letter from the war department, Washington, D. C., to Miss Elizabeth R. Robinson, Nov. 11, 1903, shows the following: "Christopher Truby served as a member of Colonel Barr's Detachment of Pennsylvania Militia, Revolutionary war (rank not stated), which was ordered out on an expedition to the Indian country by Brigadier General Hand, commanded by Col. Alexander Barr. His name appears on a general pay abstract of the detachment. This abstract, dated March 9, 1778, shows the soldiers in service from Feb. 10, 1778, to March 8, 1778." His name appears with those of William Findley, John Kirkpatrick, Frederick Rohrer, Dr. Simeon Hovey, James Hill, and others, as supporters of the government and George Washington, in a petition dated 1794 (inhabitants of Westmoreland county). [HAC 1914, 975]
He was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, of which county his father is recorded as a resident at the time of his naturalization. About 1771 Christopher Truby, the son, moved to Bedford, now Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and settled upon land which subsequently became a portion of the site of the town of Greensburg, the county seat. In 1774 he was commissioner for the county, and on June 11, 1777, was commissioned one of the justices of the peace for Westmoreland county.
In February, 1778, he was captain in the Westmoreland Militia, and throughout the Revolution was the owner of a blockhouse, or fort, erected upon his premises in Hempfield township, which was occupied by his family and neighbors as a refuge from the enemy. From this building scouting expeditions against the Indians were frequently sent.
August 18, 1784, Christopher Truby was re-elected justice of the peace, and was made judge of the court of common pleas of Westmoreland County. In 1790 he served with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in General Harmar's campaign against the Indians, commanding, in association with Major Paull, the battalion of Pennsylvania Militia. He was one of the signers of a letter addressed to General Jackson by the inhabitants of Westmoreland county.
The records of the Pennsylvania land office show Christopher Truby to have been the owner of three tracts of land situated in Hempfield township, Westmoreland County, and acquired by purchase from the state. Two of these were surveyed on warrants granted to him, and the third on an application entered by Philip Fasselman. The earliest of the warrants is dated August 16, 1784, and was issued for a tract consisting of two hundred and seventy-four acres adjoining the lands of Dewalt Mechlin and Philip Kuhns. The second warrant is dated December 5, 1785, and the land for which it was granted was surveyed December 5, 1787. It comprised two hundred and two acres situated on the banks of a branch of Sewickley creek, and adjoining the lands of William Jack and others. The warrant for this tract included an improvement made in 1772. Greensburg was laid out upon land owned by Christopher Truby and General William Jack, who contributed for the nominal sum of six pence ground for the erection of a court-house and prison.
Christopher Truby married before leaving his native county.
1 —, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 958, 975.
2 John W. Jordan, LL.D, A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People, Vol. III (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1908), Pg 432.
3 —, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 975.
4 —, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 976.
5 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 842.
6 —, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 369, 976.
7 —, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 958.
8 Fenwick Y. Hedley, Old and New Westmoreland, Vols. III & IV (New York, NY: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1918), Pg 399.
9 —, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 534.
10
—, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 534, 981.
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