Alexander J. Truitt and Mary C. Zeitler

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Husband Alexander J. Truitt ¹

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           Born: 27 Jul 1857 - Oakland, Mahoning Twp, Armstrong Co, PA 2
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         Father: James A. Truitt (1828-1909) 1 3 4
         Mother: Sarah Jane Meredith (      -1908) 2 4

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       Marriage: 28 Jun 1886 5

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Wife Mary C. Zeitler ⁵

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         Father: John Zeitler (      -      ) 5
         Mother: Maria [Unk] (      -      ) 5

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Children

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1 M Alexander M. Truitt ⁵

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2 F Jean M. Truitt ⁵

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         Spouse: Joseph U. MacKethan (      -      ) 5

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3 M Edgar A. P. Truitt ⁵

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           Born: 22 Jun 1892 5
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           Died: 14 Mar 1907 5
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         Spouse: Did Not Marry

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General Notes: Husband - Alexander J. Truitt

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His early educational advantages were those afforded in the public schools of his native county. In the furtherance of higher academic discipline he entered Reid Institute, in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, and from this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1876. He soon afterwards began the study of law, and he was fortunate in gaining as his preceptor Edward S. Golden, of Kittanning, who was at that time a distinguished member of the Pennsylvania bar. Later, to fortify himself still further for the work of his profession, Mr. Truitt became a student in the law department of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1883 and from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Laws. As an undergraduate he had also availed himself of the privilege of continuing his technical reading under the direction of Gen. E. Spencer Miller, of Philadelphia, and after the death of this distinguished lawyer continued his law study under the preceptorship of Messrs. Gendell and Reeves, of the Philadelphia bar, until his graduation from the law school.
In September, 1883, Mr. Truitt was admitted to practice in the courts of Jefferson county, his admission to the Philadelphia bar having been virtually coincident with his reception of the degree of bachelor of laws. Apropos of his strong, reliant and progressive career as a lawyer and public-spirited citizen, the following extracts from a newspaper article are worthy of perpetuation in this connection:
"Mr. Truitt was among the first men who came to Punxsutawney at the time of the boom to that old town in 1883, as he arrived on one of the very first trains that came in over the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh railroad. From the day he arrived in the town he has been known as one of the progressive hustlers of the place and has taken an active part in all that pertained to the development and upbuilding of Punxsutawney. He was one of the promoters and original stockholders in the Mahoning Gas & Heat Company, the Punxsutawney Water Company, the Punxsutawney Mutual and the Home Building & Loan Associations, the Punxsutawney Street Passenger Railway Company and the Jefferson Electric Light, Heat & Power Company. He is legal representative also of many other large and important interests, both individual and corporate. Mr. Truitt was one of the most active members of the committee that secured the location and construction of the works of the Punxsutawney Iron Company at this bustling city in the Mahoning valley, as well as numerous other industries, and later he became prominently concerned in promoting the extension of one of our railroads through to Pittsburgh. He is known among his townsmen as a careful, industrious and safe legal adviser, and stands high in his profession. He has been successful financially and is considered one of the solid men of Punxsutawney."
As an attorney and counselor at law Mr. Truitt gained secure vantage ground as a resourceful and versatile trial lawyer and admirably fortified counselor. He appeared in connection with much important litigation in the courts of his section of the state and was eligible for practice in the Federal and Supreme courts of Pennsylvania and the United States. In connection with his substantial and important law business Mr. Truitt had the distinction, in 1907, of gaining a distinguished and notable victory, in that he was the first Pennsylvania attorney to have gained a reversal of a decision of the Supreme court of the state within a period of thirty years. The reversal was made by the United States Supreme court, in the Schlemmer case, in which Mr. Truitt had appeared for the plaintiff, who had brought suit for damages in connection with the death of her husband, the latter having met his death in an accident while serving as a railway employee.
He proved a forceful and effective advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party, in which connection he won no little fame as a campaign orator, in later years espousing its Progressive principles.
He and his wife were zealous members of the First Baptist Church of Punxsutawney. They took an active social and financial interest in all the churches and temperance movements and Y. M. C. A. activities of their borough. In 1908 they erected at Brooksville, Florida, an attractive and modern residence, which became the winter home of the family. Their Florida estate was situated fifty miles north of Tampa, and included a paper-shell pecan grove of five hundred trees and orchard groves-one thereof, containing over one thousand tangerine trees, said to be the largest number of these trees in any one grove in the world. Their Florida investments were under the active supervision of their only son, Alexander M., who was an active and progressive participant in the development of that Southern State.

1 Editor, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Company, 1917), Pg 63.

2 Editor, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Company, 1917), Pg 64.

3 Robert Walter Smith, Esq., History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Waterman, Watkins, & Co., 1883), Pg 618.

4 Editor, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 583, 665.

5 Editor, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Company, 1917), Pg 65.