Col. Christopher Truby
COL. CHRISTOPHER TRUBY, ancestor of Mrs. Caroline (Truby) Robinson, widow of Elisha Robinson, came to this section from Bucks county, Pa., where he was born in 1736, 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 upon 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 Turby 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 Bridadier 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." Christopher Truby died Feb. 20, 1802, and was buried in the German cemetery at Greensburg. 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 Westmoremland county).
Colonel Truby married Isabella Bowman and had seven children, the four sons being Michael, Christopher, Jr. (Born 1761, died 1845, buried near Millers Eddy, in Perry township, Armstrong county), Jacob and John.
Michael Truby, son of Christopher, is named on the list of pioneers for Revolutionary and military services in Armstrong county, granted pensions as soldiers of the Revolution by Act of the Pennsylvania Legislature March 20, 1838.
Samuel Truby, son of Michael Truby, was born in 1808, and died aged eighty-four years. He married Anna Sterling, and they were the parents of the following: Jerome died aged nine years; Caroline became the wife of Elisha Robinson; Amanda married Dr. C. M. Matson, of Brookville, Pa., she being his second wife (all the children of his first union are deceased except Dr. Eugene Matson, of Pittsburgh; by the second union there was one son, Dr. W. W. Matson, a physician of Brookville); Mary married Capt. Frank Clark; Sarah never married; Samuel C. was a jeweler of Brookville. All are deceased except Mrs. Elisha Robinson.
Source: Pages 975-976, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed November 1998 by Joyce Sherry for the Armstrong County Beers Project
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