Truby History

It is widely held that the first Truby (Trubi/Drubi) immigrant to this country was Christopher (Christofel/Christian) along with his wife, Maria Catherine.  Christopher was born about 1701 in Switzerland.  Having fled from France in 1685, the “Trubi’s” were living in Switzerland near the source of the Rhine River.

From 1738 to 1743, large numbers of French Huguenots and Palatinate families, with some Swiss and Germans, settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania seeking refuge from religious persecution.  Only slightly ahead of this movement, Christopher and Maria came to Pennsylvania from Switzerland aboard the ship Brittania, of London, having sailed from Rotterdam on 21 Sept 1731.

Not being of English citizenship, Christopher “Trewbey” was naturalized in 1740 taking his oath of allegiance to the British Monarch in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He was shown to be a Quaker at the time.  It isn’t clear whether he was actually a practicing Quaker or simply took his oath at the same time as a group of Quakers and was “lumped into” the Quaker group.  As a Colonel in the Revolution, he obviously bore arms and fought, which generally goes against the Quaker faith.  Truby’s in this country have tended to live in German oriented communities and have attended German churches.  The early records of their births and marriages are found in German Lutheran and Reformed churches, causing me to believe he was not actually a practicing Quaker.

Christopher Truby was a Colonel in the Revolutionary War and his descendants are well documented for several generations by those who became members of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) (mostly in the early 1900’s, much closer in time to Christopher’s nearest descendants than us).  Most Truby researchers claim to descend directly from Col. Truby and his six children.

However, after 30-plus years of research, attempts to document the pedigree of our David Truby have been fruitless to date.  I have been unable to find documentation of David’s parents and cannot link him to any of the known descendants of Christopher.  There is a David Truby (married to Mary Jackson) who is definitely a descendant of Col. Truby, however, this is not our David and Mary.  I have proof that our David and Mary stayed in Venango County, Pennsylvania until their deaths and had at least 10 children.  David (the proven descendant of Col. Truby) and his wife, Mary, moved to Missouri and had no children.  I have found documentation to prove that as well.  So despite the fact that these two David’s were born within a  couple years of each other and lived in neighboring counties in Pennsylvania, since they were living in different states at the exact same time in later life, I know that they are two separate couples with the same names.  Also, the 1850 census shows our David Truby (born about 1827) living in Venango County, another David Truby (born about 1828) living in Butler County and David Truby (descendant of Col. Christopher Truby, born about 1832) living in Armstrong County...all at the same time.  And apparently there was still another David Truby about the same age who lived in Clarion County. 

There were a pair of brothers (Andrew and Jacob Truby) living in Venango County, Pennsylvania who could be possible fathers for our David, however, I can find no documentation linking him to either of them.  I also have found no other researchers who claim to descend from these brothers.  Everyone apparently wants to be a descendant of the Revolutionary War soldier.  It is noteworthy, however, that Andrew and Jacob, for a time, ran the Truby Hotel which was on a river in Venango Co.  Our David did happen to own two flatboats and was a retail dealer in liquor, so....

I have spoken with and met a few other descendants of our David and Mary.  In comparing our notes, it seems that we all hit the proverbial brick wall with David and Mary. My narrative of Ula’s ancestors is restricted only to known, documented ancestors.