My Genealogy Hound

GEORGE TRUMAN. One of the leading citizens of Spring Valley, Greene County, and a man whose success in life is due to his own ability and efforts, with a reputation which has led to his being elected to responsible positions in the community, is the above-named gentleman, a native of this county, and who has served as Mayor of Spring Valley. He is now carrying on the hardware business, in which he has an excellent trade, and owns good town property together with one hundred and twenty acres of excellent land in Pocahontas County, Iowa.

The Truman family is of the old Welsh stock, former generations having belonged to the Society of Friends. Joseph Truman, the grandfather of our subject, was born and died in Philadelphia, Pa. He was a coppersmith. He married a Miss Llewellyn, who was also of Welsh blood, and they reared a large family, among whom was a son, Jeffrey, who was born in Philadelphia in 1793. In 1819 this son came to Waynesville, Warren County, Ohio, where he engaged in teaching and merchandising. He spent two or three years at Bellbrook, this county, and then, in 1827, located and laid out the town of Transylvania, across the river from Spring Valley, and erected the first house there, which he ran as a tavern, also carrying on a store and being the first Postmaster. During the rest of his life, with the exception of four years during the ‘30s, his home was in the town which he had founded. The time of his absence was spent at Franklin, Warren County, and devoted to his trade of a silversmith. After returning from that place he again carried on the hotel, also working at his trade and teaching school. In the fall of 1850, he went to Waynesville to open up a shop, dying there on New Year’s Day, 1851. At the close of the Mexican War he was Assistant Paymaster.

Jeffrey Truman was the husband of three wives, the first being a Miss Lake, by whom he had one son, Thomas H., who died in Vermillion County, Ind. His second wife was Dorothy Ann Isham, who also bore one son, Joseph M., who died in California, leaving a family. The third wife was Jane, daughter of Josiah and Sarah A. (Porter) Elam, who became the mother of thirteen children, four of them dying in infancy. Those who grew to maturity were: Angeline, now deceased, who was the wife of Job Lashley; Isabella, who died at the age of fourteen years; George; Elvira, now living in Montana; Gorilla, wife of W. M. Scarff; Arthur, now of Montana; Henrietta, wife of William Adams; Jane, who died at the age of sixteen years; and Elam L., of Waynesville, Warren County. Mrs. Jane Truman was one of five sons and five daughters born to her parents, who removed from Pennsylvania to Kentucky and thence to this county in 1802. Mr. Elam had selected a location in Spring Valley Township the previous year, and upon his farm two and a half miles east of the town of Spring Valley, his daughter Jane was born in April, 1810. Mr. Elam took part in the Revolutionary War, and in the French and Indian War held a Captain’s commission under Gen. St. Clair. His demise took place about 1825.

The gentleman with whose name we introduce this biographical sketch was born at Transylvania, March 1, 1833, and was reared with but a common school education, laboring during his early life at anything he could find to do. At the age of eighteen years he began work at the trade of a blacksmith on the site now occupied by his hardware store, and followed the trade thirty-two years. In 1883 he converted his shop into a store and embarked in his present business enterprise, although he continued to carry on a shop until 1887. Reliable workmanship and honest dealing in all his business relations have given him a creditable standing as a mechanic and business man, and led to his being employed by a large number of patrons and securing the trade of a large circle.

During the late war Mayor Truman served as Orderly Sergeant in Company G, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Ohio Infantry. He has held the position of Justice of the Peace during three terms; was Township Trustee one term and has also been Township Treasurer. He has sat in the Mayor’s chair during several official terms and it is evident that the residents within the village think their interests are safe in his hands. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in politics is a Democrat. His religious belief is that expressed by the creed of the Methodist Protestant Church.

The first wife of Mayor Truman was Charlotte Simison, a native of this township, and a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Knight) Simison. The wedding ceremony took place September 19, 1857. The union resulted in the birth of two children: Ida J., who died at the age of twenty-one years, and Horace, who died when six years old. A second matrimonial alliance was contracted by Mr. Truman September 20, 1867, his present companion being Elvira, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Robins) Fisk. Like her husband, Mrs. Truman is a member of the Methodist Protestant Church. She had borne three children, the only son and second child, Joseph L., being the only survivor. Minnie, the first-born, died at the age of seven years and Cora at the age of three.