Truby, Jacob (1795-). gunsmith.1821-31, Lot no.17, Water St., Kittanning, Armstrong County. According to J.M. Turner [Genealogy of the Ander¬son-Corbett-McCullough-Truby Families there were two men named Jacob Truby, contemporaries, in Armstrong County. They have been con-fused in part because the gunsmith Jacob Truby left the area unexpectedly. The gunsmith was not the man discussed in R.W. Smith [History of Armstrong County. pp. 111 and 571]. The non-gunsmith died in 1857 and there is an estate on file for him [file 1241]. That man was married to Mary Ann Lauf¬fer [1775-1860] and he and his wife are both buried at Rambaugh Cemetery. The gunsmith Jacob Truby was born on 9 July 1795, a son of Michael and Anna Maria (Kline) Truby [Ruff, German Church Records of Westmoreland County, II, 184]. While a young man, Truby's family moved to Armstrong County, and there married Catherine Mechling (7 March 1795 to 24 June 1866), daughter of Michael and Anna Maria (Altman) Mechling. Catherine's tombstone stands in Kittanning Ceme¬tery. The Kittanning Gazette of 26 February 1831 carried a notice that Jacob Truby's two story frame house, kitchen, large shop and large building were sold by the high sheriff to satisfy debts brought in a suit by Lisha Robinson. These buildings were purchased by Philip Mech¬ling, brother of Catherine Mechling Truby. She continued to occupy the house until her death. Tax lists show her as an inhabitant, but not as a widow. Truby, Jacob, gunsmith, German [Palestine Village] Darke County Ohio. Michael Truby, the father of Jacob, died on 30 July 1842 and his obituary appeared in the Armstrong Democrat of 4 August 1842. It noted that Michael was 83 years old and was a son of Col. Christopher Truby. Jacob was a Revolutionary War drummer, at age 16, and was at Ft. Pitt under Col. Brodhead; and had defended Hanna's Town when attacked by Simon Girty.
I would regard Truby as a western PA gunsmith more than an OH maker.
