Isaac Irvin Truex (1854 - 1942)

Born 22 Feb 1854 in Brown County, Indiana, USA

Ancestors

Died 12 Jul 1942 at age 88 in Delphos, Ottawa County, Kansas, USA

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Biography

Isaac I. Truex was born in 1854. He was the son of John Truex and Sarah Haiselup. He passed away in 1942, and was buried at Delphos Cemetery, Delphos, Ottawa County, Kansas.^[1]

Obituary

I.I. Truex Saw The Valley Grow Up

Well Known Pioneer Resident Passes Away Monday at Home of His Daughter in Delphos

The Delphos community lost another of its few remaining pioneer citizens Monday morning in the death of I.I. Truex, beloved "old timer" who passed away quite suddenly at the home of his daughter, Mrs. I.W. Ferris, at the age of 88 years, four months and 21 days. "Uncle Ike" had lived in this valley for nearly 70 years.

Mr. Truex had been in comparatively good health until last weekend. He had been living alone on his farm southwest of Delphos, but on Friday his daughter insisted that he remain in town for a few days because he was "not so well." On Sunday evening he suffered a stroke from which he never recovered. Death came about 9:30 Monday morning.

Uncle Ike came to Ottawa County in the spring of 1874 – along with the historic grasshopper plague. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. John M. Truex, settled in this community the preceding fall and had homesteaded the farm on which Ike had in recent years made his home. The family came from Brown County, Indiana, where Ike was born on a farm between Nashville and Belleville on February 22, 1854.

A young man of about 20 years, Ike rode the Kansas Pacific railroad as far west as Solomon and travelled the remainder of the way on foot. Trampling along through bluestem grass shoulder high, he was several days in reaching Delphos. He had no idea where to find his father, mother and eight brothers and sisters who had preceded him in the journey west. Arriving in this vicinity late one evening, he spotted a lighted sod shanty near the place where Charley Parks now lives. He stopped there to inquire about his folks and was directed the Truex homestead a mile or so west.

The young Hoosier apparently liked the Solomon Valley, for the following year he sent for his Indiana sweetheart, Margaret Ann Thirkil of South Bethany. Shortly after her arrival here they were married at Ike's father's house December 27, 1875. A large "looking glass" given to the newlyweds when charivaried by the neighbors was one of Mr. and Mrs. Truex's treasured possessions. Ike and his bride lived with "the folks" for the remainder of the winter, and in the spring rented a dugout in the Eames neighborhood – while Ike busied himself building a dugout of his own in a field that is now a part of the Emmett Srna farm. Later, a two story rock house was built nearby, and it was there that Ike lived while teaching school at District 66 in "the hills." He homesteaded 160 acres near there and broke most of it out, driving a team of oxen, "Buck" and "Bright," after school. Mrs. Ferris, the oldest daughter, was born on this farm in 1877. She remembers that her father was a little disappointed for he had wanted a boy, and besides, "she was a year too late for the big centennial."

After moving about to two other farms in the valley for a few years, Ike and his family finally bought 40 acres of his father's homestead and built a home northwest of where the present Truex home now stands. It was there that Ike began his cultivation of berries, for which he later became famous. He lived on this place for about 15 years. later, he moved his family to the farm where Martin Anderson now resides, remaining there for about 10 years. When his father and mother came to town, about 1905, he bought the old homestead from the heirs and lived there for the remainder of his life.

It is this farm that Ike christened "Bluffdale." It is situated on a bluff, and besides "we had to sort of bluff our way along," Ike sometimes explained. It was at Bluffdale that he did his biggest berry business. He made a good living from a six-acre patch of berries and gained prominence as an authority on the cultivation of fruit of all kinds. When he first came to Ottawa County there was no "tame" fruit here of any kind. "You simply can't imagine how crazy people were for fruit," he often said. It was about 1878 that he marketed the first strawberries ever grown in this community. In an article published in the Kansas City Star in 1916. Mr. Truex was quoted: "The first lot of strawberries I took to market at Delphos consisted of only four boxes, but they were as much a curiosity as a two-headed calf. G.N. Billings, Delphos banker, came to Strickler's store, got the four boxes out of the showcase and took them around town to show to his friends."

"It was my ambition," Ike said in the article, "to be able to pick a thousand boxes of berries in a day. Well, the time came when we did pick that number every day for a week – and one day, 1,240 boxes. In a single season I realized $280 from half an acre. He recalled that his daughters, or "my boys," as he called them, were better pickers than any he could hire, and sometimes he had 25 or 30 pickers at one time.

Although his formal education was meager according to modern standards. Mr. Truex was an apt scholar and a typical self-educated man of the "old school." In his early years in the valley he taught school at several districts. His career began in a dugout on the old Hollis place west of the present Fred Rockhold farm site. Other teaching jobs were held at "Sand Hill," District 47, and "Old 66" in the hills. The possessor of a fine tenor voice, he had studied music in Indiana before coming to Kansas. In his new home he was in much demand as a singing master. He conducted singing schools at district 20 (Cedar Grove) and also in Delphos. He had a keen interest in music and many impromptu concerts were held at the Truex home, centering about Ike, his violin, and the girls who also liked to sing.

Mr. Truex was a second cousin of Mrs. Anna Morgan, pioneer housewife who was kidnapped by the Indians in the 60s, and about whom many articles have been written. After living with her captors for about a year she was released by a group of soldiers under the leadership of General Custer. It was at a bend of the river where Press Courtney now lives that Mrs. Morgan was kidnapped, Ike said.

After his wife's death in 1940, Mr. Truex chose to stay on the farm by himself despite all attempts to get him to move into town. In his solitude there, the plants and flowers which he raised were his chief interest and sole companions. As Mrs. Ferris remarked, "They were like people to him." He loved to sit on his porch and look out to the hills and "Mt. Boyer," and to watch his neighbors at work in the fields of the valley. He was an honest and industrious man of the true pioneer stock. His kindliness will always remain in the hearts of his daughters and his many friends.

He is survived by four daughters: Mrs. I.W. Ferris and Mrs. G.F. Rollings of Delphos, Mrs. Tom Rockhold of Solomon, and Mrs. H. Bohannan of Benson, Arizona. A fifth daughter, Lulu, died at the age of 13 months.

He was the eldest of a large family and surviving are also two brothers and four sisters: George W. of Long Beach, Calif., who was visiting here at the time of Mr. Truex's death; Sherman of Escanedo, Calif., Mrs. Mary F. Clark, Fort Shaw, Montana; Mrs. Maggie Swayze of Salt Lake City, Utah, Mrs. Angelia Holt of St. Anthony, Idaho, and Mrs. Al Chance of Los Angeles, Calif. A sister, Mrs. J.T. Duncan, and a brother, T.N. Truex, passed away several years ago.

Funeral services were held at the Presbyterian Church in Delphos on Thursday afternoon, July 16 at four o'clock, with the Rev. H.G. Feldmann officiating. Pallbearers were Paul Peterson, Miles Parks, Lee Duncan, Frank White, Dan Smith and Clyde Parks. The Hartley Funeral service was in charge, and burial was made in the local cemetery.^[2]

Sources

• United States Census, 1860, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4FK-71T

• United States Census, 1870, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXX3-LX1

• Kansas State Census, 1875, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL66-G66Q

• United States Census, 1880, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF5F-9RF

• United States Census, 1910, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2ZQ-HJ2

• United States Census, 1920, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFXQ-SGS

• United States Census, 1930, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X7QB-K1Q

• United States Census, 1940, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VRK1-QHV

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63340373/isaac-irvin-truex

1. ↑ Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 30 December 2018), memorial page for Isaac Irvin Truex (22 Feb 1854–12 Jul 1942), Find A Grave Memorial no. 63340373, citing Delphos Cemetery, Delphos, Ottawa County, Kansas, USA ; Maintained by Kate Jacques (contributor 46637583).
2. ↑ Delphos Republican, Delphos, Kansas. July 16, 1942.