Friday, October 7, 2011

My Trux line (Trucks)

My 4th great grandparents were Thomas McCluer and Susannah Trucks (Trux).
I'm not sure when Susannah was born, (one family file I found says 1791) and it seems most likely she was born in Pennsylvania. She died in 1838 right after the family moved from Ohio to Jackson County, Illinois.
Susannah's parents were William J. Trux (only seen spelled Trucks a few times) and Mehitable McCoy. I'm not certain about dates of Mehitable but I'm pretty sure was was previously married to a Asahel Bucks and had a son with that husband, William, who was killed at the age of 14 in the Wyoming Valley Massacre.
William Trux  was born 1750 in Frederick, Maryland (some sources say possibly Connecticut). I believe he was the son of George Trux and Samantha (LNU). It appears he had another wife, before Mehitable, a daughter of Porter Ayres.
I found this research which has been helpful, about Mehitable and William, and includes a bit of info about the Ayers.
Although this file places Mehitable at the Battle of Wyoming Valley, I have not been able to connect William Trux to the battle (1778). This research says Mehitable's first husband died 1779, so he survived the battle and also that she married William Trux about the same year. From what I have seen, William and Mehitable's first child was born about 1780, so this sounds right to me. It has been my belief that William Trux probably arrived to the area shortly after the massacre. Which is also about the time he was finished fighting in the war.

I do know he was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. The link above indicated that, so I went to Ancestry and searched records there and wound up finding numerous copies of records with his name on them, both pay roll and muster records. This is, so far, what I have determined about his military service: William Trux served with the German Regiment, Maryland, Continental Army. I'm not exactly sure when he enlisted, but a record from The Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During The War of the Revolution April 1775-December 1783 (New Revised and Enlarged Edition by Francis B. Heitman) has him  listed as follows:
Trux, William (Md) Private German Regiment, 21st July, 1776; Sergeant, 1st March 1777; Ensign 25th July 1778; resigned 1st July 1779.
I have not yet figured out why he resigned. I lost record of him in muster rolls after September 9, 1778, and he was not on the payroll for October 1778 and onward. It's only my guess that he may have been injured and that's why the time lapse between his falling off the rolls and resigning. If anyone knows how I might learn the reason for him leaving I would greatly appreciate it. I found no clues in the records I have found so far.

I found William Trux in the census for the following years and places
  • 1790 Luzerne County, PA with a total of 7 members in the home
  • 1800 Kingston, Luzerne, PA with a total of 5 members in the home
  • 1810 Kingston, Luzerne, PA with a total of 10 members in the home, including 5 slaves.
  • 1830 Blooming Grove, Richland, OH. with a total of 8 members in the home. no slaves. 
He was also mentioned in a couple sources as having bought land in Kingston, PA  in 1803 "lots 21 and 22 of the Fourth Division of lots" and built a grist mill and saw mill at what is now Trucksville, on one of those lots, before 1811. He was also described as a justice of the peace and served as an overseer of the poor around the 1797-1809 time frame. It is then said he moved to Knox County, Wayne Twsp, Ohio in 1811.
This page was one I found with lots of information.


George Trux was, I believe, William's father. I have an estimated birth date of 1725 for him. It is said that the family's origin is Baden Germany, but it is not known for sure where George was born. Some have said England, some have said Frederick, Maryland. It is not known who his parents were, I speculate he may have been the immigrant ancestor for that line.
I found a George Trux on at least one census, 1790 in Frederick Maryland with 9 household members.
I found several mentions of George Trucks in This was the life: excerpts from the judgment records of Frederick County ...By Millard Milburn Rice, Maryland. County Court (Frederick County) concerning building a bridge across Little Pipe Creek near his home, and in references to building new roads, his place of home given as reference points for locations.
That's pretty much it.

    1 comment:

    1. I have a subscription to Fold 3 and I have all his military record. There are 50 pages, but 8 are the most important. I have posted it on ancestry.com and I can give you my tree name or if you give me an email I can send it to you in PDF. My email is tnbmab@embarQmail.com. William Trucks step daughter Parmelia married Daniel Ayers.I have all Mehitable Bucks family and her 3 children in a Michael Shoemakers book on ancestry.com page 356.

      - Marsha Barnum

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