McDonough ILGenWeb

TRUMAN, Wright Edward, widely known as First-Vice-President ot the corporation operating "Trumans' Pioneer Stud Farm," at Bushnell, McDonough County, Ill., in connection with which he has acquired an enviable reputation as an expert authority on the breeding and points of high-grade horses, and in the line of purchasing fine stallions abroad for importation Into the United States, was born in Whittlesea, Cambridgshire, England, February 17, 1867. He is a son of Jonathan Hall Truman, who was born in Whittlesea, November 26, 1842, and Mary Elizabeth (Crane) Truman, a native of Thorney, Cambridgesliire. His grandparents were George and Ann (Brown) Truman, the former born in Yaxley, Huntingdonshire, England, and the latter in Whittlesea. Jonathan Hall Truman, the father, one of the most noted and successful importers and exporters of purebred horses in the world, and among the very first to introduce American cattle into the English market, is President of the extensive concern of which the subject of this sketch is Vice-President, and the perfection of the enterprise is due to his keen judgment, energy and far-reaching sagacity. An elaborate portrayal of the elder Truman's career, together with further particulars concerning this branch of the Truman family, and a description of the Pioneer Stud Farm, appears on another page of this volume.

Wright E. Truman passed his youthful days on the home farm, pursuing his primary studies in the schools of his native place, and completing his education in the Classical and Commercial School of Peterborough, England. There his proficiency as a student was denoted by the award of first prize for attainments in English grammar and in mathematics, and he was afterwards given the honor of the premier position of the school. At a very early age Mr. Truman displayed a notable fondness for all kinds of animals, especially for horses, and this has continued to be a marked characteristic of his whole life. His first occupation after finishing his scholastic course was in connection with the importation of fine stallions into the United States, having taken up his residence in this country in 1886, and identified himself with the undertaking at Bushnell begun by his father in 1878. His attention has been assiduously devoted since he first crossed the Atlantic to the furtherance of this extensive business, to which end he has spent several years in constant travel between the United States and England, engaged in the purchase of horses. He has visited almost every country of Europe, and has time and again traversed the various States of the Union and the area of the Dominion of Canada.

Religiously. Mr. Truman is a communicant of the Church of England. Politically, he is a Republican. In commercial circles his reputation is deservedly high, and he is accounted, among large numbers of people with whom he has been wont to deal, as an exceptionally capable, energetic and resourceful business man.

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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McDonough County, compiled by Dr. Newton Bateman, and Paul Shelby, 1907, volume 2, pages 1028-1029, extracted 07 Aug 2020 by Norma Hass.