Martha Ellen Young Truman

Deceased Person

1852 – 1947

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Who was Martha Ellen Young Truman?

Martha Ellen Young Truman was the mother of U.S. president Harry Truman.

Martha Ellen Young was born in Jackson County, Missouri, on November 25, 1852, to Solomon Young, a successful farmer who also had a business running Conestoga wagon trains along the Overland Trail, and his wife Harriet Louisa Gregg. The family were southern sympathizers in the U. S. Civil War and several relatives served in the Confederate Army. In later life, Martha told of how a band of Union-supporting Jayhawkers destroyed her family's farm one day in 1861, then came again in 1863 when the family was dispossessed by General Order 11 and forced to move to Platte County, Missouri until after the war. This harsh treatment left Martha with a lifelong resentment for the winning Union side in the war, and she was well-known for her Confederate sympathies.

Martha attended the Baptist College for Women in Lexington. She married John Anderson Truman on December 28, 1881 in Grandview, Missouri. After the loss of their first child, a son who died a few days after birth, another son, future President of the United States Harry S. Truman, was born to them on May 8, 1884. The child's middle name was the subject of some disagreement between the parents. John Truman wanted it to be Shipp, after his father Anderson Shipp Truman, while Martha wanted it to be Solomon, after her father. In the end they decided to use only the middle initial 'S' to honor both grandfathers. Two more children followed: John Vivian Truman on April 25, 1886, and Mary Jane Truman on August 12, 1889. All three children worked on the family farm in Grandview.

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Born
Nov 25, 1852
Jackson County
Children
Nationality
  • United States of America
Died
Jul 26, 1947

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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