J. A. TRUEX, editor of the Journal and postmaster of West Plains, was a native of the Buckeye State,and was born in Marion County, November,6, 1843. The Truex family is of Dutch origin and an old Colonial one.
The father of our subject, Benjamin Truex, was a native of Pennsylvania, and a farmer and carpenter. He raised a family of eight children, of whom our subject was third in order of birth. The latter grew to mature years in his native country, received his primary education in the schools of the same, and subsequently entered the High School at Goshen, Indiana Later he attended the Heading College at Abingdon, Ill, and the Kalamazoo Baptist College. About the year 1856 the family moved to Elkhart County, Indiana, and settled on a farm in Lock Township. Early in life young Truex became a teacher, and continued this until 1869, when he emigrated to Kansas. There he located in Geary County and taught school until 1874, when he was elected county superintendent of schools and held that position up to 1884, five terms of two years each, thus showing his popularity. During that time the county took the premium three times for the best display at the State fair. In 1881 Mr. Truex established the Davis County Republican and edited it until 1884. In that year he bought the Journal and moved to West Plains, where he has since owned and edited that paper. He has had about fifteen years’ experience as a newspaper man, is very successful as such, and his paper commands an ever widening area of circulation. In April, 1890, he was appointed post-master at West Plains under President Harrison, and that position he still holds. He has ever been a strong Republican and has been active in county conventions. In 1893 he was elected mayor of the city of West Plains, the only Republican elected to that office in ten years. Mr. Truex is one of the live business men of the place and no worthy movement is allowed to fail for want of support on his part. He is on the Board of Education Commit-tee, and is a wide-awake man in all public matters. He is a member of the Baptist Church, a trustee and deacon in the same, and has been superintendent of the Sunday-school for years. Mr. Truex edits The West Plains Daily and Weekly Journal, one of the most popular papers in south Missouri. While it is staunchly Republican it is courteous in its treatment of other political parties, and is one of the spicy, newsy, useful organs of this section. He was married in Kansas, in 1876, to Miss Addie M. Merriam, a native of Ohio, and they have one son, Howard, a bright boy of sixteen, who is attending college. Mr. Truex resides on Cherry Street, where he owns a neat residence, and he and family are highly esteemed by all.