DISNEY, TRUMAN BISHOP

Truman Bishop Disney (1829-1884), was born on April 29, 1829, son of William Disney (1781-1850), and Julia Flint Thatcher (1782-1831), at Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1846, he graduated Woodward High School.

In the Williams Cincinnati City Directory of 1853 he is listed as a commercial merchant and partner in E. B. Townsend & Company with B. T. Edmund, 18 West Front Street, Cincinnati.

In 1854, his uncle, a lawyer, was cited in the United States Economist, as opposing a U. S. Mint be established in New York to issue coin currency.

"It is evident that if the Government does not manufacture money, that the supply must come from other sources; and it is not a little remarkable that when the question of an efficient Mint in New York was before the House, with a view to supply the coin, Mr. Disney of Ohio, in that narrow spirit for which he is sometimes noted, opposed it on the ground that it would aggrandize New York. The people of Ohio are now the first to cry out under the infliction of paper substituted for the coin, of which Mr. Disney helped to refuse a supply." United States Economist, Vol. XIV, No. 358, January 21, 1854, (New Series Vol IV, No. 14)

In 1855, he married Laura Rebecca Tift (1833-1921). They had two children : a daughter Cora Thatcher Disney (1857-1873), and a son William Bishop Disney (1859-1890).

From 1859-1884, he served as the Clerk and Collector of the Board of Directors of the University of Cincinnati.

He was a member of the Board of Education of Cincinnati.

In 1870, he was the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, Hamilton County, Ohio.

Fig. Disney's correspondence with the Chapman Brothers postmarked October 4, 1878, Cincinnati, Ohio, with gridded double circle cancel in green ink. Courtesy Lupia Numismatic Library, Special Collection, The Chapman Family Correspondence Archive.

Fig. Disney's correspondence with the Chapman Brothers postmarked October 31, 1878, Cincinnati, Ohio, with gridded double circle cancel in green ink. Courtesy Lupia Numismatic Library, Special Collection, The Chapman Family Correspondence Archive.

Disney was one of Cincinnati's well noted coin collectors and is listed in the Centennial History of Cincinnati.

He collected Large Cents and one noted in Stack's Bowers Galleries, D. Brent Pogue Collection, Part V, lot 5204, an 1843 Newcomb 4, MS 65 BN, sold for $5,170.00

An 1811 Sheldon 286, AU-50 is cited in Breen's Encyclopedia of Early United States Cents. (see also William C. Noyes, United States Large Cents 1793-1814, 1811 S.286 photo.

There are several pieces of correspondence between Disney and the Chapman Brothers in the Lupia Numismatic Library, Special Collection, The Chapman Family Correspondence Archive.

He suffered a protracted illness of tuberculosis and died at his home 167 West 7th Street, on August 24, 1884. He is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Disney Tomb at Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Bibliography :

Williams Cincinnati City Directory of 1853

Old Woodward : A Memorial Relating to Woodward High School 1831-1836 and Woodward College 1836-1851. (1884) : 167