Trueman Family

The Trueman family was among the early pioneer farming families of Lyman in Washington. Peter Trueman, born in Cheshire, England, arrived in the Skagit Valley in the late 1880s. After first homesteading near the Baker River, he purchased property near Lyman in 1898, where he built a farmhouse and established a working dairy farm.

In 1912, Peter constructed what is now known as the Peter Trueman Barn, a 56 × 60-foot gable-style dairy barn built with native timber framing and fir board-and-batten siding. Designed for early 20th-century dairy operations, the barn included fifteen stanchions with individual watering bowls and a separate milk house. The structure is now officially recognized on the Heritage Barn Register through the Skagit County Historical Museum, preserving it as an important symbol of Skagit Valley’s agricultural history.

The Trueman family became linked to another established Lyman farming family through the marriage of Mary Albertine, daughter of Alfred (“Alf”) Albertine and Mary Albertine, into the Trueman line. This union connected two pioneer families whose roots were deeply tied to agriculture and community life in the Skagit Valley.

Today, the preserved Trueman barn and the enduring family connections reflect the intertwined heritage of the Trueman and Albertine families — a story of immigration, farming, and lasting contribution to the rural history of Lyman.