The Long Line

1870s Nebraska with unorganized territory

This week's challenge for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is "Long Line."  For the Turpin family, the Long Line is one drawn on a map of the United States, stretching from Virginia to Nebraska and then beyond.  

My great grandfather Newt Turpin (Robert Newton Turpin) hailed from Halifax County, Virginia.  He was born there in 1821 when the Louisiana Purchase and the expedition of Lewis and Clark could have been considered “old news” by many.  Yet America was still a nation composed of unconnected pieces.  Linking the colonial settlements to that newly added area was a huge challenge for a number of reasons.  But people moved west regardless of the challenges.  It is estimated that a million citizens left Virginia for new territory after the Revolution and before the Civil War.  Our Turpin family was among them and their journeys were long.

The mountains were difficult. The frontier was hazardous. The roads were few. At that point in time several routes to the Ohio River existed along the lines of the old Indian paths.  Some were considered roads.  But simply put, moving a family over the mountains and out into the new lands was problematic and wrought with danger.  Usually a family’s supplies and cherished items traveled in the wagon. The family walked along side or rode horses if they had them. Perhaps they took a flatboat part of the way. How many miles a day could a family travel?  How many wild rivers had to be crossed?  How many times would a wagon break down or a horse go lame?  How many encounters did people have with wild animals or the indigenous people?  

Before Newt was born, several Turpin families had made their way to homes in Owen County, Indiana. Obediah and his son Thomas’s family show up in the 1820 census. Newt’s parents, John and Elizabeth, came along later -- by the time the 1830 census was taken. So, Newt was a very young child when he made the journey from Virginia.

In the 1850s, Newt and his family headed to into Illinois. Newt’s sixth child Mary Amanda Turpin Porter was born there in 1855.  By 1858, they were in Greene County, Iowa where Emma Zetta Turpin Groves, their seventh child, was born.

After the death of Newt’s wife Sarah Elizabeth Lowery in 1872, Newt married Mary Ellen Leonard.  This is when Newt “pulled up stakes” again and headed further down the line to Nebraska. The grown children in the family stayed in Iowa. The young daughters joined the journey west. 

At the age of 51, Newt had moved halfway across the continent, crossing frontier land by horse and wagon. He had to be an incredibly strong, resilient, and hopeful person to face all those new horizons.  Life had to be easier in Virginia. You could always rely on a neighbor to find out how something was done. In Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska there were few neighbors. No one to ask!

One of Newt’s youngest daughters, Lettie, moved to California as a young woman. I feel confident in saying she probably went by train. That journey was probably much easier than her father’s many treks.  All the same, Lettie covered the second half of the North American continent that her father did not get to experience.  

Few stories were handed down through the generations of the Turpin family.  Most of what we know has been reconstructed piece by piece from documents left behind. We don’t know the ins and outs of their travels so for that reason I would love to go back in time and experience a day or so of each of those journeys Newt Turpin took.  One with young Newt and his parents crossing the Appalachian Mountains.  One crossing the Wabash River with Sarah and the children.  Another crossing the Mississippi River and traveling through Iowa. And finally, the with Mary Ellen trip crossing the Missouri and heading into the Unorganized Territory of Nebraska.

This week's challenge for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is "Favorite Photo."

Ice Skating on the Niobrara River

This photograph was taken on the Niobrara River in northern Rock County, Nebraska.  The year is probably about 1920 or 1921.  A group of neighbors had gathered on the ice for a skating party.  My mother, Letha Turpin, is the little girl standing in front of the 7th person from the left.  She was born in 1915.

The photo is timely for a January blog post.  But it appears the weather was not 49 degrees like it is today in eastern Nebraska.  

My mother grew up "in the country."  She had only one sibling, a brother Clifford, and few close neighbors.  So she truly loved big get-togethers like this.  She was always ready to have company or go visit friends and family.  I'm sure she was having fun on this occasion.  That's why this photo is a favorite.  It reminds me of her and how much she loved people. 

My mother could recall many memories of the river which passed by her grandparents' homestead.  The river's water was pure -- fed from springs across the Sandhills and from ice melt in the Rockies.  Ice was harvested from the river in winter and stored in ice houses for use in the summer.  She was somewhat fearful of swimming in the river during the summer.  I'm sure there were rapids and some nasty currents.  And of course the waters were very, very cold.  But she remembered times when the young people went down to the river in summer to shoot guns.  She claimed she could shoot the eyes out of flies across the Niobrara.  

That's a wide river!  So I didn't believe she was that good of a shot.  But it was a good tale. 

Fresh Start

What is 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks?  Genealogist Amy Crow Johnson has offered the idea of doing 52 posts about ancestors in the 52 weeks of 2020.  For more information:  https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/  Here is my first installment.  

Challenge #1: FRESH START

For this one, I’ll go back to one of Newt Turpin’s younger daughters, Leta Arvilia Turpin.  I’ve posted items about her previously.  After leaving her quiet Rock County home for life in Omaha, Nebraska, Leta seemed to live on the wild side.  After multiple run-ins with the law, Leta left for her FRESH START in California.

Leta was born in 1888 in Mariaville, Rock County, Nebraska.  By 1905 Leta had moved to Omaha and lived with her husband Bert Douglas.  Leta ran a dance academy and her events were occasionally mentioned in the social pages of the Omaha Bee.   She held charity card parties, a Temple Israel Sisterhood dance, and more.

Leta and Bert had a child between 1905 and 1910 according to the 1910 census. That child died and there are no family stories telling us what happened. 

In April 1910, John Alfreds was a lodger in the building where Leta and Bert lived. In September that same year, Leta married John O. Alfreds, age 24, in Council Bluffs, Iowa.  This relationship must have been tumultuous and only lasted about seven years.  When Leta’s sister Susan died in March 1917, Leta was listed in the obituary as Lettie Alfred, living in Omaha.  By July, Leta had filed for divorce from John claiming non-support and extreme cruelty.  The divorce was granted in August. 

Apparently, John found someone new and was anxious to remarry.  It must have upset Leta because she began to make the news with frequency within months.  Leta was in court in February 1918 accused of throwing hot coffee on Agatha Zimmerman who Leta discovered keeping company with her divorced husband John at the Metropolitan dance hall one evening.  The incident was reported in the January 25th Omaha World Herald.  Leta surrendered to police but the case was dropped when Zimmerman repeatedly failed to appear in court and did not pursue the charges.   

When Leta’s mother died in January 1926, Leta was using her maiden name and living in Los Angeles as Lettie Arvelle Turpin according to the obituary.  However she still had ties to Nebraska.  In 1928 she was in trouble again in Omaha.  The World Herald reported that a Mr. Myre and a Mr. Marfisi got into a scuffle over Leta at a pool hall.  Gunshots were fired and, in the end, Leta and Mr. Marfisi were booked on charges of disorderly conduct. 

Regardless, Leta ended up in California and got the fresh start she sought. The 1930 census listed her as widowed and working as a dancing teacher.  On February 20 1940 she was a resident of Los Angeles, listed as Leta A. Turpin, the inventor in U.S. Pat. No. 2,190,895 for Body Developing and Correcting Apparatus (see the February 25, 2012 post in this blog).

Leta Turpin, about 1940

In obituaries for brothers William and James in December 1941 and June 1943 Leta was listed as Lettie Turpin of Los Angeles.   In 1946 her address was 1142 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA.

Letters from her companion, William H. Meverden say that he had to commit Leta to a hospital as she evidently suffered from dementia in the last years of her life.  Leta died 4 February 1963 in Los Angeles.