The Turpin family members were the ultimate
recyclers. Few names were used only once,
but rather they keep coming back over and over, used sometimes in
multiples. James is one of those
names. The Turpins loved their
Jameses. If you mix that with unreliable
dates in documents, it’s the perfect recipe for a genealogist’s headache.
Early Setters of Tidewater Virginia, Volume 3 compiled by Elise Greenup Jourdan shows that
Michael and Edith Turpin had sons named Obediah, John, and James. And we have Turpins in Owen County, Indiana
named Obediah, John, and James who hailed from Virginia. That would appear to be a good fit. But the Indiana James does not usually match
the Virginia James profile. He is on the
edges of the age range for being a brother of Obediah and John and a son of
Edith.
Obediah was probably born
about 1761. John was born about 1770. James was born 1792 or 1798 or 1806 or 1820
depending on which record you are reading.
Here is the James information formatted into a timeline.
Does he look like a
brother to Obediah and John or a son of John? I am tempted to split this timeline. The events before 1820 are the James who is
Michael’s son. The events starting in
1820 could be a son of John who is Michael’s son. I’ve found no direct evidence to support this
idea but this timeline sort of points that way.
Thoughts?
Marcia, James Turpin, brother of John and husband of Mary "Polly" Smith, was tithed *most years* between 1794 and 1812 in Halifax Co. He "disappeared" after 1812. But he cannot be the same individual who was possibly born 1794! This younger person was most likely s/o John, especially since he went with him to Indiana.I am close to looking for a genealogist to go to the courthouse and rummage! Anne
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