More on Doris

Turpin cousin Dennis Bell has been researching descendants of Robert Newton Turpin.  There are SO many!   It’s a huge endeavor.  After I published the 1940 Census findings for Turpins in Kirkwood Precinct, Dennis followed up on young Doris Turpin who was single and working as a housekeeper there at the time.  

It’s such a great time to be a genealogist!  There are so many online resources and one of those is Find-a-Grave.  Find-a-Grave literally can trim miles off your research.  In this case, Dennis found the burial of Doris Turpin’s husband Dave McClintock in Bassett (Nebraska) Memorial Park Cemetery.  You don't always find this, but this time Dennis found David's obituary was attached.  Thanks to Dennis for the research and thanks to the volunteer who added the information to the Find-a-Grave entry.   

Dave McClintock of Ainsworth

"A Shooting Affray"

Robert Newton Turpin

Susan Ingraham is a fellow Turpin descendent.  Newt is her great-great-great grandfather and my great grandfather.  She has sent in the following on our common ancestor:
 
My maternal great-great-great grandfather, Robert Newton Turpin, certainly came to an unfortunate end, and the local newspaper told about it. Robert (who was usually called Newt from his middle name) was born in 1821; married twice, he was the father of 19 children. Born in Virginia, he moved quite often, living in Indiana, Iowa, and eventually Nebraska.

In 1893, when he was 72 years old, Newt was involved in a dispute with another rancher. He was shot on May 11, died on May 18, and was buried on May 20, 1893, at Willowdale Cemetery near Bassett, Nebraska. He left behind his widow, Mary Ellen, with nine children, the youngest only a baby. Newt’s children from his first marriage to Sarah Elizabeth Lowery were grown by the time of his death, ranging in age from 29 to 50. Just a few months previously, his granddaughter, Josephine Amanda Porter, had married Michael James Mahoney in Heartwell, Nebraska. Josephine Amanda Porter was my great-grandmother.