Luke Turpen, 3rd Child

Luke Turpen was the third child of Jim and Janey Turpen.   He was born in May 1848 in Indiana.  On 16 April 1871 he married Emily J. Babb, the oldest daughter of Valentine Servier Babb and Lydia Crumly.  Emily was born in Iowa in Dec 1847.  Both of Emily’s parents were born in Tennessee and came to Iowa before 1847.

Luke and Emily lived in Greene County, Iowa.  They farmed in the Squirrel Hollow area and put up ice from the Raccoon River during winters.

Luke and Emily had a daughter, Emily C, who was born about 1877 and died young. 

Emily died in 1924.  Luke died a few years later in 1927.  Both are buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Greene Co., IA.  Since there were no children surviving Luke and Emily, it makes you wonder if anyone has a photograph of them!  I have old photographs from the Turpin family with no names written on the backs to identify people.  

Location of Pleasant Hill Cemetery

John and James

In the previous post, I included a clip of the 1830 Halifax Co., VA census showing John Turpin and James Turpin recorded next to each other.   John was 50-60 years of age with a wife and family.  James was 20-30 years of age with a wife and a son under age 5.

John and James can be traced through 3 censuses – 30 years.  The ages are consistent.  The families are generally consistent.  Besides a marriage record for a John Turpin and Elizabeth Carter in Halifax County, Virginia, this is the best evidence I have to tie our Turpins to Halifax and to tie John Turpin to James Turpin/Turpen.  It’s indirect evidence but it seems fairly solid.