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.

Who is James Turpin/Turpen of Owen County, Indiana?

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?

R. N. Terpin and Mary L. Lenord Marriage

I was looking at Turpin marriages this week after cousin Dennis Bell shared a great find.  He was researching in FamilySearch and came across an Iowa marriage index that now contains something that we've been wanting -- evidence of R.N. Turpin's marriage in Pottawattamie County, Iowa.

Here’s the story:

Newt Turpin’s first wife Sarah died suddenly in 1872 after being ill for only 42 hours.  Newt and Sarah had nine children together, most of them grown by the time of her death.  Three young daughters remained at home:  Emma Zetta, Nancy, and Hannah.   Sarah is buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery which is northwest of Rippey, Greene County, Iowa. 

Mary Ellen Leonard’s family moved to Hardin Township, Greene County, Iowa sometime between 1870 and 1873.  They had lived in Grafton County, New Hampshire and in Cedar County, Iowa.  Her father was employed as a railroad worker and a farm laborer.  After living in Greene County just a short time, the 17-year-old Mary Ellen met Newt Turpin who was about 52 years old and raising his three youngest daughters.

On September 16, 1873 Mary Ellen and Newt married according to Pottawattamie County, Iowa marriage records.  The marriage records list them as R. N. Terpin and Mary L. Lenord.   The marriage is recorded in the family Bible and according to family they were married by Justice of the Peace Washallkey.  

Turpin Family Bible Record

It appears Newt and Mary Ellen remained in Greene County or at least in Iowa for more than a few years after their marriage.  Mary Ellen gave birth to her first three children in Iowa.   Francis, their first, was born in 1874.  Their third child, James, was born in Iowa in April 1877.

Going back to Newt’s first marriage with Sarah Elizabeth Lowery, their marriage record is found in the Owen County, Indiana records:  Robert Newton Turpin to Sarah Elizabeth Lowery, 1 May 1842.  He would have been 21 years old then.  Newt was born in Virginia in 1821, so we can place the Turpin family’s arrival in Indiana between his birth in 1821 and 1839 when Elizabeth bought their land.

As for Newt’s father, there is a marriage bonds record for a John Turpin and Elizabeth Carter in Halifax County, Virginia dated 27 February 1797.  A History of Halifax County (Virginia) by Wirt Johnson Carrington shows the actual marriage taking place 8 March 1797 or 8 March 1798.  

See also TurpinTraces, 11 December 2011 for more about Mary Ellen: http://turpintraces.blogspot.com/2011/12/mary-ellen-leonard.html

Turpin Descendants in Williston, North Dakota 1930

Thanks to Dennis Bell for another contribution to the Turpin files. Here is the 1930 census record for Nancy Elizabeth Turpin and her husband Joseph Bell. Nancy was the 8th child of Robert Newton Turpin and Sarah Elizabeth Lowery.  She was mentioned back in a blog on November 28, 2011.  

1930 Census Listing for Nancy Elizabeth Turpin Bell, Williston, ND

In 1930 Joseph Bell and Lizzie lived in Williston, Williams County, North Dakota.  There are no descendants of this branch of the family as their only son Robert died from a gun accident.  Interestingly, living next door was their nephew Oscar Bell, wife May, and their son Raymond.  Oscar was the son of Hannah Catherine Turpin (child #9) and husband Stephen Douglas Bell.

Remembrances of Robert Newton Turpin from "Families of Rippey"

These remembrances were passed on to the descendants of the Turpin Family living in Greene County, Iowa.  It provides us information about Newt and the family that can not be verified by primary sources.

“Families of Rippey", 1990 reprint of the 1956 "History of Rippey”

From page 106

Newton Turpen -- One of the earliest settlers of Washington Township, Greene county, Iowa, was the Newton Turpen family who settled here in 1855. Newton Turpen was born near Richmond, Virginia, June 10, 1821, and his wife, Elizabeth Lowry Turpen, was born there on January 13, 1823. They spent their youth near Richmond and were married at an early age. Early in her life Elizabeth’s father had become a slave holder, over the protests of his wife. Thus, Elizabeth, agreeing with her mother, was raised with a secret hatred of slavery.

After their marriage her dislike for slavery and her husband’s longing for a new country led them to decide to come west, so they packed their few possessions and came to Indiana by wagon train. Here they lived for some time before moving to Illinois. Not seeming to do as well financially as they wished, they again decided to move -- this time to Iowa. When their youngest child was three weeks old, they loaded their goods into wagons and set out. This was a long, hard journey, marked by the tragedy of Newton Turpen’s mother dying and being buried in a lonely grave by the wayside. They came by way of Des Moines, then a small fort, and on across country to Greene County where they built their first log house on the farm in northwest Washington Township. This farm is now owned by their granddaughter, Mrs. Ocy Dorris. Later Mr. Turpen bought a farm about a half a mile west and lived there. Besides breaking the prairie sod and farming, Newton Turpen served as blacksmith in the pioneer settlement. Mrs. Turpen spent long hours of the day at her loom weaving cloth from the wool they had taken from their own sheep. The children of the family spent many lonely days on the prairie guarding the sheep from he wolves that were always ready to prey upon them. It was not unusual for him to load what produce they might have to sell into the wagon and make the long overland trip to Des Moines to sell the produce and bring back supplies. Newton and Elizabeth Turpen raised a family of eight children, 7 daughters and one son.

The only son, Thomas Benton Turpen enlisted in the army when Lincoln called for volunteers in 1861. He was among 32 volunteers from Greene County. His brief military record on file in the State Adjutant General’s Office showed that he enlisted in Co. H., 10th Inf., Iowa Vol., August 23, 1861, was mustered into service September 7, and died of measles on December 25, 1861, on his 18th birthday. He was buried in the National Cemetery near Mound City, Illinois. Although the exact grave has not been found, officials state that he must have been buried in one of the many marked unknown. Elizabeth Lowery Turpen passed away January 26, 1872, and was buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Newton Turpen moved on west to Nebraska and was buried there.

Of this large family, only [Louise] Annie, who married Wm. Turpen, and Emmazetta, who married John Groves, remained in Washington Township to raise their families and spend their lives. The other daughters were: Margaret who married Wilson Van Horn, Sally [Sarah Jane] married Warfield Paul, [Mary] Amanda married Wm. Porter, [Nancy] Elizabeth married Joe Bell and Hannah [Catherine] married Douglas Bell.

Warfield Paul, Husband of Sarah Jane Turpin

I received a comment this week from Jan Hensley regarding my blog post of  "Sarah Jane Turpin, Third Child".  Jan has had a breakthrough on her research of Warfield Paul, the son of J. M. Paul and Matilda Hall.
  
If you recall, Sarah Jane was the third child of Robert Newton Turpin and Sarah Elizabeth Lowery.   She was born in Owen County, Indiana on 9 October 1848 and moved with the family to Illinois and then to Iowa.   There she met her husband Warfield Paul.

Jan tells us that Warfield Paul is an interesting project, "After years of repeating hitting my head against the wall, I'm happy to be able to FINALLY shed light on it. Warfield was the grandson of John Hall & Elvira Smith Hall and his [Paul's] mother, Sarah Matilda died when he was an infant.   His grandparents were his guardians and they loaded him on the oxen cart, along with their children (save one - my 3rd great grandmother who was already married) when they headed West in the 1850s."

Jan continues to say that Warfield's great great grandfather Jacob Smith was a Revolutionary War soldier.   Jacob was one of about 2,000 trops with General George Washington when he crossed the Delaware for the Battle of Trenton.  

For more on Jacob:  www.jacobandwinnasmith.weebly.com.

A Dislike for Slavery and a Longing for a New Country

The recent emails with Rich Swearingen and a discussion about Goochey's claim that Newt Turpin might have been a "rebel sharpshooter" took me back into my early research files for this excerpt from a 1956 Greene County, Iowa publication. 

Their aversion to slavery, their residence in northern Iowa, and their son serving for the Union Army would point away from any rebel ties.  Newt was in his 40s during the Civil war and raising a large family. 

But Newt indeed may have had the skills of a sharpshooter.  After all, he survived a lot of frontier experiences.  In the case of Goochey, he just didn't expect his neighbor to walk over and shoot him with a musket. 

Mary Ellen Leonard

Mary Ellen Leonard Turpin

Back to Newt Turpin’s family…  

Newt and Sarah had a family of nine children and we understand from family tradition that Sarah died suddenly in 1872 after being ill for only 42 hours.  At the time of her death, most of the Turpin children were grown.  Several had died and only three daughters remained at home:  Emma Zetta, Nancy, and Hannah.  Sarah is buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery northwest of Rippey, Greene County, Iowa. 

The story then strays into a soggy research area….it says that Newt and Mary Ellen Leonard got married in Pottawattamie County, Iowa by Justice of the Peace Washallkey on September 16, 1873.   No records exist for that marriage or a Justice with that name.  And why would they get married in Pottawattamie County, across the Missouri River from Nebraska, instead of in Greene County?  But I don’t see a marriage record in Greene County either.

"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.

Margaret Golden Turpin, Second Child

When Thomas died while serving in the Civil War, he had seven little sisters at home.  Margaret Golden Turpin was the next in line -- the second child and first girl born to Newt and his wife Sarah.   She was born in Indiana on 13 April 1846 in Indiana.  She came to Iowa as a young girl when her parents settled there. 

Margaret married into the Vanhorn family which had an Owen County, Indiana heritage like the Turpins.  She married Ralph Wilson Vanhorn on 17 October 1864. 

The Trail Back to Iowa

My mother Letha Turpin Stewart about 1943

When I first started seriously working on the Turpin history, I had my mom, Letha Turpin Stewart, as a source.  My mom was proud of her family and knew all the currently-living relatives, all her aunts and uncles, and she knew who her grandfather and grandmother were.   What she did not know about her family didn’t seem to bother her – but she did say something to the effect that I may not want to dig up those skeletons.  I think she was kidding (although I’d already done that on my dad’s side) and just basically wasn’t too interested.

One of my first questions to her was about where my great grandfather Robert Newton Turpin was born and where did he live before Nebraska.   She vaguely remembered something about Jefferson City but wasn’t sure at all. 

1878

1872 Nebraska Map

When the Turpin Family arrived in Nebraska in 1878, there was no Rock County. 

According to family stories James Robert Turpin, the third child of Robert Newton and Mary Ellen (Leonard) Turpin, was born in Iowa in April 1877 and celebrated his first birthday in Nebraska. A history of Rock County From Oxcarts to Orbits: A Brief History of Rock County, Nebraska and Its People, published by Diamond Jubilee Committee in 1962, backs up this story. 

Newt Turpin

Robert Newton Turpin was born June 10, 1821 and appears to be the youngest child of John and Elizabeth Turpin.  Various censuses indicate he was born in Virginia however we find the family living in Indiana.