compiled by Teresa
Martin Klaiber 2020
John Cunningham Turner Portrait original possession of Barbara Martin Strosnider daughters
John
Cunningham Turner was born 31 October 1809 in Maryland. His complete birth date is from one of those
serendipity moments in my research journey.
As
a district trustee of the Ohio Genealogical Society I tried to make as many
chapter meetings, in my district, as possible in the late 1980’s and
1990’s. I made many lifelong friends
during that time in my life. One such
person was Maxine Fisher who lived in Baltimore, Fairfield County, Ohio so it
was only natural that I would bring up my 3rd great grandfather John
Cunningham Turner who was a miller in Baltimore for a time. She started to chortle and the excitement
grew. Maxine was a good friend of Madge
Littlejohn Spietler (1904-1987). Maxine asked me if I knew of the Mike Clum
Auction House in Thornville, Ohio. As an
avid antique dealer (I wear many hats), I had attended many auctions
there. I had missed the Spietler
estate. Maxine had not! She attended and
when she saw a Davis-Turner family bible was going to go on the block, she sat
down and copied every family entry. That
is true genealogical dedication. I
dropped in my tracks. Maxine said she
had no idea it would help someone so quickly.
We did contact the auction house but they stated they did not keep a
record of who purchased any given item.
Maybe the bible will surface again someday. That bible contains the records for not only
John Cunningham Turner but for Elizabeth Littlejohn Turner and her parents and
many other family members. Serendipity
seems to follow genealogists. Call it
fate, I know these encounters are meant to be and like to think possibly guided
by our ancestors.
John
Cunningham Tuner married 9 May 1833, in the German Reform Church, in Frederick
County, Maryland. His wife Elizabeth
Teresa Littlejohn was born 27 January 1815 in Frederick County, daughter of
George Walbert Littlejohn Jr. and wife Elizabeth Geisinger. There is a deed for Frederick County
concerning a “John Turner,” which I believe is John C., in December 1835. It is
actually a bill of sale for 1 milch cow, a mantle clock, feather bed, bedstead,
chairs, one walnut folding table and shop tools[i].
It is the only reference to John Turner during that time frame.
By
1840 John Cunningham Turner and Elizabeth have settled in Liberty township,
Fairfield County along with her widowed mother Elizabeth Geisinger Littlejohn
and three of the Turner Children: Sarah Henrietta born in Maryland, Mary Jane
born 15 April 1838 (dies about 1840 in Fairfield county), and William Francis “Billy” Turner born in
Baltimore, Fairfield county, Ohio.
Between
1840 and 1846 four more children were born: Caroline “Callie”; Adaline’
Charlotte; and Charles Bing Turner. By March
1847 John had fulfilled a bond for the purchase of 30 acres which included the
flour mill and dwelling house.[ii] The family had several more transactions in
Baltimore and in February 1850 Alice Teresa was born there.
The
completion of the Ohio Canal was a boon for Turner who’s mill lay beside it in
Baltimore, Liberty township, Fairfield County, Ohio. In December 1850 John Turner along with John
Detwiler purchased a canal boat named the Rochester along with some
livestock and furniture[iii].
Turner’s life was turning and not going well. The Rochester,
along with every last item on board, including buckets and 3 stools was sold at
a constable sale at Nelsonville, Ohio in January 1853[iv]. On 26 May 1853 lightening struck and fire consumed
Turner’s mill[v].
The
family may or may not have known in May ’53 but Elizabeth Teresa Littlejohn
Turner was pregnant with her 9th child. This compiler’s 2nd great
grandmother, Elizabeth Littlejohn “Lizzie” Turner was born 9 January, 1854 at
Baltimore, Ohio. Her mother died in
childbirth, another tragic blow for John Cunningham Turner. It had to be a struggle to raise 9 children,
one an infant. When Elizabeth was four
John Cunningham Turner married Janneta Susan,[vi]
[vii]a
widow with two children of her own: Caroline “Callie" Poff (same given as step sister), and Jacob Henry Poff
born October 1856.
By
1860 John Cunningham Turner was not in Janetta’s household. All the children are with her. Shortly after
the encounter with Maxine Fisher, I visited the courthouse in Lancaster,
Fairfield County, Ohio. I had located a
docket entry of Janetta vs John Turner in May 1869 which indicated a divorce. It
was almost lunch but the Common Plea clerk said she would gladly unlock the
attic if I wanted to attempt to search files.
She warned that dockets were (at that time) strewn on the floor. Digging in I could see that they had spilled
but were closely gathered in chronological masses. It did not take long to find a notation that an
alimony notice had been sent to Los Angeles, California[viii].
I
already knew that my great great grandmother Elizabeth “Lizzie” went to the
Kentucky Female Orphan School in Midway, Kentucky and that her older sister Caroline
“Callie” basically raised her. She met
my great great grandfather Henry Foster Martin via religious activities of the
school.
John
Turner, now age 47, a miller, was residing in Los Angeles, along with his
oldest son William, also listed as a miller and next door to Julian Rodriques,
wife Placeda and two children. The Los Angeles Star for 8 December 1860
listed that Turner was voted in as an officer in the Masonic Lodge along with
William H. Workman. I located several deeds
for John Cunningham Turner in Los Angeles for properties along Main and Alameda
Streets in LA in the 1860’s. He was listed in the July 1866 “Great Register of
California s age 53 born in Maryland a miller.[ix] A court case in 1867 showed that
administrators of a Thomas Rhodes vs. John
Turner and Able Stearns for a large sum for the purchase of wheat in San
Francisco shipped to Turner for him to grind.
The judgement was against Stearns and Turner and the debt was to be paid
in gold or silver coin[x]. Meanwhile that alimony case was still on the
books in Fairfield County, Ohio.
From
March thru April 1869 a notice appeared in the Lancaster Gazette[xi]
in Fairfield County. “Notice John Turner of the town of Los
Angeles in the county of Los Angeles in the State of California is notified
that Janette S. Turner did on the 5th Aug 1868, file her petition in the office
of the Clerk of Court of Common Pleas, of Fairfield county, Ohio, charging the
said, John Turner with having been willfully absent from petitioner for more
than three years last past, and alleging that he owned lot 209 in the town of
Baltimore, in the said county and praying that she may be divorced from said John Turner and for alimony; which petition will stand for hearing at the next
term of court. J. F. Vandemark, Clerk of said court Mar 25, 1860-fwd.”
Memoirs of a Harris Newmark wrote about John Cunningham Turner in California: “…was a small mill, run by water,
known as the Eagle Mills. This was owned at different times by Abel Stearns,
Francis Mellus and JR Scott and conducted from 1855 to 1868, by John Turner who
came here for that purpose and whose son William with Fred Lambourn later
managed the grocery store of Lambourn and Turner on Aliso Street. The miller
made poor flour indeed; though probably it was quite equal to that produced by
Henry Dalton at Azusa, John Rowland at the Puente....Turner's supply of flour
gave out, and this indispensable commodity was then procured from San
Francisco. Turner who was a large-hearted man and helpful to his fellows died
in 1878, In the seventies the mill was sold to JD Deming....[xii]” The dates are a bit off since Turner had
married in 1858 in Ohio.
Besides son William Francis Turner,
son Charles Bing Turner appears in the California Great Register in 1867 in Los
Angeles, age 21.
Eagle Mills was the predecessor of
Capitol Milling. An 1856 map showing the
mill seat is available from the Huntington Library showing the mill and blocks
along with Main Street[xiii]. The 1870 census shows no real estate values
for John Turner, the miller, born in Maryland. Her personal estate is valued at
200. Placida (who lived next door in
1860) is now Placida Turner, keeping house, born in California along with her
two children from the marriage to Rodriques and three additional children:
Dionisio, Isabella, and Mary. All are
listed with the surname Turner in El Monte township. An additional child Carlos Rula (as sp.) aged
4 is in the household. William Turner’s
wife later wrote “My Story” quoting her husband: "…Father has
retired. He is living on a ranch at Azusa...He is no longer a miller...left it
to me (Wm) to carry on the profession. I am running the Temple and Workman
mills...Puente Creek....[xiv]
But the story was far from over. Abel
Stearns was deceased. A District Court Case in 1873 would involve John Cunningham
Turner again.
Etchamendez vs Abel Stearns Deceased. In
April 1868 either Stearns or Turner promised to pay Juan Etchemendez 1000 in
gold coin for a loan in the use of Eagle Mills. The note was said to be signed by Turner. Able
Stearns answer denies at any time in partner with John Turner - that Turner did
not have authority to sign a note and states that Etchemende is collaborating
with Turner to defraud Stearns. The reply: The
loan was to purchase wheat for the use of Eagle Mills and was not paid. The claim was that Stearns sold flour for a
lot of money & disposed for his own use.
In August 1868 the operations of said defendent was broken up by said
attachment and dissolved in September 1868 however operations were never renewed. The
court found that the facts from the previous to year 1868 Stearns and Turner
made and entered into an agreement to run a certain flouring mill in Los
Angeles known as Eagle Mills belonging to said Stearns. Stearns was to give the
use of the mill and furnish funds for the purchase of wheat. Turner was to give his services as miller and be
manager of the mill, and was to purchase grain, sell flour and other products
and grind grist as well as procuring funds for the purchase of wheat for said
mill and as such borrowed for same. At the time Turner was sole manager. The court
approved the findings and Juan Etchemendez was to recover from Stearns and
Turner. Abel Stearns appealed to the Supreme Court of California. Both
Etchemendez and Stearns died during proceedings.
By 1871 a note of affidavit of John Turner, William F. Turner and others
was submitted to the Supreme Court. The court found errors in the reviews
stating at time the note was executed Turner was neither the partner nor the
agent of Stearns and that all connection between them had ceased and Turner had
no right or authority to sign said note. Arcadia B. de Stearns acted as executor
of Abel Stearns deceased.[xv]
John Cunningham Turner became a
grandfather in 1872. Rebecca Humphreys
Turner continues her story including a mention of her father-in-law in 1873: “Maud...especial
delight to Mr. Turner's (Wm.) father. He loved to hold her, but being decidedly
corpulent, his lap was inadequate even for an infant so he cuddled her on his
breast and sang her to sleep with Methodist hymns. He dropped in rather
often....one afternoon...on his way home from a Masonic funeral. As he was
chaplain of the lodge...wearing a pair of new boots for the first time and when
he reached my house he endeavored to remove them. His feet were swollen to such
a degree that the boots struck fast...’I never was so tired in my life...It was
a fine funeral but I thought we'd never wind the blamed thing up. I had to get
down on my knees and pray a God-derned prayer a mile long’...as he limped out
to his buggy...”[xvi]
from the John Shouse Martin photo collection
The Los Angeles Herald listed passengers on a trip to San Bernardino on June 1st,
1875 via the Coast Line Stage. This is
the first indication that Placida is John Cunningham Turner’s wife. “J. C. Turner and Wife.” No legal marriage has been found by this
compiler as I write this.
While son William Francis Turner may
have helped run the Workman Mills, Turner had continued under partnership with William
Workman. The Notice of Dissolution of
Partnership ran many weeks in the Los Angeles Herald. “Notice is hereby
given to all ...that the partnership theretofore existing between the
undersigned William Workman and John Turner in the milling business is this day
dissolved by mutual agreement. Mr. Workman will settle up the...pay all debts
...This Los Angeles County, Puente Ranch, June 4, 1876. J. Turner, William
Workman. Per Francis W. Temple his atty in Fact.”
Both Temple and Workman were in over
their heads with a banking house. Temple
easily lent money which depleted the cash reserves. When the 1875 crash happened because of the
silver stock, panic erupted. The bank shut
its door for over 3 months. In the aftermath receivers found a loan left all
the assets in the hands of Elias Baldwin, a capitalist. In May 1876 Workman
took his own life.
The family register kept by my grandfather
states that John Cunningham Turner died at Azusa 23 May 1877. He was buried the next day in Los Angeles
City Cemetery according to the Cemetery Burial Journal.
The cemetery is under asphalt of the Los Angeles Board of Education
parking lot.[xvii] The alimony case back in Fairfield County,
Ohio was not resolved until October 1881. When Jannette TURNER of Fairfield Co Ohio received $1000. The court decreed that Jannette obtained as judgement the property as
her own to use and sell such in alimony. The lot reverted to Jannette’s son
Charles H. Ward for taking care and providing for his mother Jannetta S. TURNER
and repairing and rebuilding Lot 209 as well as building and a new barn. Jannette
reserved the right to remain on property until her death.[xviii]
Sarah Henrietta Turner born 23 March
1836 in Maryland married 19 December 1854, Fairfield County, Ohio to Bernard C.
Shircliff. Shircliff died in March 1894
in Chautauqua County, Kansas from an accident of a run-away team. Sarah died in July 1911 and buried beside her
husband in Hardrock Cemetery.
William Francis Turner born 14
September 1839 in Fairfield county, Ohio.
married Sarah Rebecca Humphreys
28 May 1871 in LA, California. He died
18 August 1928. In 1874 Turner was attacked on the Puenta Rancho at the mill
store by a man named El Gordo aka Tes Pinos.
Mrs. Turner came into the store with a small revolver and seized the man
and pushed him out the door and fired at him.
During the shooting she was shot by El Gordo and wounded. Rebecca had
given birth to a male son that died the same day just the month before.
Caroline Amelia “Callie” Turner was
born 7 March 1841 at Baltimore, Fairfield county, Ohio. She married Henry Goddard Ward 24 April 1862
in Fairfield county. He is listed as a
boatman in 1860 probably along the canal. By 1870 he was training horses in
Kentucky and shortly after was in Deer Lodge, Cottonwood Township, Montana.
His obituary states he was an expert in the care of horses and later opened a
livery and “The Kentucky Stables” which was a freighting business that ran in
Utah and Deer Lodge. He died in 1901 and
Callie in 1917.
Adaline August Turner born 6 March 1841
at Baltimore married 23 December 1858 David M. May. She was twin of Caroline.
Charlotte C. Turner was born 28
December 1843 and died 3 February 1849 in Fairfield County, Ohio.
Charles Bing Turner was born 5 July
1846 in Fairfield County, Ohio. He
served as Pvt. In the 17th Infantry Regt. During the Civil War. At the end of the war he removed to LA,
California. He was married two times: Mary Campbell and Helen L. Cook. He was a grocer. He died in Oakland, Alameda
County, 1 August 1919 and is buried in the Los Angeles National Cemetery.
Alice Teresa Turner was born 8
Febraury 1850 in Baltimore, Fairfield County, Ohio. She married Samuel Louis Davis
in 1867 in Hocking County, Ohio. Alice died 3 March 1894 in Magnetic Springs,
Union County, Ohio.
Elizabeth Littlejohn “Lizzie” Turner
was born 9 January 1854 at Baltimore, Fairfield County, Ohio. She was enrolled in the Kentucky Female Orphan
School in 1869. She married 3 July 1879
Henry Foster Martin, a Christian Minister.
In October 1933 she was reunited with her step brother Henry Poff of Fairmont,
Indiana. The article says that they
played tag together in Versailles, Kentucky and they had not seen each other in
40 years[xix].
Lizzie died 3 March 1936 of encephelitas myelitis at her daughter’s home in
Saint Albans, West Virginia. She was
buried at Pine Hill, Morehead, Kentucky next to her husband who had died at
Farmers, Rowan County, in March 1905.
DNA confirms that the children of John
Cunningham Turner and Elizabeth Littlejohn Turner are ½ siblings to the
children of John Cunningham Turner and Placid Ruelas. Placida married 18 May 1843 in Catedral De La
Asuncion, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico Ramon Monje. By this marriage she had Jose Juan Del Carmen
Monge Ruelas born about 1845 and Vacilio Felis De Jesus Monje Ruelas born
before June 1846 in Hermosillo. Placida
married #2 June 1855 in LA to Julian Rodriquez and had Jose S. Rodriquez in
1856 and Romona Rodriques in 1859. John
Cunningham Turner and Placida had the following children:
Dionisio R. Turner 1863-1913. Dionisio
married Maria de Refugia “Mary Ruth” Estrada 30 October 1882 in Los
Angeles. They had 11 Turner children.
Isabella Florence Turner 1865-1924
married fist Pedro M. Estrada and had 3 children. After divorce in May 1895 she married Hans S.
Christianson. She died 19 May 1924 in
Los Angeles.
Mary Ann “Marianna” Turner was born 15
April 1866 at El Monte, Los Angeles. She married first Walter Willis Morris 19
December 1895 in LA. Walter died in LA
in 1897. She married #2 Willis Joseph
Sawyer Morris. Morse was a publisher and they travelled. The family was involved with the precursor of Vanity
Fair. They had a yacht registered in
Atlantic City named the Marian He died
in 1921 at a hospital in Atlantic city listing a residence in
Philadelphia. He left a probate in
London, England. Her last known residence was Ocean City, New Jersey in the
late 1930’s.
Placida Ruelas Monje Rodriques Turner
continued to reside at Azusa after John Cunningham Turner’s death. She died 15
June 1888. At her death she left a will[xx]
According to the Los Angeles Herald, probate, with no bond required, granted Juan Monje.[xxi] The
Superior Court stated that her death occurred on or about 14 July 1888 as a
resident of Azusa township. In total the
estate involved 38 37/100 acres. Daughter
Mary received 8 acres. Juan Monje 5 45/100
acres, Dionisio 8 acres, Ramona 5 45/100 acres, Jose Rodriquez 5 45/100 and
Isabella acreage and Mary all household and Kitchen furniture[xxii] The
will and the Superior Court entry list her as Placida Ruela not Turner. Placida was in every way his wife and the
mother of three of his children. No one
in my branch of the family knew of Placida and the extended family, or if they
did they did not mention it.
I want to thank Peter Dewees for his
insight concerning the Workman’s and Los Angeles history. He descends from
William F. Turner. I wish to acknowledge
Kelly Davis for her lovely information concerning the issues of Placida. They are both part of my extended network of
wonderful cousins. To my cousin Barbara Martin Strosnider (1934-2019) who
carted the trunk loaded with my great grandfather John Shouse Martin’s photo
collection out to our farm and trusted me to first photograph then digitize the
collection which includes the original John Cunningham Turner photographs; special
love. The JS Martin collection is now
entrusted to her daughter’s Ann and Lucy for safe keeping and to continue the legacy
of our families.
The Canal next to where the Turner Property was in Baltimore, Fairfield County, Ohio. From the John Shouse Martin photo collection. Nellie Kautz Martin w/o John Shouse Martin on right.
[i] Maryland,
Frederick, : Lib 1 folio 220, Dec 21 1835 John Turner/Charles Jones; Maryland
State Archives, .
[ii] Fairfield
County, Ohio, Deeds, Deed book 13 page 401, Turner bond, March 1847;
Courthouse, Lancaster, Ohio
[iii] LibertyTownship,
Trustee Records Fairfield County, Ohio 1835-1866 (N.p.:
Fairfield chapter, Ohio Genealogical Society, n.d.), Page 19.
[iv] "Constable
Sale," Athens Messenger, between 31 December 1852 and 10 January
1853, sale of canal boat Rochester.
[v] Lancaster
Gazette, 26 May 1853, .
[vi] m
1 John Ward and 2. Jacob Poff who died in 1856.
[vii] Fairfield
County, Ohio, Volume 2: Page 170, Turner to Poff; Courthouse, Lancaster, ohio.
15 Mar 1858
[viii]
Fairfield
County, Ohio, Appearance Dockets Docket 11 page 110, 325, Turner Alimony, ,
1868–1869; Courthouse, Lancaster, Ohio.
[ix] California
State Library, California History Section; Great Registers, 1866-1898;
Collection Number: 4 - 2A; CSL Roll Number: 19; FHL Roll
Number: 976928.
[xii] Harris
Newmark, Sixty years in Southern California 1853-1913, containing the
reminiscenses of Harris Newmark, Maurice H. Newmark and Marco R. Newmark,
2nd ed, rev. and augm. (New York: Knickerbocker Press, 1916), 87.
[xiv] Rebecca
Humphreys Turner, My Story, typecraft (Pasadena, CAlifornia: n.p., circa
1960), Page 71-2.
[xv] Los Angeles
County, California, Dsitrict Civil Court , Case 1425, Box 46, , 1873;
Huntington Library, San Marino, California. District
Ct Case 1425 - Supreme Court 4107
[xvi] Rebecca
Humphreys Turner, My Story, typecraft (Pasadena, CAlifornia: n.p., circa
1960), Page 89.
[xvii]
Southern
California Genealogical Society and Family Research Center (Los Angeles,
California), Los Angeles City Cemetery Burial Journal, data base
(http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/free/LA-City-Cem-Alpha2.htm#t : accessed 20
December 2013), Jno. Turner.
[xviii]
Fairfield
County, Ohio, Deeds, deed book 48 Page 232, Turner, 8 October 1881; Courthouse,
Lancaster, Ohio
[xix] "Pair
Reunited After 40 Years," undated clipping, October 1933, from
unidentified newspaper; ; privately held by Teresa Martin Klaiber, [address for private use].
[xx] California
Society DAR, EArly California Wills, vol 2 (N.p.: n.p., 1952), page 89.
[xxi]
Los Angeles Herald 29 Jul 1888
[xxii]
California,
Los Angeles, Superior Court Probate, #8228 M. B. 18 page 314, .
