Edward John Turner
Census records place Edward John Turner's birth in March of 1845 though his death certificate shows March 14, 1846 and his tombstone also shows 1846. He was the eldest of 8 siblings. There is conflicting information as to where he was born. His personal census records in Idaho consistently indicate that he was born in Wisconsin however there is a good deal of evidence that he was in fact born in Canada. His death certificate shows his birth location as Canada as does the 1920 census record of his daughter Rose B. Hine (my grandmother). Additionally, census records show that his next two eldest siblings were born in Canada (with the 5 youngest being born in Wisconsin). Finally, my newly discovered cousin Dick Turner has told me that it's been passed down his branch of the family that E.J. Turner had at some point held a government position in Idaho that he had to resign from due to not being a U.S. citizen. I thus think it probable that E.J. was in fact born in Canada, perhaps not far from Wisconsin. Regardless of his exact birth location it's clear that he grew up from a young age on his parents farm in Harmony Township, Rock County, Wisconsin (also known sometimes as the Rock Prairie area in the mid 1800's and/or the Mt. Zion area) which is today about 3 miles due east of the outskirts of Janesville, WI. His father, "John Turner" according to census records and Edward's death certificate (but "Edward John Turner" according to my mother's note) was born in about 1802 in England and his mother, Margaret Jehu-Turner was born about 1827 (25 years younger than her husband) in Wales. The story of E.J. Turner's parents is told elsewhere. Mother's note mentions that Edward attended Milton College in Wisconsin. I followed up on this and found that an institution by that name had been located in Milton, WI, not far from Janesville. It was founded in 1844 but closed it's doors in 1982. It still, however, had a web site and archivist that I contacted via email. The archivist indicated that there were few records available from the 1860's but that from the limited ones available she could confirm that an E. J. Turner from "Rock Prairie" had indeed been a student in 1865 (when he would have been about 19). The archivist could not tell how many years Edward attended Milton nor whether he graduated. She also found the names of some of Edward's siblings who attended Milton around the same time. Subsequently I obtained more information regarding Milton from the Rock County Genealogical Society which confirms that Edward and 3 of his siblings attended Milton at overlapping times during the period from 1865 to 1869. I strongly suspect that Turner siblings also attended before and after this period. Two of the siblings are shown attending in years when they would have been about 13 years old suggesting that Milton most likely provided both a high school and college education. I thus think it likely that Edward attended for 8 years graduating with a college degree in 1866 or 1867 at around the age of 21 or 22. Milton is located only about 6 or 7 miles almost directly north of Edward's childhood home and it's thus possible that he attended Milton as a "day" student and commuted daily perhaps via horseback, horse and buggy, or perhaps even on foot. On the other hand he could have boarded at Milton during the week and easily come home on weekends. The information I've obtained about Milton suggests that it was a substantial institution of learning for Wisconsin in the mid-1800 and that it had an enrollment of 420 students in 1866. When I first started researching Edward J. Turner I had more or less assumed that someone who grew up on the Wisconsin frontier as a child of immigrants and spent his adult life on the Idaho frontier was probably not formally or well educated. However, as my research progressed it became clear that he was likely quite well educated for anyone growing up in the mid 1800's.
Edward would have been around 18 years old in 1863. This age would have made him eligible to have served in the Civil War. My check of internet Civil War records did not turn up any evidence that he did however, which doesn't mean that he didn't, just that I could find no record of it. Having attended Milton College in 1865 (above) could suggest, but doesn't necessarily prove, that Edward spent the Civil War Years attending school or could suggest that he may have served prior to attending Milton. An explanation for his possibly not serving in the Civil War could be that he was not a U.S. Citizen if he in fact was born in Canada. After Milton College I lose track of Edward until 8 years later when he marries Martha Hillman in the Washington Territory in 1873. Why and when he headed to the western frontier is not known nor is what he did for a living during this period. My mother's note indicates that he "Came west to Virginia City Montana then Va. Gulch". Gold was discovered in 1863 at what became Virginia City, Montana ("Heart of the Comstock Lode") which is located 20 miles northwest of today's Yellowstone National Park. The town became the Territorial Capital of Montana in 1865 and once had a population of around 10,000 but today is a tourist "ghost" town. Perhaps Edward was drawn west by the lure of the Montana gold rush shortly after attending Milton College in Wisconsin. Today there appear to be several Virginia Gulch's in Idaho and Montana none of which are actually towns but more like geographic areas thus making this reference in my mother's note a dead end. An interesting possible connection to
Edward's heading to Montana: Edward's mother was Margaret
Jehu-Turner and while researching her Jehu relatives in Wisconsin I came upon a
biographical passage in a historical reference book regarding Edward's first
cousin once removed, Thomas D. Jehu, who had settled in Rutland, Dane County, WI
(about 20 miles from Edward's childhood home in Harmony Township).
Regarding Thomas it reads in part after indicating that he settled in Dane County
in 1854: "where he resided till 1866; he then emigrated to Montana Territory,
where he engaged in mining for six years; returning to Rutland in June 1872".
The timing of Thomas Jehu's 6 year Montana adventure from 1866 to 1872 fits quit
well with the years I can't trace Edward from being at Milton College in
1865 till he marries Martha Hillman in 1873. Could the two cousins have
headed to Montana together (perhaps with other unidentified relatives) with
Thomas returning to Wisconsin in 1872 and Edward moving farther west and
marrying Martha in the Washington Territory in 1873? I haven't been able to uncover anything about Martha Catherine Hillman's early life except this mention in her obituary: "When a child of about 10 years of age, she crossed the plains in the early 1860's with her parents, who settled in Washington". Martha would have been 10 years old in 1864, a time when the Civil War was in progress. While her death certificate shows that she was born in Kansas, census records consistently show that Martha was born in Missouri. Martha's parents are largely a mystery
with very little known about them except that her father's name was George
Hillman (according her death certificate). There is some circumstantial
evidence that Martha may have possibly had brothers named George and Wash who
settled in Malheur County in eastern Oregon.
When Martha came to the western frontier at a young age in the early 1860's schools were few and far between. However, her entries in her daughter Rose's "Autograph Books" show that Martha was literate and could read and write indicating that she had obtained at least a basic education. A Possible Native American Connection? In my first phone conversation with newly discovered 1st-cousin-once-removed Dick Turner in 2007 he asked me if my branch of the family had passed on any information as to whether Martha may have been half Indian (Native American) indicating that he'd heard this was a possibility from his older sisters over the years but that they and he had no evidence of it. I indicated that I hadn't ever heard this which wasn't surprising since my father virtually never mentioned his Turner grandparents and I grew up far from my grandparents. Some months later I emailed my 1st cousin Ellen Darling-Benson and asked if she'd heard anything about this from her mother (Ruth, my aunt) or our common long deceased grandmother Rose Turner-Hine who she had known much better than I had. Like me, she wasn't aware of this bit of family "hearsay" but said she'd ask her mother who she'd be visiting shortly. When Ellen subsequently got back to me she wrote "Mom said that she had heard that too, but her mother would never admit it". So..... apparently the same unsubstantiated rumor did pass down at least two branches of the Turner family to Martha's grandchildren. I found the thought of perhaps being 1/16 Native American somewhat intriguing and in 2010 decided to find out for sure by having my DNA tested by 23andMe, one of many relatively new companies offering genealogical as well as medical DNA testing to the general public. Their results indicated that I have a zero percent statistical probability of having a Native American ancestor going back 5 generations on either my father's or mother's side of the family. Since Martha Turner was my great grandmother (back 3 generations) this pretty much proves that there was no truth to the suggestion that Martha was half "Indian". How and why the rumor passed down two branches of the family can only be speculated. Perhaps Martha played little children's games with her kids and/or grand kids suggesting she was part Indian and they took it seriously. Marriage
My mother's note indicates that Edward and Martha "met on wagon trains", likely in the Washington Territory. According to their 1903 divorce case papers, the Turners were married on March 1, 1873 at Pine Grove, Washington and a marriage record that I found reference to online, and subsequently obtained a hard-copy of, indicates that the Turners were married in Stevens County, WA. A few words about geography: A look at a current map of Washington State shows that "Pine Grove" is located in western Washington not far north of Portland, OR while Stevens County is located in the northeastern part of the State, a long way from today's Pine Grove. I asked the archivist with the Washington State Eastern Region Branch Archives who sent me the Stevens County marriage record copy about this discrepancy. He indicated that, while he was aware of no town as such in eastern Washington with the name Pine Grove, that the name is not uncommon in the eastern part of the State and he specifically mentioned a cemetery with the name near Cheney, WA and a political precinct near Spokane in it's early days. I've thus not pinned down the exact location where Edward and Martha were married but it was very likely in what is today northeastern Washington. The copy of the Steven County marriage record I obtained is undated but is handwritten in the record book between entries made on August 18, 1873 and November 28, 1874 suggesting that the entry was made retroactively after the March 1873 wedding. (Apparently not a lot of people married in Stevens County, Washington Territory in those days). The entry is very hard to read but indicates that Martha Hillman's father gave his permission for a wedding license to be issued so she could marry Edward Turner. The archivist indicated that such parental consent would only have been necessary if the bride was under 18 years old however my math indicates that Martha would have been 19 in 1873 (and Edward 28) so exactly why the record was made is unclear.
Edward and Martha's first child, Rose Belle Turner, was born January 18, 1875 in Walla Walla in the Washington Territory according to Rose's obituary. (A note about my grandmother's name: Some early sources show her name as Rosabell, Rosa, and even Rosy. I always knew her as Rose and her Poland, Ohio grave monument reads Rose B. Hine. I therefore use the name Rose Belle.) The Turner's second child, Edward Hugh Turner, was born on January 18, 1877 at Spokane, Washington Territory (according to his obituary), exactly two years to the day after his older sister. Walla Walla and Spokane are some distance apart suggesting that perhaps the Turners moved around eastern Washington somewhat from the time of their 1873 marriage till son Edward was born in 1877. I have not been able to uncover anything which indicates what the Turner family did for a living during this period.
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