Edward and Martha Turner
The Later Years (after 1903) |
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Martha In Later Years
1910 census records show Martha at age 55
living as "head of household" with her daughter Lillian (age 26) and son
Frederick (age 16) in Weiser, Washington County, Idaho. Weiser is in the
extreme western part of Idaho a little north of Boise and is a long way from the
Gentile Valley.
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Martha Catherine
Hillman-Turner
This Photo was taken in Evansville, Wisconsin likely
when visiting
E.J. Turner's parents in the 1880's.
Evansville is located about half way between where
E.J.'s parents lived near Janesville and
Rutland Township in Dane County where his Jehu
grandparents lived about 25 miles away.
(From the photo
collection of Ruth Hine-Darling.)
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Exactly what brought Martha to Weiser and
when she arrived after her 1903 divorce are not known. There is, however,
circumstantial evidence that she may have had Hillman relatives living in the
area including 2 possible brothers.
Her eldest son Edward was
married in Weiser in 1908. Since son Edward had apparently left the
Gentile Valley home by the time of the 1900 census, he may have already been living
in Weiser at the time of the divorce and Martha may have been drawn there
because of
him. On the other hand, Martha may have settled there first and Edward
could have followed her. In any case, Martha and 3 of her 5 children
(Lillian, Frederick, and Edward) spent at least some time living in Weiser.
(Daughter Rose had married and moved elsewhere before the divorce and Percy
apparently stayed in the Gentile Valley with his father.) Records show
that Lillian was married in Weiser in 1918 (at the age of 35).
In the 1920 census Martha, age 65, is
shown living with son Frederick in Shoshone, Lincoln County, Idaho which is
located mid state (perhaps 18 miles north of Jerome and several hundred miles
from both Weiser and the Gentile Valley in opposite directions). A World War I Civilian Draft Registration list shows
that both sons Frederick and Edward registered for the draft (which does not
mean they
necessarily served in the military) in Lincoln County, Idaho (therefore possibly
in Shoshone) in 1917 or 1918 indicating that they were there by 1918 at the latest.
It is not known why Edward and Frederick came to Shoshone nor when they arrived.
If it is assumed that Martha moved to Weiser in late 1903 immediately after the
divorce and that she moved to Shoshone in 1918 after the marriage of her
daughter in Weiser, she could have spent up to 15 years living in Weiser (or 17
years if she came to Shoshone right before the 1920 census). At the age of 65
in 1920 it is possible that Martha was living with a son out of
necessity and that Frederick and/or Edward were supporting her financially.
A curious note: When the Idaho
Historical Society found the Turner's divorce case file for me in 2006 they also
found a record which showed that a certified copy of the divorce judgment had
been filed in Washington County, Idaho (where Weiser is located) on January 3,
1920 "at the request of J. F. Clabby". Son Edward's wife's maiden name was
Clabby and she was from, and married Edward in, Weiser. This makes J. F. Clabby very
likely the father or brother of Edward's wife. Why a copy of
Martha's divorce Judgment would have been filed in Weiser by a relative of her
son's wife 17 years after the divorce, 4 years after Edward J. Turner's death,
and around the time that Martha moved to Shoshone or a year or two thereafter is
a mystery.
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The caretaker
at the Jerome Historical Museum
looks for Martha's obituary in the back
issues of
the North Side News stored in the basement.
(July 2006 photo)
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I could not find Martha in the 1930 census
but that year son Frederick is shown with his wife and a daughter in Jerome,
Idaho as is son Edward along with his wife and 4 children. It is therefore
likely that Martha was also in Jerome in 1930 and was just missed by the census
takers.
I found an online Idaho Death Index which showed
that a Martha Catherine Turner, born
in about the right year based on earlier census data, had died in Jerome on
January 11, 1935
and was buried there. This was enough for me to strongly suspect that I'd
found Martha's date-of-death and final resting place but it took a trip to
Jerome for me to prove it.
In July 2006, while on my way to the
Gentile Valley, I visited Jerome for an afternoon where I visited the cemetery
and also found a copy of Martha's obituary in the basement of the Jerome County Historical
Society Museum (along with, much to my surprise, ones for her son Edward and his wife.)
Had Martha moved to the Shoshone/Jerome
area in 1918 she would have lived in this area for 17 years prior to her death.
She is buried in the Jerome Cemetery adjacent to the town in grave # 1-3-47.
The obituary for Martha Catherine Turner
(North Side News, Jerome ID, Jan. 17 1935, Page 8) reads:
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Martha's final
resting place in the Jerome
Cemetery in 2006.
(GPS: N 42° 42.839’, W 114° 31.902’ -
WGS84 Datum)
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"Death of Pioneer - In the death of Mrs. Martha
Catherine Turner in Jerome last week there passed another of the real pioneers
of the west. After a lingering illness, Mrs. Turner died on January 11th,
1935 at the home of a son, E. H. Turner. She was 81 years of age at the
time of her death. Mrs. Turner was a real pioneer of the west and of
Idaho. When a child of about ten years of age, she crossed the plains in
the early 1860's with her parents, who settled in Washington. She had been
a resident of Idaho for fifty-eight years. Her husband, E. J. Turner, died
in 1916. A number of years ago the family resided in Shoshone, this state.
Mrs. Turner is survived by two daughters, Mrs. H.H. Hina [Hine] of Seattle, and
Mrs. E.V. Jefferson, of Weiser, and three sons, Ed H. Turner and Fred Turner of
Jerome, and Percy Turner of San Francisco. The funeral was held at Jerome
last Sunday afternoon at Jerome Catholic church, Father Schermenson,
officiating, with interment at Jerome Cemetery."
The obituary was very likely written by sons Edward and/or Fred. It is noteworthy
that there is no mention in it of the 26 years Martha spent in the
Gentile Valley raising her children and as the wife of a prominent local rancher
and leader.
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| February 17,
1854 - January 11, 1935 |
Martha's grave site contains a marker
identifying her as a member of the American Legion Auxiliary. My
research indicates that to obtain membership she would have needed to be the
wife, sister, daughter, or mother of a World War I veteran. Since a wife, sister,
or daughter
relationship would not seem reasonable, its therefore likely that
one or more of her sons served. Records show that Edward, Percy, and
Frederick all registered for the World War I draft in 1917 or 1918 (which doesn't necessarily
mean that they served). In 1917 Edward would have been age 40, Percy age
29, and Frederick age 23. Based on age I therefore think it most
likely that Frederick served in World War I however I've been unable to prove
this.
Edward In Later Years
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Pocatello
Tribune
Wednesday March 22, 1911
(Page 5, Column 4) |
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The Pocatello
church where Edward and
Marian were married at around the time
of the 1911 wedding.
(The above two images courtesy of the Marshall
Public Library in Pocatello.) |
While he didn't show up in the 1910 census
its clear that Edward J. Turner continued to live in the Gentile Valley for
some time thereafter.
On March 21, 1911, more
than 8 years after his divorce from Martha, Edward J. Turner married Marian Adelaide
Cole in Pocatello, ID. Both a marriage record and the
published newspaper announcement indicate that Edward was
from Grace, ID and that Marian was
from Janesville, Wisconsin, E.J.'s childhood home. Census records show Marian (b. about 1849 in Ohio) in
Janesville in 1900 and 1910. In 1900 she was married and living with
her previous husband and one "son". By 1910 she was apparently widowed but still
living with 18 year old Howard Cole. (It's not clear whether Howard was
her son, step son, or some other relationship.)
At the time of the 1911
wedding E.J. was 65 years old and Marian about 61. I think it highly likely
that E.J. and Marian had know each other in the Janesville area as children
and/or young adults back in the
1860's and/or the early 1870's before E.J. headed west since Marian and her
parents are shown as
living within a few miles of the Turners in the 1870 census (when E.J. would have been about 25 years old
and Marian 21). It would be reasonable to suspect that they had known
each other for some time since, as explained elsewhere, both of E.J.'s parents had passed away and all of his
surviving siblings were no longer living anywhere near Janesville by 1893.
Thus for 18 years before the marriage he no longer had any direct family
contacts in Janesville and thus, I presume, less reason to visit the area.
Why the
marriage took place in Pocatello, perhaps 80 miles northwest of the Gentile
Valley, and not in Grace or Janesville is not known for sure but it could have been
to allow two of E.J.'s siblings to attend. E.J.'s brother, Frederick Hugh Turner,
attended the wedding and witnessed the marriage record. 1910 census records show that he was living in
Idaho Falls, 60 miles north of Pocatello and the wedding newspaper announcement
confirms this. In addition, the newspaper announcement indicates that "Mrs.
S. Brown of Salmon City, a sister of the groom" (E.J.'s sister Sarah) also attended the wedding.
Salmon, Idaho is quite a distance northwest of Pocatello and near the Montana
border.

Since all of E.J.'s children except for
Percy had left the Grace area of Idaho before or around the time of his divorce
from Martha in 1903, it is likely that only Percy ever got to know his father's
second wife well. I have no information which indicates whether or not any
of the other children ever even met their step-mother Marian. I also have
no information indicating whether Marian's son Howard (shown in the 1910 census
with his mother in Janesville) moved to the Gentile Valley with his mother.
Howard would have been about 19 at the time of the marriage.
In March of 1913 Edward J. Turner obtained
the last of his homestead land from the government, 160 acres adjacent to his
existing holdings. E.J.
would have been 68 in 1913, an age at which he could be expected to be slowing down
somewhat and/or thinking about retirement.
The "Vol. 1915-1916" edition of the "R.L.
Polk & Co.s - Bannock County Directory" ("Copyright Secured 1914") obtained from
the Marshall Public Library in Pocatello shows that Edwd. J. Turner of Grace
owned only 160 acres of land with a tax valuation of $1500. Since no
other land ownership is shown for him it's likely that by this time he'd sold most of his land holdings and possibly may have only kept the 160
acres acquired in 1913 (above).

The last major definitive record I have
regarding E.J. Turner's life prior to his death is his well documented February, 1914 attendance (along with his
wife Marian) at the banquet in Grace in
celebration of the Last Chance Canal.
A letter I received in December of 2006
from Jay and June Turner of Grace, ID (unrelated previous owners of some of E.J.
Turner's former ranch who I had contacted to see if they might be related and/or
have any information regarding E.J.) tells a very sketchy story of Edward's later life.
It reads in part:
| "Dr. Evan Kackley, owner of the farm that
was Edward John Turner('s), told Jay a story once about how
the Kackleys came to own the farm. (It is to bad you didn't
get to visit with Evan Kackley before he died a few years ago, Dr.
Ellis Kackleys son.) Edward John Turner had a mail order bride
come to marry him, and he built this big nice home for her, so when
she got here, it would be their home. By the information you
wrote in your letter, this was possibly Marian A. Cole he married in
Pocatello in 1911???? She did not like it here, and after
awhile, she left."
"Dr. Ellis
Kackley and wife Ida Kackley lived in Soda Springs Idaho back then.
Edward J. Turner must have started having health problems - as the
story that Dr. Evan Kackley related to Jay - was Ida Kackley was
very good to Edward and helped take care of him and did a lot for
Edward, so when he died, he willed or gave his farm to Ida (or sold
it to her). She was then the owner of the farm."
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The story above is of course third-hand
information passed on over several generations for around 90 years. The part about the
"mail order bride" has some truth to it based on the
fact that of E.J. Turner's second wife Marian had come from Janesville, WI. The part about
giving away the farm to Ida Kackley could likewise have a little truth to it but
could also be somewhat misleading or perhaps not at all correct. I've
uncovered no information which shows that E.J. Turner gave away any part of his
ranch but I suppose it's possible (more below). The Kackley's did
end up owning at least parts of what had previously been the Turner ranch and
current day topographic maps of the area show a "Kackley spring" just south
of the current Grace Power Plant on what was clearly once E.J.'s land. The
part about E.J.'s new wife not liking Grace could be true but the evidence I
have suggests that Marian never "left" her husband though the couple did
apparently leave together (more below). The indication that E.J. "started
having health problems" would turn out to be true (more below).
The Quest for E. J.
Turner's Place of Death and Final Resting Place
For over two years E.J. Turner's exact
date of death, place of death, and final resting place remained a mystery to me in
spite of much work expended to determine these facts. My mother's note regarding the
Turners indicates that he passed away in 1916 (followed by a question mark for
unknown reasons) and Martha's
obituary also indicates that he died in 1916. But I had nothing more to go
on.
The logical place to look for his death
information would be in and/or around Grace, Idaho where he had lived for almost
40 years. But I could find no Idaho death
records for him nor an obituary in the Soda Springs
newspaper (obituaries being hard to find without a death date). Searches of nearby cemetery records come up with nothing
and a Grace area genealogy volunteer even visited local cemeteries in search
of his grave with no luck. In addition, when I chatted with Don Gilbert on my
2006 visit to the area I asked if he were aware of any grave sites on former
Turner Ranch land, which he wasn't.
Edward J. Turner simply seemed to
disappear. I considered other possible scenarios. Perhaps he
had retired and moved elsewhere by 1916. Perhaps the mention in Jay and June Turner's letter (above) that "She did not
like it here, and after awhile, she left" provided a clue. Could both
Edward and Marian have moved back to Janesville, WI where they both had roots. I looked into these possibilities as much as I reasonably
could but didn't have a lot to go on and again came up with nothing.
Finally, in the late summer of 2006 and
having exhausted all the other options, it occurred to me to see if there might
be any probate (estate) records stored somewhere in Idaho which might provide
some information. I considered it unlikely but thought I'd give it a
shot. The result was a frustrating (but ultimately successful) 6 month exercise in interagency Idaho state government bureaucracy.
The short version of events started when I contacted Idaho State Public Archives
(in Boise). They indicated that they had crates full of such of records but wanted
the Bannock County Clerk's office to provide an index so they'd know which crate
to look in. This took months and when the Bannock County finally provided
the index, the State Archives then indicated that the records for E.J. Turner were not
there even thought the index said they should be. Both the County and
the State acknowledged
the existence of a probate case file for E.J. Turner but neither could find it. Finally, after almost 6 months
and much prodding on my part, the Bannock
County Clerk's office found the case file under a pile of other papers at the
bottom of an old safe in their basement in Pocatello. Their best guess is that 50
or more years ago the file had been pull out for special treatment, possibly as
part of a microfilming effort, and not placed back where it was supposed to be.
Mystery Solved
In early April of 2007 I received copies
of E.J. Turner's probate case file which indicates that he passed away on June 1,
1916 in San Diego, California. The location was quite surprising to me
as I had uncovered virtually no evidence that he had ever been there before and San Diego is quite
far
removed from Grace, ID both in terms of distance and life style.
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Edward John
Turner
(Date unknown. From the photo
collection of Ruth Hine-Darling.)
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Upon learning the death location I immediately requested a copy of his death certificate from
the State of California (which took till the end of June to arrive). The
death certificate conflicts with the probate file in that it indicates that E.J.
Turner died on Oct. 31, 1916 (not June 1 as indicated by the probate case file).
I trust that the death certificate death date of Oct. 31 is the
correct one as it is signed by an attending physician who
cared for him in late October as well as by his wife Marian A. Turner while the
probate case file treats his death date only in passing and could have easily
gotten it wrong.
Additional new information contained in
the death certificate includes the fact that E.J. Turner was to be buried in Janesville,
Wisconsin, that he died of "Chronic Myocarditis" (a heart condition),
that his birth place was Canada (which conflicts with some census records which
show Wisconsin),
and provided confirmation of the names of his parents (John and Margaret Turner ) and
their birth places (England and Wales respectively). Also, it
indicates that E.J. had been in San Deigo for only 22 days and shows his home as
Grace, ID. All of the
information on the death certificate, with the exception of that of a medical
nature, would have been provided by E.J.'s second wife Marian who signed it on
Nov. 2 and who thus most certainly must have been
with him in San Deigo when he passed away.
When I'd first received E.J.'s probate
file indicating a date of death of June 1, 1916 I'd unsuccessfully tried to find
an obituary in the Soda Spring Chieftain newspaper's online records shortly
after that date. When I received the death certificate showing the date of
death was really October 31 I rechecked the Chieftain archive and found what
I'll call E.J.'s "obituary" published on the front page on Nov. 9, 1916.
It indicates that E.J. had gone to San Diego "for the benefit of his health",
that his son Percy had immediately left for San Diego upon learning of the
death, and that the Kackley's were by then the owners of the former Turner
ranch, E.J. having moved to "his present location" a few years before.
Referring back to my correspondence with Jay and June Turner (above), this
confirms their mention that E.J. was having health problems and suggests that
the obituaries mention of "his present location" may be the location Jay and June
were referring to when they wrote "he built this big nice home for her"
(referring to second wife Marian).

Perhaps E.J. and Marian were in San Diego
on vacation (maybe to avoid another harsh winter in Idaho) or with the intent to
check it out as a possible retirement location. In any case, E.J. was
still legally a Grace, ID resident at the time of his death and he had not
entirely cleaned up his affairs there.
The probate file shows that at the time of his death E.J. owed Dr. Ellis Kackley
(in Idaho) $50 for two office visits in the spring of 1916; one for the
"reduction of fracture of arm for wife" and the other for "one visit to Self".
The probate case file also indicates that E.J. had sold his Gentile Valley land
holdings "a short time" prior to his death. And finally, the
probate case file shows that Marian stayed in San Diego, apparently taking up
permanent residency there, starting immediately after E.J.'s death and for at
least 7 years thereafter. I have run into no indication that Marian ever
returned to Grace after E.J.'s death.
This suggests that it may have been the couple's intent to move to San Diego and tends
to confirm the 2006 Turner letter (above) which suggests that Marian may not have
been all that happy living in Grace.
Edward J. Turner's Final Resting Place
Now armed with the specific information
from his California death certificate that E.J. was to be buried in Janesville,
Wisconsin I redoubled my effort to find his gravesite there. After some
work I was able to find a local genealogist who had access to cemetery records
not yet publicly available on the internet and which showed that E.J. was in
fact buried in Janesville's Oak Hill Cemetery (the largest and oldest
primary cemetery in the area) on November 10, 1916, 11 days after his death.
The mystery of E.J. Turner's burial
location was now solved but cemetery records (confirmed by subsequent photos)
immediately created another minor mystery. E.J. is buried in the
same plot and memorialized on the same monument as Marian's first husband,
Nelson Cole, and some of Nelson's relatives! This seems
strange to me as E.J. Turner's parents along with one brother are interred about
3 miles due east of the outskirts of Janesville in the Mt. Zion/Clarke
cemetery, a small neighborhood cemetery directly across the street from the elder
Turner's farm where E.J had grown up. There is plenty of room for
more graves at his parents monument so I can't explain why E.J. wasn't buried there.
And a final interesting observation: Marian isn't buried with her two
husbands and I have been unable to find a burial location for her.
Why E.J. wasn't buried with his parents
will most probably remain a mystery. E.J. left no will as such so
there is no written documentation of his intentions but one can assume that,
since pretty much all of his Gentile Valley family (except son Percy) had long ago moved to other
parts of Idaho, the possibility of "going home" to the Janesville area would
likely have crossed his mind as an option. One might also assume the he'd
discuessed his final resting place at some point with Marian who, also being from
Janesville, would have certainly known that E.J. had grown up there and had
parents buried there. So, why was E.J. buried with his second wife's
first husband and not with E.J. parents? I suppose it possible that, even
if E.J. had indicated a desire to be buried with his parents, Marian perhaps
didn't know exactly where they were interred and couldn't easily find out so her
first husband's plot become the only viable alternative. I have no
specific information as to whether Marian accompanied E.J. on his final trip to
Janesville and attended his funeral there but I suspect she may have as her
nephew Frank Mills (who Marian would live with in later years) came from Iowa to
be a pallbearer at the funeral according to one of E.J.'s Janesville obituaries.
In October of 2008 I visited the Oak Hill
Cemetery in Janesville and took the accompanying photos which confirm cemetery
records regarding E.J.'s final resting place in the Cole plot.

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The Cole
plot and monument in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Janesville, WI.
(Lot 133.)
Edward J. Turner's inscription faces the
road.
The small headstones apparently belong to adjacent plots.
Nelson Cole was Marian Turner's husband before she
was widowed and married E.J. Turner. Below are detailed photos
of the 4 sides of the monument.
(GPS: N 42° 42.069’, W 089° 02.709’ ±10 feet - WGS84
Datum) |
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Edward J. Turner
was Marian Cole-Turner's husband after previous husband Nelson Cole had
passed away. Emily A. Cole was Nelson's first wife and Gertie May
was Nelson and Emily's daughter. Marian is not buried here with
her 2 husbands.
(2008 Photos by the author.)
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Epilog
What Happened to Marian?
Little is known regarding Marian
after E.J.'s death.
She stayed in San Diego, CA at least for awhile. She shows up there in the
1920 census at age 70 living with an elderly married couple where she is shown
as a "boarder". E.J.'s probate case file suggests that she remained in San
Diego till at least 1924 when the last distribution check from the estate was sent to
her and cashed there.
In the 1930
census Marian A. Turner shows up in Osceola, Clark County, Iowa. I
strongly suspected that this was E.J.'s wife since the middle initial is correct as
well as her age at 80 and the record show's she was born in Ohio, also correct.
She is shown as widowed and is the "aunt" of head-of-household Frank M.
Mills. My suspicions were confirmed when additional census
record checks showed that Marian's sister Emily had married Harlow Mills in 1873
(in Janesville) and by 1880 was living in this same area of Iowa and had a son
named Francis ("Frank Mills" in the 1900 census for the same household) with the
correct age for the Frank Mills shown in 1930 census. Marian was clearly
living with her nephew, the son of her sister.
I couldn't find Marian in the recently
released 1940 census when she would have been 90 suggesting that she likely had
passed away between 1930 and 1940. One thing that is known for sure is that, for
unknown reasons, she in not buried with her two husbands in the Oak Hill
Cemetery in Janesville, WI.
Marian's Past
I've uncovered some information regarding
Marian before her marriage at age 61 to E.J. Turner in 1911. Wisconsin
marriage records show that "Marian Adelaide Adams" married previous husband Nelson
Cole on April 8, 1893, about a year after the death of his previous wife Emily.
At the time of the marriage Marian would have been about 43 years old, an age at
which I suppose she could have been previously married and even had grown
children though I've found no evidence of this. The
marriage record suggests that her maiden name was "Adams" and there is
a census record in 1870 for Johnson, Rock, Wisconsin (the Janesville area)
showing a
"Marion A. Adams" born about 1849 in Ohio living
with her parents Francis and Amelia Adams along with a brother (Fred) and sister
(Emily).
Since E.J. Turner is known to have still been in the Janesville area in the mid
1860's (a few years before this 1870 census record) it's very possible that he and Marian had known each other there prior to
his heading west. In 1870 E.J. would have been 24 years old and Marian 21.
The 1900 Janesville, WI census shows
Nelson and Marian living with a presumed son Howard Cole (no age given).
The 1910 Janesville census shows Marian as widowed and living with child Howard
age 18. This suggests that Howard was born in about 1892. Nelson's
previous wife Emily had passed away on March 5, 1892 (see tombstone photos
above) suggesting the possibility that Emily may have died in child birth and
that Howard was not Marian's son but rather step-son. This all
seemed nice and logical till I noticed that Emily was born in 1822 (as indicated
on her tombstone and clearly confirmed by 1880 census data for the Nelson
household) and was thus 70 years old when she died, not a likely age to be
giving birth. Another possibility: Census recorded ages tend
to only be trustworthy within a couple of years which suggests that possibly Howard
could have been born shortly after the 1893 wedding of Marian and Nelson.
Marian giving birth at age 43 is also unlikely but far less unlikely than Emily
having a child at age 70. I suppose it also possible that Howard Cole was
adopted or the son of a Cole relative.
Miscellaneous Information
From E.J. Turner's Probate Case File
E.J. Turner's probate case file is mostly full of bureaucratic, but apparently
necessary, legal filings and accounting records but it does provided some
interesting, but not earthshaking, information.
Edward John Turner did not leave a will so
his estate was handled under the statutory laws of the State of Idaho.
The first activity took place on Feb. 2, 1917, about 3 months after E.J.'s
death, when his son Percy G. Turner (the only remaining child still living in
the Grace area and thus the one who likely knew E.J.'s second wife Marian
the best) filed papers in Pocatello, ID (the county seat) requesting to be appointed administrator of his
father's estate (which were subsequently granted by the probate judge). On
that day Percy also filed papers naming the heirs to the estate as E.J.'s
wife Marian and his 5 children from his previous marriage to Martha.
Also on Feb. 2 Percy filed an inventory of the estate's assets which consisted
"almost entirely of real estate situated in Bannock County" (actually in the form of
mortgages on the property) and "which was sold a short time prior to the decedents
death". The mortgages had an estimated value at the time of $9,000
(but the estate later paid out a total some what less then this for reasons that
are not entirely clear). There is a hard-to-read handwritten list of the
land secured by the mortgages (which, while it is not entirely clear, may have
been due from from three individuals: Olund, Hays, and Pond). As near as I can decipher it,
the mortgages account for
1040 acres of the 1240 acres which I've documented that E.J. had acquired over
the years. The unaccounted for 200 acres is pretty close to the 160
acres shown by the R.L. Polk directory as owned by E.J. around 1914 to 1916
(above). Perhaps this last 160 to 200 acres of land was sold as part of the estate (though I find
no specific record that it was) or perhaps it had in fact been given to Ida
Kackley shortly before E.J. death as suggested in the 2006 Turner letter
(discussed above) just before he headed for San Diego. I note that none of
the mortgages held by the estate were in the name of Kackley which I find a
little confusing.
Public notices to identify possibly
creditors were published and the only creditor to make a claim was Dr. Ellis Kackley
who submitted a request for payment for the 2 office visits mentioned above.
The estate was not finalized and
discharged by the probate judge until March 2, 1929, over 12 years after E.J.'s
death. On the other hand, most of the proceeds of the estate were
paid out over the period from 1917 to 1924 in the form of relatively small
checks periodically (but on no particular schedule) written by Percy to the
heirs, probably
as cash from the mortgages became available. Over this period a few minor
assets were sold including some stock in something called the Utah Tropical
Fruit Company which E.J. had owned. Then, from Oct. of 1924 till January
of 1929, there is no financial activity shown. In early 1929 a few checks
were written to cover some appraiser, administration, and attorneys fees.
On February 5, 1929 Percy filed a final
accounting of the estate and a petition for discharge (which was approved on
March 2). The final total net value of the estate was $5,705.35.
For unknown reasons this was somewhat less than the $9,000 estimated 12 years
before, possibly I suppose, because some of the mortgage had gone bad or were
negotiated down in value. No estate taxes were paid. Second wife
Marian received 1/3 of the estate (or about $1900) and E.J.'s 5 children split
the other 2/3's evenly, each getting about $760 (which had been paid out in
smaller amounts over about 7 years). The case file contains releases signed by
all the heirs acknowledging that they had received their fair share of the
estate.
I can only guess at why it took 12 years
for the estate to be finalized as most of the proceeds were distributed by 1924
and the probate case file contains no evidence that anything was being
contested. Perhaps between 1924 and 1929 Percy was dealing with the
mortgage holders trying to collect more from them (as possibly indicated by the
decrease in the estates value from the original estimate). On the other
hand the delay could simple be that, what with no more significant funds to
worry about, Percy just put the the final paperwork aside and didn't get to it
for 5 years.
An observation regarding the estate:
The accounting, which appears to have been diligently and accurately handled by
Percy, does not included in the value of the estate any assets which E.J. and
Marian may have had with them when E.J passed away in San Diego (I assume
they would have had a supply of cash with them particularly if it was their
intention to stay in San Diego and obtain medical care there). In
addition, there is no record that the estate paid for E.J.'s final trip to, and
burial in Janesville, WI. I would therefore guess that these expenses were probably paid for by
Marian. I suspect that Percy (perhaps with the concurrence of the
other heirs) simple chose to ignore these assets and expenses as not being
significant.
The probate case file provided one
unexpected and valuable source of information. It included the cancelled checks that Percy Turner had written during the over 12 years
that the estate was active. Bank stamps on the backs of these checks
from where they were deposited or cashed have enabled me to trace the whereabouts of all the heirs
during this period (at least till 1924). All checks written to Marian Turner
(the last on being in 1924) were cashed
or deposited in San Diego clearly indicating the she remained there. If
otherwise unknown, I have included the whereabouts of E.J.'s children during
this period in the section of this biography titled "Children".
Some Final Thoughts
In 1877 when Edward J. Turner brought his family
to the area of the Idaho frontier that would later become known as the Gentile Valley
they would have surely arrived via horse and wagon and have lit their
hand built log cabin using lanterns. By the time of his 1916 death
Edward could easily travel cross-country from his Gentile Valley home via
railroad, would have had electricity in his home, probably had telephone service,
and could have possibly even owned an automobile.
E.J.'s death certificate describes his
occupation as "Farmer".
In the early days of the Gem Valley "ranching", which suggests the grazing of
cattle and other live stock, was the most prevalent form of livelihood in the
area and E.J. was certainly a cattle rancher. The successful completion of the Last Chance Canal, which
brought water to the otherwise dry land, allowed for "farming", which implies
growing crops, which was not possible to any large degree previously.
Thus, prior to the construction of the Last Chance Canal, the area tended to have "ranchers" and afterwards "farmers"
appeared on the same land. E.J. Turner had apparently made the
transition from being a rancher to being a farmer.
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