Merced County CA Archives Biographies.....Turner, Joseph L. 1838 - 
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Source: See below
Author: Lewis Publishing Co.

JOSEPH L. TURNER was born in the State of Missouri, December 30, 1838, and
crossed the plains to California in 1853. Captain Nicholas Turner, one of the
pioneers of 1848, is his father. A history of his life in detail would read more
as a romance than a chronicle of events. He was born in Tennessee in 1802;
served as a soldier in the Mexican war, and in 1848 crossed the plains to the
Golden State, via the southern route. He was first engaged in mining in Mariposa
county, and later he was interested in the live-stock trade near Stockton. The
winter of 1851 he spent in Texas, and the following spring he went to Missouri;
he did not tarry long there, however, but April 2, two years later, started
again for the Pacific coast. He made the journey over land, and stopped at
Virginia City where he made the first settlement of the Washoe valley; here he
spent one winter, and in May, 1854, he reached Stockton. After a short residence
there he went to Mariposa creek, two and a half miles east of Plainsburg, where
he took up land and pitched a tent in which he lived. At this time the country
was wild and thinly settled, and elk and antelope were plentiful. In 1856 Mr.
Turner returned to Missouri, where he still owned considerable property, and the
following spring he came back to California, bringing a drove of cattle. When
near Salt Lake he was shot by the Mormons or Indians, and was seriously wounded;
he was also robbed of all his livestock and the most of his money. During his
life-time he led several different emigrant trains to California, and it was he
who built the first wagon road in Tulare county. He was for many years engaged
in the live-stock trade, and was one of the most successful men of Merced
county; he owned a ranch covering nearly three thousand acres, which he managed
with great ability. Captain Turner is now ninety years old. He was married in
1826 to Keziah McClure, a native of" North Carolina, and they had the following
named children: John F. R., deceased, Singleton Y., Marion F., Effie S., wife of
T. J. Anderson, Joseph L., Sophronia, wife of James Cunningham, Jonas L.,
deceased, and Nicholas N. The mother died April 7,1890, having attained an
advanced age.

   Joseph L. Turner, the fifth born of this family, began life at the age of
sixteen years. He was married July 27, 1859, to Miss Martha Welch, a daughter of
P. Y. Welch, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. He has been
engaged in farming and the raising of live stock on the old home place near
Plainsburg since 1856; he is energetic and enterprising, and his labors have met
with a fair reward. He is well posted upon the topics of the day, and takes an
active interest in all progressive movements. Mr. and Mrs. Turner are the
parents of eleven children, seven of whom are living, namely:     Benjamin C.
H., J. L. Turner, Junior, Emily D., wife of Henry Crosby, Rebecca, wife of John
Vetterly, Dovie, widow of Dr. H. W. Welch, Odie T., Willie C., and Walter S.,
who died at the age of sixteen years.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from 

Memorial and Biographical History
Merced, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Tuolumne and Mariposa Counties California

Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co. 1892


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