ROSS COUNTY OHIO - BIOS: TURNER Family of Ross County "AS I REMEMBER"
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Subject: Re: Letter of Rememberances JT/R

The attached document was digitalized by Wilma Jean Shoemaker (Turner) 
from a transcript she received written by Josephine Turner/ Roberts. It 
detail rememberances of life and migration in the Turner Family of Ross
Co., Ohio. Please post it to your FTP site.

AS I REMEMBER

By Josephine Turner Roberts

In the year 1955. the thought has come to me to try narrate as accurately as
I can , stories told to me by my Grandmother many, many years ago, about the
imigration of her family to Ohio from Huntington Co., Pennsylvania. Also as
nearly as authentic as possible, some of the history of our family from that
time to the present . Much that she told me is forgotten and I , being very
young, may have drawn on my own imagination for the picture she gave me.
Nevertheless, here it is, be it fact or fiction as it comes to my mind after
these many years.

THE TREK TO OHIO

As nearly as can be calculated, in the year 1838 to 1840 , Great Grandfather
Joseph Hess of Huntington, Pa. ,with his family of several children began
their journey to the state of Ohio. Just why Ohio and in Huntington Township
was their objective, I was never told or was too young to remember. I can
only imagine what a trip across country in those times would mean without
bridges or roads , traveling in a big wagon, drawn by a team of horses and
trailing cattle to a new country covered with timber and not without many
hazards. There are many things about this trip I wish I could relate. We
knew there were few stopping places along the way. Maybe they camped in the
forrest overnight and ate food they had brought with them or killed along
the way. How much and what they brought with them is only a conjecture,
surely not very much could be packed into a wagon and brought so far. No
doubt a few cooking utensils, a brass or iron kettle(such was of great use
in those days), and bedding and clothes, possibly in a great trunk. We can
only wonder how long it took them and the hardships they endured, to make
such a torturous journey with several small children . I wonder too, if
they came alone or with a wagontrain to search for a home in the Ohio
hills.. Grandmother told of her Fathers Mother standing in the doorway ,
drying her tears with her apron as they drove away. She never saw them
again. Only Great Grandfather ever made the trip back and that on
horseback, alone.On their trip to Ohio I remember Grandmother telling me how
the children, Susan, Sarah and Samuel, herded the cattle along the way and
when they became tired , Mother would get off the wagon and spell them a
while. One thing I remember in particular, Grandmother told it so many
times, was when they crossed Richard's Creek just at the foot of the hill,
Samuel climbed a tree and the cattle got away and ran into the brush and
they had a real hard time rounding them back up, and Father whipped Samuel
unmercifully. She told how the forrest and trees were so dense that they
would meet over the roadway up the hill. They must have been nearing the
chosen place, for an that hill stood the remains of an old house ,
Grandmither told me later, was the first house Grandfather built when he
came to this part of the country. It must have taken a long time to hew out
all the logs and place them one upon the other. Nails were not used , but
the logs were notched to fit and the cracks were all filled with clay. The
clapboard had to be made for the roof. Maybe those were put on with square
nails. The old house must have weathered many a storm as there were still
several logs still in place , when I was a child and our father (grandson
of the Hesses) cleared away the remains. I remember the old well , the trees
nearby and a little burial plot, all of which tells us that another family
must have also lived there as the years went by. How long did the Hesses
live there ? I'd like to know, and where else they had lives. Years later
Grandfather moved to Michigan , then came back to Ohio .Then back to
Michigan where he died and was buried. He must have been a sturdy character
with a roving disposition. A bit of a hothead as I understand and not
affraid of adventure.

THE FAMILY

Greatgrandfather and Greatgrandmother Hess had the follwing children:
Susan, Sarah(our Grandmother), Samuel, Daniel, Elizabeth, Joseph, Ann and
Mary. Daniel and Elizabeth died at an early age and are buried in the old
Baptist Cemetery, on the Baptist Hill Road. You will find their headstones
near the fence along the road. Grandmother hsowed me the stones and told me
about their deaths, by what was known at that time as the flux. The
headstones lean a little forward down the hill, but the engravings are still
very well preserved.
Samuel, Joseph and Ann remained single and lived to a good age. They were
buried in Michigan also. I remember seeing Uncle Sam and Aunt Ann just once.
Uncle Joe visited Ohio when I was older and several of us children remember
him. Grandmother would tell me about her sister Mary. She taught school and
knew hardships, as she told of eating bread with lard for butter. She later
married and had two children, both daughters. After that she moved to
Michigan and I never saw her again. One daughter whose name was Laura
visited Ohio and the other was Clara Keely. Susan Hess married John
SnyderTheir famly consisted of Lennie, Henry and Sarah. Lennie married
Richard Hess, Henry married Maggie Wilt and Sarah married ABel Powell. Two
children Two children died in infancy and are buried in the Baptist
Cemetery. Aunt Susan and Uncle John Snyder are buried there also. You will
find them newar Granmother and Grandfathers graves.
Our Grandmother who was Sarah Hess married Richard Turner . Their children
were Joseph(our father), Katherine, Susan and John. Katherine and Susan died
when they were very young. Grandmother would talk about how she loved her
little girls and how she would comb their hair and care for them, but she
didn't get to keep them for very long. When Joseph was 8 his father died.
John (his brother) was only 8 months old. Grandmother was left with the two
small boys to raise. She told me a lot about years after Grandfather passed
away in 1861, the year the Civil War began. He was buried in the Baptist
Hill Cemetery also. By his side, Grandmother was later placed. Grandfathers
Uncle Humphrey Turner is also buried there. I will tell more about him
later.

GRANDFATHER TURNER

Grandfather Turner ( Richard) came from Wales and was called a "Welshman".
When or why he came to the states I don't know. I do know he was a cooper by
trade and he worked in Great Grandfather's cooper shop,making barrels of
many kinds and for many uses as in those days they were in great demand.
It was in this way that Grandmother and Grandfather met. If you notice on
their headstones, Grandmother was several years younger than Grandfather.
They lived on what we called Granny Turner's old farm, and she continued to
live there, after his death, until she was almost 80 years old. We had no
picture of him , as picture- taking was little known in those days.
Grandfather had one sister, Sophia Perry who lived and died in London,
England. Grandmother had her picture. When I was almost too young to
remember, she sent Grandmother a paisley shaw that we all cherished for
many years. After Granmother died the shaw was given to me and is still in
the family. She also sent a card to me once, which I still cherish. Its a
picture of two little girls with beautiful hair. They are holding dolls
which are equally beautiful. I spent many happy hours just gazing at the
picture in childish thought , thinking it was of Tillie (my sister) and
myself. Wishful thinking only, from one not destined to be so beautiful, but
God has purposes for all things. Well, Aunt Sophia passed away many years
ago. She must have been from Wales also, since Grandfather had three
brothers, but I didn't know if he had any other sisters. One of his
brothers was John who went west and was never heard of again. What became
of him is only conjecture , but he must have met with misfortune some way.
Who knows, he might have been in some Indian war. Grandmother told that he
left a trunk in Chillicothe someplace and she went and aired out his
clothing sometimes , thinking he would be back to get them but he never
did. Whatever happened to the trunk, I don't recall.
Then there was Humphrey Turner, Grandfathers brother. He is buried in
Baptist Cemetery near the other Turners. There was once a headstone
there,maybe still is. He must have died when quite young. He had
consumption- we call it tuberculosis. Grandmother told us how he loved
blackberry cobbler, how he would take Joseph (our father) holding him under
one arm and picking berries with the other , then she would make him a
blackberry cobbler when they returned. He was very sick with the
consumption and she would care for him.
Uncle Evan (I think most of us older ones remember him) was married and
lived in the northern part of Ohio near Toledo. I don't believe he had any
family, nor do I know where he was buried. He came to visit his family
Joseph (Dad) and Uncle John (Dad's brother) where we all lived in
Huntington township. A jolly old Welshman, he was, and fond of his rum,
but not too much of it. He was the last one of his family and so this
another family history is ended, and forgotten, as will happern to each
family as years go by. If we could trace our ancestry back from generation
to generation, I would where it would lead. We must go forward though, as
our forefathers did.

GRANDMOTHER TURNER

Dear Grandmother of old. It is my association with her in my childhood that
I attribute these tales of bygone days. She passed from this life in 1908 at
the age of 80, in Huntington township , having been born in Huntington,
Pennsylvania in 1828. She weathered many a storm, saw many hardships,was
overtaken by many sorrows and griefs like all human mortals but with many
happy associations. I remember her best from when I was young. Like most
teenagers, Grandmother slipped out of my thoughts while I was occupied with
school and girlhood associates, yet she was always very dear to me. Many
times I have remembered her advice as I traveled lifes pathways. Since
Father and Mother and Grandmother all lived in the same house, but in
different parts, I was always at her heels (like a shadow) most of the time.
Everywhere she went, so I went and my brother Frank. I'm sure we meant a
great deal to her. More than we realized. The house was two separate homes.
MOther and Father had one room downstairs and one room upstairs and a
lean-to kitchen. Grandmother had a bedroom and the kitchen downstairs and
two bedrooms upstairs. There was a stairway going up from each side, so we
all used the same stairs at times. THe house was later altered and changed
inside and out. In front of Grandmothers door, there was a little poritco,
as they called it, a pretty front yard with a neat walk from stones brought
up from the creek laid from the porch to the well out front through the
gate. I can see it all so plain yet, the flowers , the shrubbery and trees.
The backyard had two gates. One was from Grandmothers kitchen and the other
was Mothers gate, but we all used which ever gate was handy. There was also
a garden gate, and another gate at the back with a path tat led down to the
run. Sometimes Mother would take her wash board, and tub and bench and go
to the creek and wash the clothes while we kids climbed the trees and waded
the creek. A big willow tree made nice shadow during the summer months and
there was a smokehouse that shelterd everything imagineable. In the summer
it became the milkhouse. One side was Mothers and the other side was
Grandmothers. They carried gravel from the creek and made a ledge on which
to place the milk crocks. Then outside were two milk benches where the milk
was skimmed . Crocks, lids, strainer, and buckets were all washed and set
out there to dry and air, and maybe collect a little dust. As I said, in the
smokehouse one could find many curiosities. I remember the old square
lantern, it had a roof on it like a square house and a handle of some sort.
One side was hinged and a candle could be lighted or maybe it was kerosene
we called it coal-oil). Then there was a candle mold and a mold for making
pewter spoons, plus a lot of other things. There was a well close by A spout
from the house carried rain water to the well and was then drawn up when we
needed it with a bucket on the end of a pole with a hook on it. The hook was
made from a sapling with a limb cut short for the hook. Do you get me?
Well- such was the house and home of Grandmother and Mother and Father. I
can remember pleasant and also stormy times in the old house, as
Grandmother must have inherited some of Grandfathers characteristics , and I
will add that they were passed on to other generations, also. I especially
remember two Christmas days that made a deep impression on me , that never
faded away. It was the first Christmas tree we had and Frank and I were very
small and in childish glee we just stared at the tree and knew that Santa
Claus had been there , but it was really Mother and two dear Grandmothers
who had been there. There were two little slates with red flannel bindings
and two red and white striped pencils.There were stroy books and little toys
and a doll and candy, and how we did appreciate them. They would be so
simple in this day and age they would go unnoticed. Then the other Christmas
all the relatives gathered at Grandmothers for a big Christmas dinner and
the tree.It was the biggest tree I had ever seen, maybe because I was so
small. These are two of the most pleasant memories I have of Grandmother.I
can remember other pleasures like when people came to visit and enjoy the
simpler side of life and we were happier then. Even when we did have to
work from daylight to dark. I trailed the pigpaths and all over the farm ,
chattering away like a magpie all the time, no doubt. We picked blackberries
until the sweat streamed down our faces and we wished for a drink of water.
When the buckets were full, we started home, legs weary and still wishing
for that drink of water (not pop) . Pop was not heard of in those days.
When Grandfather died and left Grandmother with two small boys, Great
Gradnfather thought it best for Grandmother to come to Michigan to live with
him. But after a years time Grandmother decided it was best to return to
Ohio and back to the farm. How she managed to do the farming and live know
one knows, but she also acquired some additional land . One place was the
Hart place and the Jim Edginton place, as she called them. On the Edginton
place there was an old house I can't remember but Frank should as he was
born there when Mother and Father began houskeeping there. There was an
orchard of apples , pears and sweet cherries , a cistern and a well. I
wonder how much of it is left. Another thing it had was blackberries. One
day when we were picking berries something stung me above my boot top. I
must have yelled like a Commanche for Grandmother came rumming and looked at
it and said it was aq snake bite. She left me in the shade and went down by
the crekk and got some kind of a weed, I don't know what, she started
chewing it and then put it on the bite. We started home and there were no
bad effects from it. When we got home with the berries , that was only half
way as we had to take them up the hill to the crossroads to meet the berry
peddler who gave Mother a few cents for the berries and our hard days work.
Many a bucket of berries Mother and Grandmother had picked and toted up that
hill for money for necessities. I was a tag-a-long and I know Frank was not
far behind. We would go from apple tree to apple tree and we knew where ever
y tree was and the kind of apple each bore. I remember Grandmother grafting
peach trees and I tagged along to see how they were growing. I learned many
things from those days and I've never forgotten them. Grandmother knew
almost every tree, shrub, weed and herb and knew what each was good for and
the names of them. She could hardly wait till fall for the bittersweet so
she could have a winter bouquet. She had many herbs in her garden ,
wormwood, mint, sage,old man, and others I can't remember. They all had
their own use and when ever anyone got sick Grandmother used them and only
called the doctor as a last resort. She smoked Indian tobacco for catarrh ,
but later she smoked the real thing in a clay pipe. I can still see heer
sitting in her rocking chair by the window after dinner smoking that pipe.
Frank and I would ask her to tell us about the Cicil War or about old Fan
(her horse) who died when we were small. She had ridden old Fan many times
to Chillicothe sitting side saddle and holding a basket of eggs and butter
and bringing home groceries. There were no bridges and once old Fan had to
swim Ralston's Run and other creeks to get home. Sometimes her sister or
Mary June Brown would go with her as it was very dangerous in Civil War days
riding on horse back that far. Grandmother was of Pennsylvania dutch descent
and was "the real stuff."She had ambition and grit enouigh to go through
many generations.She lived a rugged likfe and knew what hard work was. I
remember once when she went to a "meetin" and took me with her. I rode
behind the saddle and don;t know how I stuck on. By the chicken yard and
under the pear tree was "an uppin' block" Grandmother got on her horsae from
there and with a little scramling I reached my perch. Mother would just put
a blanket on the horse for me to sit on. When we started home from church is
when the fun began. To get me on the horse was a problem but then some of
the good "brothers of the church" would boost me up and we were off. One
time I lost the cape I was sitting on. We were on the hill when it fell ,so
she helped me off and I got it, then the trouble began. She finally got
the horse along a bank by the side of the road and somehow managed to get
me back up on. The horse "old Prince" one of Fathers horses. Grandmother
must have been in her fifties and I was about 7.
GArndmother had a spinning wheel and she raised sheep. They had to be
sheared and then the wool was washed and carded and spun. Frank and I would
turn spinning wheel when she would let us. There was one big wheel called
the reel and then the little wheel. She knitted socks, stockings, mittens,
mufflers and other thing too. She raised flax and knew how to scutch it and
make linen thread to be woven into cloth. IU can remember her scutching the
flax but can't remember the thread, but she did that in my early years. The
wool was died browm by using black walnut shells, or red by using
bittersweet or mulberries. They also used poke berries for dying fabrics.
Grandmother had beautiful coverlets (we call them bedspreads), home made and
home dyed. I don't think she did any weaving. In those days people were
very resourceful for life depended on their knowledge of everything. Much of
our food was preserved by drying. Some had drying houses and a kiln for
drying apples, pears, peaches and anything else they sould find for the
winter months. Grandmother even dried pumpkins to soak back soft and make
pumpkin pies. It was spread out in tin sheets to dry and then rolled up like
paper. Frank and I used to slip pieces out and chew it, so she had to keep
it hid. I remember the old three cornered cupboard where she used to keep it
hid, but she had to change her hiding places often. Everyone canned,
preserved and made jellies , hominy and soap.There was not an idle moment
for Mother and Grandmother. When the fall work was done then there had to be
carpet rags torn and sewn and quilt blocks to piece and the quilt. Winter,
spring , summer and fall all were busy seasons.
Our Father and Mother and the family moved to Chilliocothe. Uncle John came
home from North Dakota to care for the farm. That was probably 1888-89.
Frank lived with Grandmother for he was not City- minded. In the summer I
got to go to the country, I don't know how. Well, we behaved but Grandmother
put up with us. One time she got after us when I didn't mind and do what I
was bid to do, but as a general rule she was good and patient with us. She
did a great deal more for us and worried us more than we knew. She was
quite a worry-wart and even after all her many years of hardships she still
felt a responsibilty to care for others. Her cares have long since ceased
and ours, like hers will soon fade wawy and we will follow her or the Great
Beyond.

SUSAN'S WEDDING

Susan was Grandmother's sister, the oldest of the famly. Grandmother Hess
told me about Suan's wedding and I've no doubt asked to hear it more than
once. Can't you just imagine a wedding in that day in time.All the relatives
and neighbors gathered for the event , all dressed up in their Sunday best.
Coming in wagon, on horses and on foot. The ladies in their shawls, and
silk and maybe fine polinaise which made a dress look so dignified. Well,
the crowd gathered for the sumptuous meal of meats, chicken , pies, cakes
pickles, vegetables of many kinds and cooked as only those Ohio settlers
could prepare them. Everything was a dither but it seemed Mother and Susan
could not agree on something, but right then and there Mother had her way,
even on Susan 's wedding day. Susan had to do Mothers bid, and Mother
slapped her and gave her to know that Mother knew best. Grandmother
remembered and on her wedding day she gave Mother the reigns and no
argument. Grandmother smiled when she told this and I was amused too. It
seemd that everything always happened in Grandmothers side of the house ,
but I'm sure it wasn't as time paints a different picture. Well, Susan was
marriedto John Snyder and like all such occasions, were supposed to live
very happily ever afterI'm sure it was a gala event for all the onlookers.
Aunt Susan and Uncle John Snyder lived about a mile from Grandmothers and
Uncle John passed on before his time , but Aunt Susan lived to the ripe old
age of 80. Their family of 5 have all passed on too. Only the children and
grandchildren remain. Aunt Susan and Grandmother were very close all their
lives. They were both widowed at an early age and the only two left in Ohio
as Great Grandfather had moved to Michigan. I often walked along as
Grandmother turdged across the field to Aunt Susan's. I can stilll see her
as she walked with her hands behind her back. One time a dreadful thing
happened. We were going along the path when she fell like a ton of bricks
and I had to turn my head and laughIt was rude when she was lying there in
the path on her back, but then I regained my composure and helped her up and
we went on. I realized later that such a fall was quite a jar for her age,
since I have since experienxed similar tradgedies . Grandmother and Aunt
Susan had each lost two children at a young age and their husbands, so they
were very close. The shades of night are falling fast and only too soon
these pioneers Huntington township will no longer live in memory for those
who knew them and are fading away also.

THE SARAHS

I for one would like to know how long the old Baptist church has weatherd
the storms. From the dates on the headstones in the cemetery , the church
has been there possibly back as far as the 1700's. I can remember going to
that church with Grandmother for ever so long. I'm sure that if it could
reveal all that it knew, there would be many stories of grief and sorrow as
well as joy and happiness all mingled together. I can see in my minds eye,
as I entered through the door once again , those staunch pillars of the
church setting in their usual pews. The men on one side and the woen on
theirs. They are all brothers and sisters , only in my memory now. Not one
remains of the congregation. The old church ,once filled to capacity , is
crowded no longer. It has been many years since I was inside of it. The last
time I was there the seats were so hard and I wondered if I hadn't done a
lot of squirming when I was l;ittle and the sermon was long and dragged on.
There they would sit, members of the hardshell Baptist church , now called
the Primitive Baptist Church. Why they called it hardhell I'm not sure but I
figured it was because they wer so firm in their belief. There was
Grandmother , there on Saturday in her bonnet and apron. On Sunday she wore
a shawl folded three cornered, her paisley shawl and sometimes her black
woolen shawl. Also her sunbonnet hat with the ribbons tied under her chin
and flowers on the top for decoration. Of all the bonnet hats that were in
church, Grandmothers was the prettiest. At the Saturday afternoon meeting,
all the ladies wore bonnets and shawls were worn all the time when wraps
were needed. There they sat in their amen corners. Certain ones sat there
maybe to hear a little better or purely out of habit. Grandmother usually
sat in the second seat back. Of course , when I got older and was on my own
I sat further back so I could see everybody. I could name almost every
faithful member. I wonder if Great Grandfather Hess could have helped to
build the church as he was always there and two of his children are buried
there, I think in 1847. I wonder how different the old patriarchs looked
from those old men with the long white beards. And when the sermon got under
way they sat there and stroked their beards and nodded approval to all that
was said. There was Elder Reed, and Elder cory and Elder peters and Elder
Waddell that I can recall. There wer other who expounded the faith with
great sincerity , though much fell to deaf ears. Two big events of the year
were the spring and fall basket meetings. Those who have never attended ,
have missed a lot. The younger lot had to have a new dress and so on, so
they could look smart. The Mothers and Grandmothers, of course wore their
best, be it old or new. Then there was the dinner to get ready. Folks got
there either by foot, horseback , in a buggy or the old Democrat express
which carried seveal passengers and their dinner baskets.
I must not forget the fringe topped surrey, but very few possessed such a
luxury. We of our family generally traveled on foot. The meeting usually
started about ten-thirty and continued until about noon, unless the preacher
went overtime. Now- for the big feed. It was usaully spread on the groundand
there was plenty of fried chicken and everything good to eat. All the
neighborhood , the least bit church minded, was there. I always looked
forward to that special day. After dinner there would be two or three more
Elders expounding the faith until evening when we all made our way home,
tired and at peace with God. I had mentioned Grandmother riding to church
on her horse, but that was when she was younger, but as she grew older she
walked if there was no other way to get there. I can remember hearing the
singing as we neared the church walking down the hill toward it. She would
stop and listen and then quicken her footsteps across the rickety old
footlog and up the bank and into the church. She was a staunch old Baptist
all her life, and surely she received her reward for her faithfulness. After
the Saturday meeting, she often would go into the cemetery walk among the
graves of her loved ones. I tagged along but hung back as she lingered .
She would stop and tell me about about each one as she passed . Now she is
among those in the city of the dead and I hope in the City on High. Since
her death, many have come to occupy a place in the grave yard. It is a
peacceful place back from the highway, and surely never to be disturbed,
letting all rest there who are within its boudary, until the Great Day of
the Coming of the Lord. Many pass by but take little notice just as I have
passed by many an other grave yard with little thought of those lying there
. But to to us who have relatives there , it is a sacred spot. The old
church is empty now but the headstones in the grave yard can tell us many a
fact.

THE JOHN TURNER FAMILY

John Turner, son of Richard and Sarah Turner was born in June of 1861 in
Huntington township. In 1893 he married Annie Streevey daoughter of Peter
and ---------- Streevey. of the Bishop Hill community. John was Joseph (our
Fathers) brother. Our Aunt Annie Turner had two sisters , Jenny Posey and
Mary Gordon, and three brothers: Frank, Leslie and Vlaude Streevey.
Uncle John and Aunt Fannie lived on the old farm and for a time Grandmother
lived with them.
Teir faily consitsted fo Clara, Lennie and Richard Turner. Clara married
Shute who later met with a fatal accident in Leonardsburg, Ohio . They had
one son Glen Shute who lives near Delaware , Ohio . Clara was later married
to Everett Keller and they now live in Delaware, also.
Lennie married Fre Hollner of Berea, Ohio . They have one daoughter Wilda.
She met with a seriious accident right after graduating from high school
which left her crippled and unable to work for a time. Though crippled, she
now holds a job in an office, is married and has a baby.
Uncle John and Aunt Annie are buried in the Clayburne Cemetery in Delaware
County. I think we all have a warm spot in our hearts for them as they were
so good to us when we needed a friend.

AMELIA KNAPP- TURNER

Our Mother was Amelia Knapp. She was the only daughter of Gabriel and
Matilda Knapp. I shall try to relate what I have learned about the Joseph
Knapp family. Grandfather Knapp (Gabriel ) and his brother Joseph came to
America from Frankfurt, Germany on the Rhine River , their home. They must
hav come in the 1850's and maybe followed the Ohio River by flat boat, as
so many did in that day, to Portsmouth, Ohio. I have reason to believe that
because Mother was born in 1871 in Portsmouth, on Front Street. She once
showed us the place , but it is gone now. She said they moved to Chillicothe
when she was a year old . Two or three of her brothers were much older than
she, as they lived somewhere else. About Grandmother Knapp, I know little or
nothing. I rather think they were married in this country , but she was
born in Germany also. I have a slight remembrance of seeing her once when
she was sick. She was victim of asthma and suffered a great deal. She died
in 1885 when I was 4 years old. She was born in 1835 which made her 50 years
old at death. In the Knapp family were Uncles Frank, Joseph, Charlie,
Johnnie, Willie and Floyd, and one girl, Amelia ( our Mother). Uncle Frank
Knapp married Nannie Findley . They had two sons, Foster who died in
infancy and Oscar who was a very unforunate child. Uncle Frank and Aunt
Nannie are buried in Greenlawn Cemetery in Chillicothe. Oscar, not being
accontable was sent to the Home in Columbus, Ohio. We do not know where he
is today. They lived on 7th Street in Chillicothe . Uncle Joe Knapp married
Nannie Rinehart, daughter of Samuel and Rachel Rinehart of Huntington
township. They had two sons: David and Joseph. Aunt Nannie died of typhoid
fever when Uncle Joe was about 5 years old. David died sometime before
that. David and Aunt Nannie Knapp are buried in the Grandview Cemetery.
Uncle Joe married again to Aunt Emma ---------. They lived in Columbus and
are buried there. Little Joe married Flo -------. They lived and died in
Springfield , Ohio. , and are buried in Roselawn , there. Uncle Charlie
Knapp married Florence Aldreda Ullum who was also a niec of Aunt Fannie
Rinehart Knapp. Uncle Charlie and Aunt Flo's children are Bernard and Irma
Knapp. They are all buried in Greenlawn Cemetery. Bernard married Bessie
Woodbridge and she was killed in an automobile accident in 1947. Irma had
married TomKnox. She died in 1964 and he died in 1957. Their children were :
Thomas, Donald, Owen, Marvin, and Monte Knox. These children are all married
and scattered here and there. I do not know any of their names. he children
of Bernard and Bessie knapp are Sarah Elizabeth, Helen, Marjorie, and
Bernard, Jr. Helen passed away and is buried in Greenlawn. The others are
all married . Marjorie is married to -------- Evans. They live in Kingston,
Ohio. Grandmother and Grandfather Knapp and their son Johnnie ( who was
about 18 years old, ) are buried in St Margarets Cemetery on the right not
far from the entrance. The Knapps were all of the Catholic faith. I think
Grandmothers sister lived in the Home when she became old. I wonder if she
and Grandmother didn't come to America together. Its too bad some
inquisitive young Turner didn't ask Mother more about her family. We might
have known more about our "peculiarities". Gabriel Knapp- our Grandfather
was a good hardworking carpenter. He moved out in Huntington on what is
called the Slaughter place about a half mile from the Turner place and I
take it , that is how our parents met. Fate- I suppose. Then they moved to
282 Mulberry Street where the Knox family now lives. The house has changed
considerably. I think they moved there shortly after Father and Mother were
married. Getting back to Grandfather Knapp, he was a staunch Catholic all of
his life and lived his faith every day until he died at 87. Born in 1826
and died in 1913. I would go to St. Peters church with him sometimes and
carry the little prayer book and rosary which I still have. Then we moved to
the farm and I didn't get to attend St. Peters church again. Grandfather
never did forget us as long as he worked, he gave us Christmas when we lived
in town and sent presents to us when we lived in the country.I am sure he
was a lonely man as Grandmother died early, but we couldn't understand ,
being children . He would come out home and stay a week or two , especially
at applebutter making time. He and Mother would sit and peal apples and talk
German all afternoon. Then the next day they would stir and stir the apples
for applebutter and I could hardly wait for it to be done. Waiting was the
hardest job. Poor old " Granpop "would try to help. He did more for us than
we ever realized. I had heard Mother say she had never heard him swear, and
he seldom lost his temper. I did see him get mad once at Mr. Kuntz and how
the "dutch "did fly. I didn't know what he said. One time whnen he was out
home, he drove "Old Bell" hitched to a little jaockey- cart , down to Uncle
Joe Knapps on Pee Pee Creek. I was with him and it was quite a trip, sitting
up there on that narrow seat, hanging on for dear life. Uncle Joe Knapp was
a good old man and he and Grandpop both talked "dutch' and how they loved to
chat. I think Uncle Joe married a Cline and if he was Catholic, he didn't
live it like Grandpop. They lived near the Pleasant Valley church . The
house still stands. I was only there one time. His family concists of one
son and several daughters. The son (John) went to Indiana and lived . A
daughter married Louis Staler and they lived in Waverly and had 2 boys Frank
and Milton Knapp. The Stales are buried in Waverly. Phoebe Knapp married
Henry Rhiele of Black Run Road and they lived their lives on the farm , and
are buried there. The other children are: Barth , John, Rhoda, Andy ,
Charles, and Lawrence. The girls were Eva, Julie and Anna. Eva is now 82.
Julia and Anna married Goldsberrys and live in Columbus. Mary lived in
Circleville. They had no families. Uncle Joe and is wife are buried in
Klines Cemetery. The story is almost ended of the two ong Knapps who came to
America to seek their fortune .

THE JOSEPH TURNER FAMILY

On July 5, 1878 Joseph Turner , oldest son of Richard and Sarah Turner
married Amelia Knapp daughter of Gabriel and Matilda Knapp, all of
Huntington township. The Joseph Turner family consisted of eleven children.
They ar as follows:

Frank Evan Turner(1880)-Married to Minnie Throckmorton who died in 1948.
They had six children -Gleneva, Sarah Blanche, Elmond, Frank, Jr., Mary ,
Ralph, and Martha Lou.

Jospehine Turner (1881) -married to Carey Roberts of Portsmouth. He passed
away in Feb,1952. They had no children.

Samuel Richard Turner(1884)- married to Emma Lous of Huron, South Dakota.
They had a daughter Dorothy. Sam passed away in 1936.

Matilda Turner(1886)-married to Wilbur Groscost of Salem, South Dakota. had
one son Edwin. Wilbur passed away in 1916.

Elenora Turner (1888)-married to Charles Groscost in Salem, South Dakota,
and had two sons: Warren and Duane. CHarles died in 1965.

Sarah SophiaTurner(1890) married Edward Streevey and had 4 children:
Everett, Kathleen, Kenny and Paul. Edward died in 1914.

John W. Turner (1893)- married Lula Starr of Summitt Hill. and had 3
children: Jospeh, Dane and Betty Jean.

Katherine Ann Turner(1895)- married Oscar Anthony of Huntington township and
had 4 children:Harold, Ruth , Hilda May, and JaneC.

Virgil William Turner(1897)-married Edan Lanora Tuvell and had 3 children :
Helen Lucille, Geraldine, and Wilma Jean.

RufusTurner(1899)-married Orpha Johnson and had 3 children: Marvin, Ramona
and Timothy Alan.

Bessie Turner(!901)-married William Hanawalt and had one son Gene Turner
Hanawalt.


__________ __________ __________
__________ _________

Great Grandchildren of Amelia and Joseph Turner ( 42 in all) are:

Joy and Larry Groscost - son and daughter of Glen and Freda Groscost. Duane
E. Warren C. and Deanne- sons and daughter of Vernon and Irene Groscost.

Micheal and Marsh Anthony- son and daughter of Harold and Jean Anthony.
Kay Bell, David & Daniel Leatherwood- children of Ruth and Walter
Leatherwood
Ann Martin-daughter of Jane & Andrew Martin

Elaine,Cheryl, Dean, Tamara & Lisa Rinehart- children of Helen & Glendon
Rinehart
Paula and Patsy McDaniel -daughters of Jerry and Kenneth McDaniel
H. Douglas and Patrick Shoemaker -sons of Wilma &Leonard Shoemaker

Richard ,Lola, Glen Joyce Bane children of Gleneva and Roma Bane
Ramomd,Patty,Alan, and Gale Rickey- children of Sarah and Wilbur Rickey
Larry and Dale Turner- sons of Elmon & Geraldine Turner
Dalene- daughter of Dane & Fiance Turner
Mark- son of Betty J and John Thompson

Brad and Kurt Hanawalt-sons of Mary & Gene Hanawalt

Ralph Turner Jr.- son of Ralph & Georgia Turner

Cathy N.Minnix- daughter of Martha and Minnix

David and Marilyn Turner- children of Marvin &Joan Turner
Daniel , David & Linda Turner-childrren of Ramona & Eugene Charles
This is an accounting until the year 1955' of the great
grandchildren

Joseph Turner was born on the old Turner family farm in Huntington township
in 1853. He and his only brother John and his Mother Sarah werre left to
spend their years together after his father Richard died in 1861. ( Joseph
was only 8 yrs old.)They well knew of the work and hardships of life. They
went to school and Sunday school somewhere up on Windy Ridge at Greenbrier
school . Our father Joe said the school house was built of logs and had
slab benches to sit on and study. If they did any writing, it was on a shelf
made of slab laid on pegs driven into the sidewall. He read from an old
Electric Reader and learned to spell from a speller of the same name. Lead
pencils were scarce . Slates and chalk were used to work examples and
writing. Much stress was put on learning the multiplication tables and A B
C's at the beginning of education. The pupils in those days did not have
access to many other books or papers, but they learned many lessons and
morals from the old Mc Guffy Reader and did "scems" from Ray's Arithmatic
Entertainment for the young people in that day was all near home. They
attended church, dances, picnics, husking bees and house raisings. Quite a
contrast from the present day. There was much Sunday visiting by neighbors,
friends and relatives. They would come and have dinner and then much
visiting and association together.
For over a year after our Father and Mother were married , they lived in
the old house on the Jim Egington farm . Here Frank , our oldest brother was
born. I best remember the fruit trees and the well there. After Uncle John
went to the Dakota Territory to live , Mother and Father moved in with
Grandmother Turner. They lived there and farmed until after Nora was born in
1888. That spring they moved to Chillicothe, on 7th Street with Grandfather
Knapp. When Uncle John returned from the Dakotas he moved back in with
Grandmother. We lived in Chillicothe with Grandmother for about three years.
Sophia was born during that time. In March of 1882 we moved into the "Old
Home Place". How well I remember the day we got there, and how glad we were
to be in the country. All but Mother, I'm sure she was pretty discouraged
with the old house. She worked it over up stairs and down. A desolate
looking place it was. The old house weathered many storms before and after
that. The upstaris was one big room, no partitions. There was some siding
missing from the outside and some boards were loose and played a tune all
night long on windy nights. Down stairs wasn't much better. Under every
window the plaster was falling off and the other places were rotted. There
was a hole in the kitchen floor. But one thing we did have was a FIREPLACE,
and what a fireplace! Father would drag big logs up to the front door
with "Old Chum" the horse ) and work and tussel to get them in through the
door and over to the fireplace. The dogirons were set in a large forestick
on them and smaller wood in between, and we had a big fire. We cooked on one
side and froze on the other. Then turned around. We would get a big bed of
coals started and pop popcorn and roast apples in front of the fire. Even
the apples had to be turned to keep from burning on one side. After a few
years a stove replaced the fireplace and eliminated a lot of wood chopping
and log gathering.
There wer so many good times and a few bad times I'd just as soon forget. As
time went by there were more little ones and we older children had to take
on more responsibilties. The next spring after we moved to the country
brother John was born. Over the hill lived old Ruthy Dennewitz and I think
she brought us all into this world. All but yours truly, Old Miss Clay said
she found me in a well one day when she was coming over to see Mother . At
least thats what she told me. One day when me and Grandmother were going
over to pick berries, I ran over and peeked in the well to see id there were
any more babies in there, tere wasn't.
When Catherine was about 1 1/2 years old , I got appendicitis, an
unheard-of sickness. I was about 14. Maybe thats why I remember John and
Catherine so well. John was about 4 at that time , and full of life. He had
to be indoors, and like all kids, full of mischief, I was sick about 4
months and Tad would run around everywhere and screaming to the top of his
voice, and I would cry. One day the cat wanted out and I told him to open
the door. Well, he did, with just as small an opening as he could , and let
it out, all but its tail. It cried and so did I . Catherine would sometimes
sit on my bed and play with me nights thinking it was my last . Here I am,
and I dare say there are none left who came thinking it was the last of me.
How little we know what our Heavenly Father has planned for us.
I took sick in November and the next spring , on March 21,1897, Virgil was
born. Poor Mother, she put in one terrible winter. Little did I know what
her life was like. She did everything for me that could be done and stood by
me night and day. I didn't know where I was for three weeks of that time,
But for some reason I was supposed to be here for many years, yet.
GOing back to the old house, Mother went to work making a home out of it.
She would mix clay mud and straw together and plastered under the windows
and put rags between the lathe to keep out the cold. As the family expanded,
we couldn't all sleep in two bedrooms and one big sitting room , so we moved
part of the children up stairs and slept in an airconditioned bedroom. That
is, we older ones. Father plastered the holes down stairs and put a floor
in the kitchen so we didn't have to watch where we stepped. Then finally a
room was sealed up stairs, another improvement and a bit more comfortable.
After a while a new porch floor was added to the improvment list .
As of 1956, not much of the original house is left standing. About two years
after we moved to the farm our Father became very sick and we were worried
he would never get well. Frank White was helping get the crops in and
Frank(our brother ) was doing the farming. One day Frank was plowing the
field down by the creek andFather got real bad and I flew down across the
field, crassed the run and got Frank and Uncle John , who was helping him.
They went for help and before long Father got better. It was God's will
cause Father lived for several more years. When we moved out on the farm we
had a horse named Silrim, then Father bought another horse from Joe Nelson
for $100.00. Her name was Sally. She fell in the well, down by the garden.
Several men came and tried getting her out by digging a trench for her on
one side, but the shock was too much for her and she died the next day. That
was the same day I went to town for the first time. I went with Mr. Cozad
and my brother Frank. They dropped me off at the corner of Paint and Eighth
Streets , at Schlegles grocery , and I walked over to Grandpa Knapps and
spent the day. Grandpa gave me a nickel and I spent it on a tin pail of
candy. Cnady was cheap in those days and so were tin pails. When I got home
about dark, the men were still working at the well, and I heard the news
about Sal falling in the well. I was about eleven then.
Another time Sophia was sick and we kids were playing around her bed and she
was talking funny and Mother heard her and quickly sent for Father and
Frank. I made another of my famous runs and got Mary Dennewitz. I told her
what was wrong and she said to rub turpentine on her throat and give her a
few drops to swallow. Before she could get started, I was over the hill
again and home . When she arrived a few hours later, Sophia was better. Very
few times a doctor ever came to our house. Mother was the doctor, she had to
be. She knew all the plants and herbs and bark and roots and knew also what
they were for, too.
We had many peasant things to remember like spelling bees, box dinners and
suppers, and church here and there. We had fun at school, playing ball. We
did what ever we could find to entertain ourselves growing up. Even chasing
each other through the wood and making play-houses. We had little or no
reading material outsdie our text books. Fifn't even have a dictionary .
Truly , we were taught the three R's and not much of anything else . When we
first moved to the country , we went to the Greenbrier College , as we
called it. Our first teacher was Sadie Chester-then Willie Flee and then
Grace Earl. The next year was Mattie De Long and that was the year I
couldn't go to school. We had Jospeh Posey for a teacher one year also.
Frank went to Newingsburg school that year, but later it burned down. How
great it would have been if we could have had a school like our
grandchildren have today. We wonder what is in store for future generations
and if they will have even better schools. Probably biggfer and better, but
we must go forward.
There are many other things I could relate but fear I may repeat, as I have
told them before, so I am leaving space for others to fill in their part of
"As I Remember".

Aunt Jose (as we nieces and nephews called her) told of "Old Shep" the big
shepherd dog that greeted them as they arrived at the "Old Home Place" to
live. He was Black and white with a noble look in his eye and a beautiful
marked happy face, and he was the faithful companion for all the children
until the day he went to doggie Heaven.
She also related the story of the ghost upstairs when it was all one big
room, but after the partition was built making it into two rooms, there was
no more rattling around up there. So ended the ghost.
The porch across the front of the house was used for everything from
courting , to entertaining folks in the summer time, to shelling peas, and
stringing beans to storing boots in the winter time. It was later torn down
and replaced with a new one. Yet later he tore down the old house and built
a new modern one which was really beautiful but it never tool the place of
the old one in Aunt Joses mind. She missed the old one, especially the big
chimney, and what a chimney it was. About 12 feet square and two fireplaces
.

RELATIVES OF AMELIA AND JOSEPH TURNER

DAUGHTERS SONS

Josephine Turner Roberts Frank Evan
Turner
Matilda Turner Groscost Samuel Richard
Turner
Elenora Turner Groscost John W. Turner
Sarah Sophia Turner Streevey Virgil William
Turner
Catherine Turner Anthony Rufus Turner
Bessie Irene Turner Hanawalt

GRANDDAUGHTERS GRANDSONS

Ruth Anthony Leatherwood Glen M Groscost
Hilda Mae Anthony Cunningham Vernon V. Groscost
Charlotte Jane Anthony Martin Edwin M. Groscost
Gleneva Turner Bane Everett
Streevey
Sarah Blanche Turner Rickey
Kenneth Streevey
Mary Turner Paul
Streevey
Martha Lou Turner Elmon
Turner
Dorothy Turner Ralph
Turner
Helen Turner Rinehart Harold
Anthony
Geraldine Turner Joseph
Turner
Wilma Jean Turner Shoemaker Dane Turner
Betty Jean Turner Kutchbach Marvin Turner
Ramona Turner Charles Timothy A.
Turner
Kathleen Streevey Gene
Turner Hanawalt

GREAT GRANDDAUGHTERS GREAT GRANDSONS

Kaybelle Leatherwood Larry
Turner
Lola Bane
Dale Edwin Turner
Joyce Bane
Keith Evan Turner
Patricia Rickey
Ralph Turner Jr.
Kathy Rickey
Richard Turner
Marcia Anthony Glen
Bane
Ann Lynn Martin
Raymond Rickey
Elaine Rinehart
Alan Rickey
Cheryl Rinehart Gale
Rickey
Tamara Rinehart David
Leatherwood
Lisa Rinehart
Michael Anthony
Paula Sue Mc Daniel David
Turner
Patsy Kay Mc Daniel Daniel
Charles
Marilyn Turner John
M. Thompson
Linda Ann Charles Brad
Hanawalt
Joy Groscost
Kurt Hanawalt
Deanne Groscost Larry
Groscosat
Charles
Duane Groscost
Thompson
Warren Groscost
Dalene Turner
Dean Edward Rinehart

Howard Douglas Shoemaker

Patrick Allen Shoemaker

GREAT-GREAT GRANDAUGHTERS GREAT-GREATGRANSONS

Cathy Leeson Bobby
Leeson
Rhonda Leeson Larry
Leeson
Colleen Best
Andrew York
Joyce Best
Conrad Aleson Jr.
Karen Best
Charles M. Groscost
Catherine Olson
Verne C. Groscost
Stephena Groscost Donald
Elder
Wendy Groscost
Kenneth Elder
Leana Olson
Irek Olson
Lenora Olson
Randy Bell
Janice Elder
Michael Bell
Janet Bell
Kevin Rickey
Glenda Elder
Scott Rickey
Debra Elder
Mark Rickey
Nicole Kutchbach
Jeffrey Riockey
Natalie Kutchbach Adam
Rinehart
Deanne Rinehart
Marcus Alan Shoemaker
Kelly Neal
Daniel Craig Shoemaker
Larry Chandler Jr.
Kyle Patrick Shoemaker

BABIES WHO DIED IN INFANCY

Mark Anthony
Leo J. Groscost
Charles Bane
son of Dane Turner
daughter of Allen Rickey
daughter of Dane Turner
Gerald Turner


OTHER DEATHS IN THE FAMILY

Mary Hanawalt- Gene Hanawalts wife- 10-3-72
Anna Betts-9-26-72
Oscar Anthony-10-10-73
Josephine T. Roberts-7-17-83

Some of the frailities of the Hess- Turner family are:
catarrh- concumption- flux- asthma These aall seem to center
in the lung area. Otherwise a strong , hearty and determined strain of
people.


THE HOMESTEADERS- For Bessie 10-67 ( Jose)

In 1905, when Bessie was four years old, Frank and Orville Bowers went west
to Nebraska . This was the break up of our family. Frank was 25 then. In
June of that same year Tillie and I went to Salem, S. Dakota where the
Snyders lived. Now they are all asleep in the Salem Cemetery, except for
Susie who is in Inglewood, California Cemetery.. Well, Tillie and I had
earned our bread by being servants in Chillicothe, so we decided to go west
also. I had a smattering of education and had taught one term in Ohio at
Henness school in Huntington township. When I came west, I took the state
teachers exam and started teaching in S. Dakota and kept it up for 24 years.
Tillie went back to being a servant in Salem. She worked for the Gibson
family and when my 7 month term was up I began working for the Knott family.
The next fall I went back to teaching for $40.00 a month. I built my own
fires, carried out the ashes and swept the floors regularly. I walked some
distance to school. The first year Frank was in South Dakota they came to
see us at Christmas time. He went back to Nebraska then, but later came to
South Dakota and rented a farm and farmed for two years there. I kept
teaching and TIllie took in sewing and kept house for us both. Snyders had
moved on west and took up a homestead. We then , all got the "BUG", and
decided to do likewise. In June 1908, we went to Rapid City Douth Dakota by
train and then on out to Meade County by hosre and buggy to file for a
omestead, thinking we would make our fortunes. On the day that we came home
to our farm in Salem, Frank broke his leg and was disabled for the whole
summer. In 1906 Sam and Nora had come to South Dakota . They both worked
here and there farming and house-keeping. We all made the farm our
headquarters. I raised chicken and ducks and made butter. I took eggs and
the butter to Salem to sell. We also had a good garden and vegetables to
sell. Frank was laid up for some time , as his leg wouldn't heal, so the
doctor sent him to Siuox Falls to a hospital, but his leg was stiff for a
long time. In September I started teaching again. Frank and Sam had a sale
and loaded up all their belongings and worldly possessions on a boxcar and
headed for Rapid City in October. Sam and Bill Groscost had a boxcar full of
everything including their horses. When they got to Rapid City it was cold
and the rivers were running high and no bridges. They got as far as the
Belle River and had to store their loads and return to Rapid City. We
rented a house there and waited untilspring and headed out for our
homesteads. We grabbed our possessions and some lumber and started . Sure
had an awful time getting that last 100 miles. I remember seeing Sam coming
out of the breaks of the Belle River. There was snow on his load and the
lumber began to slide and I thought for sure it would upset. He was covered
in snow, but somehow the Good Lord and Daisy and Dewey pulled him through .
We made several hectic trips but I think it was this time that it snowed and
Sam had to ride a horse in front in order to see and follow the trail
about 4 miles to a road house where we spent a miserable night. We had a
crate on one of the wagons that had chickens in it and the next morning
there was one egg. They had sat out in the weather all night. Well, we
traveled on , I don't know how long , but it was several days. If we made a
blunder in our lives that was it. By spring, we had gotten all our belongs
moved and a shack built and we settled in for the summer and thru the
winter until March when we got our homestead approved. Then we scattered
again. Frank and Sam left with and emigrant car for Rapid City in October.
Tillie and I stayed in Salem and I taught again. After 3 months I resigned
and we took a train to apid City exp[ecting to go to the homestead but the
weather got so bad we spent the winter there in Rapid City. Sam had a team
and wagon and I bought a pony "Old Spot" who had never been ridden. In the
spring when we loaded up and started for the homestead again , Frank and I
took turns riding Old Spot. Frank was still pretty crippled up but Spot
seemd to understand and was very patient with him as he tried to mount him.
We kept Spot unitl I left the homestead. Frank sold him to Mr. White . Sam
sold out his homestaed but Frank stayed and farmed his, planting corn. The
gophers were eating up the seed so he got some arsenic to poison them, but
the wind drifted back toward him and he got a bad dose of the arsenic
himself and nearly died before he got to the doc. He had to leave the
homestead and went to Sturgiss, S. Dakota. Sam had gone to Rapid City to
find work. I remember staying all night in a hotel waiting to start my
teaching for another term. I went down to breakfast and there sat Sam and
one of our homesteading neighbors. I hired a rig from the livery barn, to
take me out to my boarding place. That was on March 10, 1910 the year of
Halleys comet. I got a letter from Frank saying he was real sick so I left
school early and I took him back to Salem and eventually on back to
Chillicothe, O where he stayed. Sam went out to Franks homestead and
disposed of his belongings for him as best he could and then came back to
Salem , to Nora and Charlies. Sophioa was there also. I left for Ohio . I
came back and taught the same place I had taught two terms before leaving
Ohio. Our experiences at homesteading were a dear lesson , as we went
through many hardships, lost time money spent on a down-hill project and
finally lost our homesteads, after spending hundreds of dollars on them. We
had some good times too. We had good gardens raising beans, corn andetc.
and there were also rattlesnakes and gophers too in our garden. We rode
horse-back everywhere- to the post office, Sunday school, work,and visiting.
We kept the homesteads for many years , paying taxes on them until we
finally sold them. Charlie Groscost bought Frank and Sams claims and Bill
and Tillie Groscost stayed on their land 7 or 8 years and finally gave
itup. It went for taxes as did mine, but Charlie farmed his and seemed to
prosper well until the rains ceased to come and they lost all to the "dust
bowl era" . They went west to Idaho in 1932 . Glen and Vernon their sons
preceded them and so all left South Dakota. Glen and Freda went to Idaho
and into the grocery business and later into hardware too. Edwin went inot
radio nad later the U S Forrestry Service where he retired. Vernon worked
as a welder for Boeing Aircraft for 27 years and retired to Seattle.


THOSE WHO SERVED IN OUR COUNTRIES WARS

World War I - Virgil Turner was the olny one we knew who served in this
war.

World War II- Edwin Groscost - Air Corp- South Pacific
Kenneth Streevey-army - India / Stillwell
Elmon Turner- army-ETO Italy
Marvin Turner -Air Corp-belly gunner - ETO
Dane Turner -Air Corp-pilot- ETO
WWII stateside- Ralph Turner
Gene HAnawalt

Vietnam War- overseas- stateside
H. Douglas Shoemaker Daniel
Leatherwood
Gale Rickey-
Dale Turner
David Leatherwood
Dean Rinehart

To my knowledge, none were killed in any war while in the serive of our
countr


THE VIRGIL TURNER FAMILY HISTORY

by Wilma Turner Shoemaker



We moved to the "Old Home Place" in 1930 , from Columbus, Ohio, after
Grandma Turner died. Dad( Virgil) took over farming the home place with a
lot of hard work as there were no boys, just us three girls - Helen, Jerry
and me(Wilma). After we got big enough to help we all worked hard. Mother
and Dad worked every day , often from before sunrise to long after dark. It
was a real experrience, growing up on the farm , but I wouldn't trade it for
the city. We learned some valuable lessons that have stuck with us all our
lives.
Summertime was probably the hardest time of year ,with plowing fields and
cultivating and drilling wheat and planting corn ,usually about 20 acres of
each , plus making hay ( at least 2 crops a season) and thrashing wheat and
clover and soybeans. When the old steam engine thrashing machine came , all
the farmers around the neighborhood came with their horses and wagons to
help. We girls would help Mother cook at least one big meal and sometimes
two meals for the 20 or more hands who came to thrash. She wouls fry six or
8 chickens, all kinds of garden vegetables( they especially liked her
butterbeans and slaw), heaps of mashed potatoes and gravy and every kind of
fruit pies imaginable. We all pitched in and helped peel potatoes, make
bread and churn butter and set tables and make ice tea and coffee and any
other thing that needed to be done in preparation for the big day. Needless
to say, we always slept well at night.
We didn't have electricity on the farm until 1942, so Dad would buy a 50
lb, cake of ice at Steeles on Friday for a whole weekend, for ice tea and
lemonade and once in a great while we would make homemade ice cream if we
were having company.Of course , as the ice melted it would run down into a
pan underneath the icebax, and if we forgot to empty it , it would run over
and we had to mop it up.
Grandma Tuvell (Mothers Mother) would come and stay with us part of each
year , from the time I was real little until just before she passed away.
She was the only grandparent I ever remembered as the other three had
passed on shortly after I was born. We had other family members who would
come and stay with us for a while. Joe Knapp (Dad's uncle on his Mother's
side) would come out from Chillicothe and stay with us for a month or so in
the summertime , but he was always sick and so he didn't do any work. Aunt
Jo ( who wrote the 1st part of our history story) also came home about once
a year . She always enjoyed staying at the "Home Place" as they all called
it.
We didn't go as often as folks do today, but when we did , it was a big
occasion to us, like to Columbus to see Aunt Flo and Uncle Elvis(Mothers
step-brother) or to Porstmouth to see Aunt Jo and Uncle Carey. The first car
I can remember was the 1925 Whippett with wooden spokes. When we would pass
by Edgington's farm the big old gander would run out and it would really
click as they touched the spokes. Dad had told us how they would always wear
high top boots to school so the gander wouldn't pinch their legs as they
walk by on their way to school, except for one time when one got a little
higher than his boot top and pinched him. He watched that goose from then
on. When we would go on one of our excursions, we would leave early in the
morning after we got all our chores done and usually arrived just in time
for dinner. Then the adults would sit around and catch up on all the news of
the area and some of them would take us kids some where interesting like to
the new flood wall they were building in Porstmouth after the flood or to
the roundhouse in Chillicothe to see the B & O yards where they repair the
big locomotives , Uncle Os Anthony gave me a steel shaving from the round
house shop. I kept it for a long time.
We almost always had the Turner Reunion at "The Home Place" as all the
sisters and bothers liked to come home. It was another big occasion, and
Mother would spend a couple of days preparing a big meal, setting up tables
indoors and out with tablecloths and chairs from every room of the house.
With all the chldren running in and out, she would worry about flies
getting in to the food, so we girls would have to take towels and shew the
flies out and try to keep the screen doors closed. One year at the
reunion Gene Hanawalt fell out of the pear tree in the front yard and broke
his wrist, and another time Jerry fell and hit her head on the drill while
climbing and almost had a concussion, as she had a bad headache for several
days after and had to be quiet. There was an occasional square dance in the
community and Mother and Dad always went and take us girls. They taught us
how to square dance it was great fun. Dad played the banjo at square dances
from the time he was twelve years old, when he bought his first banjo.
We often visited our relatives on Sunday. We usually took fresh vegetables
from the garden or fruit from peach, cherry and apple trees. Mother always
took a pie she had baked. We also attended the Farmers Institute and Grange
meetings where we were all members, also to the Ross County Fair each year
maybe, if there wasn't hay to make or some other important farm work to take
care of. Dad was on the school board for several years. At that time you
didn't get any pay, it was a thankless job. Mother was the secretary of the
PTA for a while.
There was always a lot to do on the farm in the winter time as was the
summer. We each had everyday chores to do. Mother made all of our school
clothes and coats. We got a new pair of shoes each year when school started
and they were to be polished at least once a week or if they got muddy ,
cleaned and put under the heating stove to dry and be ready for the next
day. There was never a second pair unless a cousin would give something they
had outgrown. I was lucky as Janie Anthony was always taller than I . We
wore a lot of hand-me-downs from friends and relatives, didn't everyone? How
we would have loved yard sales, which was unheard of then.
In March we would get about 200 day-old baby chicks which kept Mother and Da
busy day and night keeping the brooder stove at an even temperature so it
wasn't too hot or too cold. We always had a big garden and a truck patch. In
them were all kinds of vegeatbles to be canned and eaten and given away . We
had every thing from asparagus in April to turnips in December. Also a
spring favorite at our house was dandelion greens . The kind that grows in
the yard (we didn't have a dog) . We added boiled potatoes, onions chopped
bacon, boiled eggs and then poured a hot vinegar dressing over that . It
was a whole meal- good for what ails you and delicious to. Then there were
the morel mushrooms we all liked to eat and hunt. Theres nothing like
getting out in the woods in the spring and tramping around . We still like
to hunt them.
One summer Dad bought a pair of western horses named Kit and Dick, as
Charlie and Roger were getting some age on them and had worked many years in
the fields. That same summer Kit was struck by lightning and killed and the
next fall Dick got fistulo in his shoulfer. It is a form of cancer in
horses. By then Roger had died off old age so Dad bought his first tractor,
a Farmal. It sure was a big improvement . He kept Charlie to work in the
garden since they didn't have rototillers in those days. We girls liked to
ride him and so Dad bought an old saddle . Well- we put it on him and Helen
got to be first to try it out. She started to get up on him but the belly
strap wasn't fastened and the whole saddle fell on top of her on the ground.
We had a good laugh of that for many years. We had always had milk cows but
Dad had seen the black angus at fairs and shows and wanted to try some for
our own meat. He would also sell one now and then when he needed fertilizer
or Mother wanted something for the house. Times were not easy for us then. I
guess no one was living "high on the hog" as some would say. That brings to
mind the fall season when we butchered a hog and canned and cured the meat
so we would have sausage, bacon, ham , fresh side and etc., for the winter
months. They were busy while we were in school ,cutting and shucking corn,
bringing in logs from the woods for the winter and sawing it up in smaller
pieces so that us kids could saw it on the cross -cut saw each day as
was needed for the night. Sometimes Dad would bring the tractor up to the
wood pile and hook it up to a big saw and saw up several cords of wood at
once. We weren't allowed to get near that and he was very careful. One day
was allotted each fall to take out the summer screens and stuff all the
cracks around the windows with paper and ready the house for the cold winter
to come. We went out on Sundays and picked up hickory nuts, hazelnuts,
walnuts, and persimmons and dug roots of sassyfrass for tea. Coming back
from the woods we would stop by the old fence where the bittersweet was
heavy on the vine and pick several pieces for Mother to make bouquets for
the winter. A few times Dad grew popcorn and peanuts. All of these were for
the long winter evenings as there was no TVand very little radio
After school we kids changed our clothes and got in wood for the night and a
supply for the nexr day. We had a wood box at the end of the kitchen stove
to fill and 3 or 4 buckets of coal to put on the back porch. Then we fed
and watered the chickens and gathered the eggs. When we had spare time we
woud help Dad at the barn , feeding the cows , horses, hogs and sheep.
Sometimes we were more bother than we were good, like the time we were
teasing the "Old Buck" sheep trying to get him to butt our feet while we
hung on the gate. Well, he hit the gate and knocked it down and he and some
of the ewes got out. Helen hit for the corn crib door, Jerry made it to the
cow stall door and I scampered up to the barn door. Dad put the sheep back
in and repaired the gate. He killed a canadian goose once that had landed on
our pond behind the barn. Mother roasted it for supper , but it wasn't as
good as her fried chicken.
Entertainment at our house was: playing games, cards, jig saw puzzles and
listening to the radio, mainlly Jack Armstrong, I Love a Mystery, but most
importantly the news with Peter Grant on WLW. Once in a while Dad and Jim
Pierce would listen to the prize fights with Joe Loius, Max Schmeling and
others. On Satruday night we could sometimes get the Grand Ole Opry and on
Sunday morning we heard the Cadel Tabernacle choir.
In the winter of 1940 Dad and a neighbor, Pete English went out and got
signatures and a $5.00 memberhip fee from over 200 Huntington townshio
residents so we could all get electricity in our homes. In 1941 Dad finished
wiring our house and had the poles set . In April 1942 they put in the meter
and We Had Lights. We were " right up town" . Mother was estatic. No
more lamps to fill nor chimneys to clean every Saturday morning. We also
made some other improvements to the old farm house, like a pump in the
kitchen so we didn't have to carry water from the well anymore and with
electricity there were many more improvements. All the things we used for
survival then became antiques today. (As are we.) The one thing we never had
while we were growing up was inside plumbing. The toilet was out behind the
summer kitchen and we had a pot (or combinet) which had to be taken out
and emptied and cleaned every day . I think I spilled it once and got and
awful look from every one as they cleaned it up.
I remember going to 2 movies before I was a teenager. One was "Gone With The
Wind", I was about 8 and we got in a long line and moved up tothe door of
the Majestic Theater and they came out and said "standing room only" and
shut the doors . We never got to see the show, and Dad wasn't about to go
back the next night.Then one Sunday we were all at Aunt Besses for dinner
and us kids all went to a movie at the Royal Theater and saw a cowboy show
with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Gene was with us to show us how to get back
to their house . During the war while Helen was living at home , she and
Jerry and I used to go all the Abbott and Costello movies. Later, they used
to have wrestling matches and roller skating in the old Sherman Theater.
When Helen and Glendon were dating he bought her a pair of shoe skates.
Jerry and I would borrow them and go down to the grainery below the barn
learn to skate on the hardwood floor before the wheat was put in it. The
newest songs out were Hutsut Ralson on the RiddleRah and Three Little
Fishies and Would You Like to Swing On A Star. Mother had taught us a few
chords on the piano and Dad showed us chords on the guitar so we spent a
lot of evenings after the chores singing country and western songs. We
picked out each chord by ear to match the sharps and flats in the songs. Its
was a talent that was inherited in both families a way back and is in our
chlldren too. We had a piano, guitar, banjo, and violin. Helen played the
violin in school and was in several duets with Virginia Hilsheimer. Jerry
played clarinet and the guitar. I took violin but never got any good at it
as I never learned the notes. I always picked out the songs by ear and liked
the piano and guitar best which I still enjoy . Our entertainent centered
mainly around nusic.
The came World War II in December of 1941 and every man was called up to
serve in the war effort. Many changes were made in the way people lived. Dad
ahd served in WW I and was too old to go so he planted more crops than ever
for the war effort. Helen and Jerry worked at the powder plant where they
made all kinds of gun and artillery shells . I can remember of them coming
home from work and telling how the Tetrol chemical was turning some workers
yellow . Helen had gotten married after graduating from high school in 1941
. to Glendon Rinehart. He had to go to the army in 1942 and served in
Guadacanal . Jerry was dating Kenny McDaniel and they were married when he
was on leave from the Navy in January 1943, before he headed back out in a
convoy of heavy cruisers fighting the Japanese. I was writing Leonard
Shoemaker who was in the Army Air Corp flying out of England bombing the
Germans. We were married in 1947. DDuring the war almost everything was hard
to get. Gasoline was rationed .Dad could only get enough to farm so many
acres of crops . He had to sign up for it , as were so many pairs of shoes
for each family. Krogers and the A&P would get in so many bananas and
coffee and we had to wait in line for them. Sometimes they would run out
before we got to the front of the line.Nylon hosiery was new and everyone
wanted them as they were more sheer that the rayon , but they too went to
the war effort for parachutes for the fliers. Troop trains came thru
Chillicothe heading for either the east or west coasts with troops going
overseas. Our country was very fortunate that the war never came on to our
land. In November 1945 all the men came home and we had a Real Thanksgiving
celebration.
In 1950 Dad retired from farming and bult a little house on the hill which
overlooks the whole farm. Bob Dillon farmed for him for a while but soon
bought a farm of his own and Dad started farming again. Then in 1963 he
became 65 and sold the farm to Elwood Rinehart and moved nearer to town but
still had a garden . By that time we girls were spread over different
sections of the country . So started another generation to write their part
in the family history .

Some of the family health problems are:
short in stature as Grandma Turner was very short
Catahrr or asthma- Aunt Sophia had it bad.
dry skin causing wrinkles prematurely and loss of skin pigmentation.
thinning hair with age on Grandma Turner 's side

Other familly traits are:







THE JOHN TURNER FAMILY HISTORY

by Dane Turner

My first recollection was when we moved form the Old Farm in Huntington
township wher I was born. Father and Mother had farmed there for about five
years and made enough to buy the small farm on Cooks hill road. which is
now owned by my brother Joseph Turner.
Betty was born on the new home place in 1938. I remember being in the second
grade and when I left home to go to school that September morning , Mrs.
Tinker (mid-wife) was in the kitchen . When I came home from school she
showed me our baby sister- Betty Jean.
I remember Uncle Pete helping us moved from Huntignton township to Cooks
hill road in March of 1924, by horse and wagon. I got to ride in the wagon
to our new home. How exciting it was ! We had a Model -T Ford but didn't
have electricity yet nor a radio or refrigerator or washing machine. The
coil bedsprings were open ( not covered like the modern ones), and the old
springs surelly squeeked at night.
I received all A's in school thru the fourth grade, then became more
interested in sports and girls
Before moving from Huntington township to Cooks hill road, Joe and I had
tricycles. Joe left his out front in the gravel road one night , and next
morning he came dragging it in to the house. He said "some son-of-a-bitch
runned over my bicycle"!!! He was four years old at the time and Dad always
laughed when he told this.
One day Joe and I were up on Edingers hill with Alvin Lorry and Matt Diehl.
Joe was on his bicylce and I was on foot racing. I stepped over onto the
inside part of the gravel road and Joe hit me with his bike. The shock
nearly killed me. Mother came out and took us both to Dr. Iden. I had broken
ribs and Joe had stitches in his head--poor Mother.
Dad and Mother always had horses and cows in the 20's and 30's. Mother would
sell milk, eggs and butter to the neighbors. Many a cold winter morning I
would trdge across the deep snowy field to Patton Hill road , taking milk to
some neighbor before breakfast and going to school. We raised sweet corn
and other produce and peddled it form door to door in Chillicothe. We sold
corn,three dozen ears for a quarter - DEPRESSION!
I still have the three legged walnut table I made at Chillicothe High School
in 1935 - graduated in 1938 and was captain of the basketball team also.
Then worked at the Mead Paper Co. from '38 to '42.
Served in the Air Corp as pilot during WWII, flying B24's, B25's,
B26'sand B29's and many other training planes as I served as flight
instructor. After the I started Airport flight school at Sky Park in
Chillicothe and taught many former GI's how to fly.
Aunt Josephine , Dad's sister would be interested to know that I kept up the
family tradition by serving as a Baptist Minister and also teaching for
many years.Now retired and living in Florida, I still substitute as teacher
on the average of three days a week.
The John Turner family was also musical . Dad played the violin (which I
still have and play). Joe plays the guitar and Betty plays the piano. When
we have the opprortunity to be together, we still play many of the old songs
our Dad