Logan County, West Virginia          Biography of James Dix TURNER, M. D.

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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II,
page 234-235

JAMES DIX TURNER, M. D. The duties of a physician and surgeon have engaged
Doctor Turner at Chapmanville in Logan County for over twenty years. He
located there in advance of the first railroad, and has been one of the
most useful members of the community.

Doctor Turner comes from a notable family of professional people. He was
born at Matville, Raleigh County, West Virginia, August 2, 1874, son of
William and Martha (Hinchman) Turner. His grandfather was John B. Turner,
who brought his family from Patrick County, Virginia, to Raleigh County
in 1857. John B. Turner lived to the advanced age of ninety-seven.

William Turner was born in Patrick County, Virginia, January 17, 1841,
while his wife was born in Logan County, April 11, 1848. Their home is
now in Washington, D. C. The father is past four score and the mother
nearly seventy-five, and every one of their nine children is living.
William Turner was bitterly opposed to seces-sion and entered the Union
Army and served loyally four years. He was captain of his company,
and wounded at the battle of Cross Keys. He has always been a republican.
In a business way his active life was spent as a farmer and lumberman,
as trader and surveyor, and he also participated in the coal development
in his section of the state, where he owned a large acreage of land. He
sold these interests in 1901 and removed to Barboursville, and since
1911 his home has been in Washington. He has been a local minister of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with the Masonic Order
and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Among the children one daughter,
May, is a physician, and had charge of a Red Cross Hospital in the
Balkans, married an English colonel, and she is now in Constantinople.
She is a graduate of George Washington University. John Roscoe Turner,
one of the sons, has gained distinction as an educator and authority on
political economy, was formerly connected with Cornell University and
is now Professor of Economics in New York University. Another son, W.
Wirt, is an instructor of architecture at Notre Dame University in
Indiana, and is a graduate of the University of Washington.

Jamess Dix Turner had an experience as a teacher before he completed
his medical studies. He attended the Concord State Normal School at
Athens, and taught three terms of school in Raleigh County and one
term in Logan County. In 1896 he entered the University Medical College
of Richmond, and he graduated in 1900 from the University of South,
Sewanee, Tennessee. Three different times since beginning practice
he has taken work in the Philadelphia Polyclinic. Doctor Turner
practiced at Marshfork in Raleigh County until 1901, when he moved
to Chapmanville. That was two years before the railroad was completed,
and he was a railroad physician while the line was being constructed
from Midkift to Logan. Since then his energies have been taken up by a
general practice.

Doctor Turner in 1901 married Vivian Barrett, daughter of B. E. Barrett,
of Dry Creek, West Virginia. Their children arc: William E., Thomas Pierce,
James Dix, Jr., Fay, Joseph. Bruce, Lucile and Charmion. Doctor Turner is
affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, has been twice in the Grand Lodge
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of the Knights
of the Golden Eagle. He is a republican.