William H. Turner, who for many years was engaged as
a superintendent of mines in the West, but who for some years past has been
making his home on a farm in Jackson township, this county, is a Hoosier by
birth and inclination though for many years his lines were cast in faraway
places. Mr. Turner was born on a farm in the neighboring county of Randolph
on April 22, 1855, and is a son of William and Margaret (Monks) Turner, who
later became residents of Jay county, where their last days were spent.
William Turner was a Virginian by birth. As a young man he came to Indiana
and located in the vicinity of Winchester, in Randolph county, where in time
he became the owner of 1,500 acres of land and where he remained until 1878,
when he disposed of his interests in that county and came up into Jay county
and bought a tract of 1,100 acres in Penn and Jackson townships and here
established his home and spent the remainder of his life, his death
occurring in 1905. He and his wife were the parents of thirteen children, of
whom seven are living, those besides the subject of this sketch being John,
Susanna, Sarah, Matilda, Jesse and Lucinda.
Reared on his father's
extensive landed estate in Randolph county, William H. Turner received his
schooling in the local schools, taking the high school course, and was
twenty-three years of age when his father moved from Randolph county up into
Jay county. From the days of his boyhood he had been interested in mining
and mineralogy and presently he left here and went to Denver, Col., where he
spent two years in the School of Mines equipping himself for the technical
side of mining. Thus equipped Mr. Turner became engaged as the
superintendent of a mine and for thirty-nine years, or until his retirement
and return to Jay county, he was thus engaged, superintending work in both
gold and silver mines in the mountain states. Upon his retirement he
returned to Jay county, the old home place of both himself and wife, and
established his home on a tract of eighty acres in Jackson township, where
he and his wife are now living, very pleasantly situated. It was on June 30,
1895, that William H. Turner was united in marriage to Alice Hartley, who
was born in this county, a daughter of Enoch B. and Lydia H. (Shanks), both
members of pioneer families here and of whom further and fitting mention is
made elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Turner are members of the
Christian church at Pennville and are Republicans. Mr. Turner is a 32d
degree (Scottish Rite) Mason and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows and of the Knights of Pythias, affiliated with lodges of those
orders in Colorado.
SOURCE: Milton T. Jay, M.D., History
of Jay County Indiana, Historical Publishing Co., Indpls. 1922, Vol. II,
p.126. Transcribed by Eloine Chesnut