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Below is a family biography included in The History of Wright County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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John Turner, farmer and stockman of Wright County, Mo., was born in Roane County, Tenn., in 1820, and was there reared to manhood and married. He immigrated to Missouri in 1849, and in October, 1860, took up his abode on his present farm in Wright County. He first married Rebecca McMullin, and by her had the following children: Sarah (Mrs. Hanks), Elizabeth A. (Mrs. Odell), Margaret (Mrs. Bell), Nancy (Mrs. Moore), Mary (Mrs. Ridgway), Frances (Mrs. Bumont), Laura (Mrs. Henson) and John J. Those deceased are Jason, who died during the Civil War, and James, at the age of fifteen years. Mr. Turner took for his second wife, Miss Elizabeth White, and their children are as follows: Jesse, who married Sarah J. Hensley, and is the father of one child, Lillie; Triphena, wife of Will Hight; Joseph C, who married Ary L. Crippen, and has one child, John Andrew; John, and Fisher C., who was killed by accident when four years of age. John married Tennessee Evans, but since her death has lived with his father. Mr. Turner was in the Federal service during the late war, serving in a Missouri Company. He owns a good farm of 286 acres, and is well fixed financially. He is a Republican, a member of the G. A. R., and belongs to the Baptist Church. His parents, John and Sarah (TaLee) Turner, were married in New Orleans, whither the father had come from his native land of Ireland after he had attained manhood. He soon after moved to Tennessee, where he lived until his family grew to maturity, and in 1849 located in Scott County, Mo., where he died in 1889. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and he and his sons, John, whose name heads this sketch, and Sterling, were in the Florida War. The father and Sterling held commissions as lieutenant. The latter was a captain in the late war on the Confederate side, and was killed at the battle of Vicksburg. Joseph, another son, held the rank of major under Gen. Sherman, in the United States army, and was at the siege of Vicksburg, where his brother was killed, and after the surrender found his brother dead. Besides this brother he had another brother, two nephews, and a brother-in-law in the surrender. John Turner, the father, and his wife were the parents of eight sons and three daughters, and after the mother’s death he married a Mrs. McMullin, whose maiden name was Matlock. To them were born two children. The paternal grandfather immigrated with his large family from Ireland to America, and located in North Carolina, where he died at a very old age.

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This family biography is one of 90 biographies included in The History of Wright County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Wright County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Wright County, Missouri family biographies, click here

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