John Turner

A History of the Turner Family and Their Connections from 1760 to 1890", pp. 33-34:

John was the first child born to the parents in their new rugged home. He was born in what is now known as Jackson tp. Mercer Co., Pa., June 14, 1798. In early youth he was apprenticed to a shoemaker to learn the art but he never followed it as an occupation. He fell in love with Miss. Elisabeth, a daughter of Shadrack Simcox. When he found that his love was reciprocated, he, like a man, asked her father to allow him to wed his daughter, but he, like a selfish churl, refused giving, as his reason, that he could not spare his daughter as her service was needed in the household.

Result: They eloped and were married. This occured about 1819. He then brought or traded for the farm on which his brother William was living, which was near his father-in-laws--in Venango Co., Pa. Old Shadrach seemed to have forgiven the young couple as freely as such a man could forgive another, but it still rankled in his bosom that John had cheated him out of a servant--in the form of a daughter. While they neighbored "back and forth" exchanging works etc., yet when old Shadrach was "full" it would all come up fresh in his mind again. One night at a "husking bee," after the work was done and supper eaten--the joy of old rye having circulated pretty freely--the old gentleman took the jug and says, I must treat "Jockey Buck"--a name he had used pretty freely all evening. John says: I would like to know what you mean by "Jockey Buck." The old man steps up and draws off and makes a pass but John warded off the blow, then the old man says: "You stole my daughter." John replies: "If I did I got nothing with her--not a cent. Then her mother who was near chimed in with "What did you take her for? John answered: "Because I thought she would make a good housekeeper and because I loved her--that's the reason."

Whether this little scene progressed any farther or whether it was the only one of the kind, tradition saith not. John sometime after this traded farms with his brother Samuel, who was living in Deer Creek, Mercer Co. and became a resident of that township so that the peace was not likely disturbed again.

This farm that John obtained was located, adjoining the line of Crawford Co., and was unimproved; but he went to work with a will, and as he soon had a half dozen boys growing up around him, he, before his death, had as nice a farm as there was in the country. He died Jan 9, 1873, nearly seventy-five years of age and was buried in the Peterson cemetry, just across the line in Crawford Co., which has become a burial place of all the connections that have deceased in that section.

His children are William, Shadrach, John Jr., Alexander, Nathan, Elisabeth, Martin V. and Mary J. The first two died in childhood.

[It seems likely that Shadrac(h/k) and John eventually reconciled, as John and Elisabeth named one of their sons Shadrach.]

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Family 1

Spouse/Partner: Elizabeth Simcox b. 1799 d. 18 Dec 1887

Marriage: 1819

Children:

 William S. Turner  b. 23 Dec 1820 d. 13 Aug 1835  

Shadrach Turner b. 21 Nov 1824 d. 27 Nov 1824
John , Jr. Turner b. 24 May 1825
Alexander Turner b. 24 May 1827 d. 11 Apr 1888
Nathan S. Turner b. 27 Jun 1829 d. 3 Jun 1887
Eleanor Turner b. 15 Sep 1831
Nancy Turner b. 6 Mar 1834
Elisabeth Turner b. 21 Nov 1836
Martin Van Buren Turner b. 20 Jul 1840
Mary Jane Turner b. 10 Sep 1842
Death: Jun. 9, 1873

Note: Husband of Elizabeth, 75y Born about 1798. Veteran War of 1812

Burial: Peterson Cemetery Cochranton Crawford County Pennsylvania, USA