TURNBULL, S K

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.

page 383

SAMUEL K. TURNBULL. Among the early residents in Cedarville Township, Greene County, it would be hard to find one more favorably known than the subject of this sketch, who is familiarly known as "Sam." He possesses a genial nature, in his life work has displayed an abundance of energy, industry, and thrift, and in his dealings with mankind is ever honorable and trustworthy. He is a representative of a family which has been well known in this section since quite early in the century, and members of which are numbered among the first families in other sections of the Union.

It may be well before outlining the history of our subject, to make a brief mention of some of his progenitors. His grandfather, Turnbull, lived near Nashville, Tenn., adjoining the well-known Hermitage of Gen. Jackson, and there his son John, the father of our subject was born in 1800. When the latter was thirteen years of age, the family removed to this county, having first stopped in Centerville, Montgomery County, and from there came to within three miles of Cedarville, on what was then a road cut through the woods, but is now known as the Columbus Pike. Grandfather Turnbull reared a family consisting of the following named sons and daughters: Alexander, Thomas, Gilbert, John, James, David, Betsey, and Isabella. The latter married John Chalmers, and Betsey became the wife of Joseph Sterratt. About the year 1833 Mr. Turnbull and his sons Alexander, Gilbert and David, turned their footsteps Westward, settling at Monmouth, Ill., where many of their descendants are yet to be found.

John Turnbull married Miss Margaret, daughter of Samuel Kyle, near Cedarville, who held the position of Judge of the County Court there for thirty-two years. After their marriage, which was celebrated in 1825, Mr. and Mrs. John Turnbull came to the farm where our subject now lives, having purchased one hundred and sixty acres of woodland. To it the husband came with his ax and cut away the trees with which, and in whose place to build a log cabin, in which he and his family lived until about 1842. The dwelling was made of unhewn logs, with a floor of sawed lumber, two small glass windows in the one room of which it consisted, and a fire-place so large that it would take a back log as large as four men could carry into the house. A fine large frame house was afterward built to take the place of the old log cabin, but on the very night on which it was finished, it was nearly destroyed by fire, having caught from the old home which stood near, and which had taken fire. The injured edifice was then fixed up as a one-story building, and in it the family lived several years, when a brick addition was made. In this condition it remained until it came into the hands of our subject, about seventeen years ago, when he entirely removed the brick part, and rebuilt the rest, making a large two-story frame building. This change was made a few years before the death of the father, which occurred in 1880. The mother of our subject died in 1852, and the father married a second time, by the two unions becoming the father of nineteen children, all of whom lived to maturity but three, and ten of whom now survive.

The subject of this brief sketch was born and reared on the place which he now occupies, and has never lived elsewhere. His education was obtained in the district schools, and his manly habits acquired by careful home training. In 1857, while yet a young man, he took to himself a bride in the person of Miss Kate Funston, a worthy scion of good families. Her father, John Funston, was a son of Paul Funston, the paternal ancestors having been of Irish descent, and come from Ireland to America in the eighteenth century. Her mother, formerly Keziah Scott, was a daughter of Thomas Scott, of Lexington, Ky. The home of the Funstons was in Clark County, not far from the place where our subject lives.

The family of Mr. and Mrs. Turnbull comprises one son and three daughters: Flora became the wife of C. D. Dobbins, of Hardin County, who followed farming near Lyman until recently, when he came to help his father-in-law on his farm. They have five children-Olin Allen, Alma Fern, Mary Kate, Fred Ernest, and Grace Darling. John Edwin, the only son of our subject, married Miss Jennie Smith, and is now living on a part of his father's place, where he has an attractive little dwelling and snug surroundings; he and his wife have one daughter, Nellie; Fannie Fern is the wife of C. M. Barber, a farmer of Cedarville Township, and a son of J. M. Barber; they have two children, Collin and Marie. Melda M. is the wife of E. 0. Bull, of Cedarville, and a son of Rankin Bull.

Mr. Turnbull has voted the Prohibition ticket for several years past, although he was brought up to a belief in the principles of Democracy, his father and his grand father having voted the Democratic ticket, and the latter having been a supporter of Gen. Jackson. Mr. Turnbull belongs to the United Presbyterian Church at Cedarville, as do all of his daughters; his wife was reared in the Presbyterian Church.

01 January 2000

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