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THE 0 0 U N T ft Y M A tf
122
TIBXWOLl), BA.,- APRIL 26, 1864.
The Life of an American Citizen:
DICING TUB:
BIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM TURNER,
LATE OF PUTNAM COUNTY, GA.
BY HIS SON, J. A. TURNER.
CHAFTBlt I.
Some Account ofmy Father's Ancestors.
My great-grea t -gran d -fa t her, Josep It
Turner, was born iu Wales, and emi
grated to Virginia, about the latter
part of the 17tb or beginning of the
18th century—say between 1690, and
1710—as nearly as I 0.10 guess, from
facts before me. In what eoanty he
first settled, I do not know, though he
finally resided in Dinwiddle county,
about eighteen) miles from Petersburg,
near Stony Creek,four miles fiom Din-
widdie C. H.> where my great-grand
father was born, and my grancl-f ither
also, both on the same farm, and both
named Joseph.—My great-great-grand
father married a Morgan, of the fam
ily of Gen. Morgan of revolutionary
fame.
My great-grand-father married Sus
annah, daughter of Henry Dixon and
Elizabeth A be me thy, who both came
from England. Elizabeth was a rela
tion of John Abesnetky, the eccentric
London physician.. The Cod. Henry
Dixon who was wounded in the neck
by & cannon ball, at the siege of York- |
town, was- the brother of Susannah
Dixon, mentioned above- Maj. Til-
man Dixon, of the revolutionary army,
was another brother of Susannah. He
used to have two- large- dogs, which
were famous for the care they took of
his children. Gapt. Charles Dixon,
of th© revolutionary army, was a third
brother. From these Dixons was. de
scended Robert Dixon, late of Tal
bot county Gathe father of Rob
ert Emmet Dixon, of Columbus,
Ga., late clerk of the Confederate
House of Representatives, killed by
JTorde, of Kentucky, whose ease is
sow pending before tha v Lrginia CV'Ujrt
of Appeals. From these same Dixon:*
is descended Archie Dixon, late sena**.
lor in the United States Congresafrom
Kentucky
Joseph Turner and his wife Sus
annah had the following sons and
daughters: Elizabeth, Mary, Susan
nah, William, Joseph Joint, Mart ha,
Holland berry, Ann, Tabitha, and T 1-
rnau.
Elizabeth married Robert Sturdi-
vain.
Mary married a'Mr. Hat dawhy, first,
I and bore him two children, one of
them being Frances, who married
Richard Gatewood, and became the
mother of A. D. Gatewood, late of
Putnam county. Her second husband
w as a Mr. Manly, to whom she bore
John, Richard, Martha, anti several
others. Martha Manty married Jo-
sialr Flournoy, late of Putnam coun
ty-
Susannah never married. She is
buried at Turnwold,
William, died a single man iu Vir
ginia, somewhere between the ages of
twenty and thirty.
John died single, and is. hurled at
Tumwold.
Martha was the second wife of Tturn
er Hunt, whose daughter, by his first
wife, married *J»o venerable John
Trippe, of Putuaui eJnnty.
HolLandberry married Singleton
Holt, and, among other children, bore
him Henry D., so. favorably known
in Georgia as- ‘‘Neighbor”' Holt.
Ann married Isaac Moreland, and
bore him, with other children,,. Isaac
N. Moreland, who acquired consider
able fame in the Texan revolution,
and was a ready \i l iter iu prose and
verse.,
Tabitba was the second wifc- of
Thomas Napier, the father, by a form
er marriage, of LeRo-y and Skelton
Napier, of Macon. She bore him one
child—W.T. VV.. Napier, of M i Hedge-
ville.
Tilman*, remaining single, Became
an officer in. tlie tegular army of the
United States, and died {A Pas Chris--
tia.ii,. in Louisiana. He was a soldier
during. the war of 1812., and I have
heard that he was a man of extraor
dinary intelligence and refinement.
My grand-father used to say tjrat his
brother Tdnian wasengagediu,“Durr’s
Conspiracy,” as it was called in those
days. But really it was only a graud
filibustering expedition, gotten up. a-
gainst Mexico, with the intention- of
forming au empire, or nation, out of
that country, and some of five South
western or Gulf States. Who can
say that Maximilian will not realize
Burr’s dream? God only knows. God's
purpose mast be fulfilled, though he
may employ even such creatures as
Yankees fur its accomplishment.
Should the Northern hordes overrun
the Sot th, which Heaven forbid, then
we may have to look to Maximilian for
alliance, or integration. With th©
Southern States and Mexico—such
soil and such climate.as they possess
—with their tropical productions-—
their-cotton fields, and mines of rich
ores—what a country, backed up by
Napoleon, and the Southern nations
of Europe l But this is wandering
from the subject. These are mere
speculations : but they are within the
range of possibility.
My grand-fat her, Joseph Turner,
was bora in, Dinwiddle eonut.y, Ya.,
near Stony Greek, 27th July, J764,
lacking a ^Tw^inonths of beiitg- just a
century ago. He married Rhoda
Ilines, the sister of the father of th©
late Richard K. Hines of Macon. He,
moved from Virginia to Hancock coun
ty, Ga., in the year 1793—the year
that county was organized. In his
youth, he was fulL of the spirit of ad
venture, became a sailoar boy, and, a-
mong othes foreign places, visited th©
Dutch city sf Amsterdam, with tales
of which he used to delight to regale-
his graud-children. He. was i-a th©
revolutionary aimy, towards th© close:
of th© war.
I have given some- account of my
ancestors in this chapter, and it will,
enable friends- and relatives, widely*
separated, to-trace lip the relationships*
which exist between them-
*L\ ‘•Farmer’s Boy,’ ini Barren count
ty, Ky., advertises for % wife,. He
‘He wants to know rf she can twilit,,
And make bis bread and butter,
And Bn-to tnet iiiitr without silk,
'£0make a ‘show ai|d flutter.*’
iie’cHike to know.^f it would hurt;
tier, hauda-to-tak s up at/itchea ;
Qr sow the buttons on bis shirt,
Q.r make » pair of brn^che^/-** <