Tulare County Biographies

LUCIUS HERVEY TURNER

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
The well known native of Tulare county whose name is above was born December 6, 
1866, a son of Peter Q. and Emily S. (Keener) Turner. His father was born in 
Hampton county, Va., February 15, 1828, his mother in Missouri, December 9, 
1843. The former lived in his native state until 1850, when he was about 
twenty-two years old. He then went to Alabama and Mississippi, where he had more 
or less intercourse with Indians, and lived for a time in New Orleans, where he 
passed safely through a historic epidemic of cholera. At one time, believing he 
had been attacked by the disease, he found relief by drinking burned whiskey. It 
was during this early period of his life that he had his first experience with a 
stove. He took up his residence in Texas, where he married Miss McGlassen, of 
Texan birth, who died three months later.
In 1858 he came from Texas to California, making the journey overland with oxen, 
a member of a party of which his future father‑in-law, John D. Keener, was 
captain. At one time, while traveling a new route, they were without water for 
seventy-two hours. Mr. Turner's tongue became so swollen that he could not talk, 
all his companions suffered and one of them became temporarily insane. They came 
to Los Angeles in 1858, where they remained some time, selling their cattle. 
From Los Angeles they went to Visalia, where in July, 1861, Mr. Turner married 
Miss Emily S. Keener, who bore him fifteen children: Nancy A., Peter Q., John 
H., Lucius H., Anna B., Edna M., Laura I., Charles A., Ida C., Frank E., Marcus 
A., Elizabeth, Lottie, Ada C., and another who died in infancy. Nancy A. married 
J. A. Drake. John H. married Mary E. Dunham. Lucius H. married Grace Lenell, who 
has borne him three children. Anna B. married C. H. Foster and bore him four 
children, she died May 30, 1889. Ida C. is the wife of J. E. Foster and they 
have seven children living. Frank E. married Idena Jones and they are the 
parents of four children. Marcus A. married Elsie Brothers and they have three 
children. Elizabeth F. married H. B. Mitchell and has five children. Charles A. 
married Mary Mades. Lottie married George Fickle and has one child. Ada C. 
married J. G. Jones and they are the parents of two children. Peter Q., Edna M. 
and Laura I. have passed away. The father died at Dunlap June 6, 1883; the 
mother makes her home with her children.
It was as a farmer and carpenter that Mr. Turner was instructed in the practical 
work by means of which he was destined to earn his living. His first purchase of 
land was of twenty acres: He later bought ten acres on which he now lives. Six 
acres of his land is devoted to fruit and berries, the remainder to pasturage. 
Fraternally he affiliates with the Modern Woodmen of America, of which he is a 
charter member. His political affiliations are Socialistic. Mrs. Turner is a 
communicant of the Church of God.
 
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - 
Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913, pp. 622-623