NATHANIEL TURNER.
Greeley township, this county, mainly is occupied by the original settlers therein, the men who broke the virgin soil of the fertile prairie and who now, many of them not far past middle age, are enjoying the ripe fruits of their labors, having profited well by the exercise of their pioneering spirits. Among the best known of these original settlers is Nathaniel Turner, proprietor of "Greeley Center Farm," one of the best-kept places in the township.
Nathaniel Turner was born in Fulton county, Illinois, January 24, 1856, the son of John and Nancy (Miller) Turner, natives, respectively, of Kentucky and Indiana, farmers and the parents of eleven children, of whom Nathaniel was the third in order of birth. John Turner served the Union during the latter part of the Civil War as a private in Company G, Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, and shortly after the close of the war moved his family to this county, arriving at Exira on October 28, 1868, having driven overland from McDonough county, Illinois. The family lived in Exira until 1870, keeping hotel there for a time, and then moved to Lewisville, where for a year or two they rented a farm and then bought what is known as the old Ingham farm, south of Exira. After a few years' residence there John Turner resumed the renting of land and thus continued his farming until the encroachments of age retired him for further strenuous activities, after which he and his wife made their home with their son, Nathaniel, and family.
Nathaniel Turner received but a limited education in his youth and upon reaching his majority married and rented a farm, on which he lived for ten or twelve years, and then bought eighty acres in section 22, of Greeley township, this county, on which he ever since has made his home. Upon taking this farm Mr. Turner was confronted with the task of breaking the virgin sod and his neighbors were few and far between. He and his wife started housekeeping in a house fourteen by sixteen feet, of two rooms, to which they later added another room. Straw sheds were used as shelters for his horses and cattle. In 1901 he built a barn thirty-six by sixty feet, and in 1904 erected a fine eight-room house, his home now being one of the pleasantest in that part of the county. He since has erected another barn and additional farm buildings and his place presents a very well-kept appearance, indeed. As he prospered, Mr. Turner added to his holdings by the purchase of an additional eighty-acre farm in section 21, which he also has brought to an excellent state of cultivation.
On January 4, 1877, in old Lewisville, this county, Nathaniel Turner was united in marriage to Marguerite Frances Richardson, who was born in Jones county, Iowa, December 3, 1861, the daughter of Samuel and Phoebe (Clemmer) Richardson, pioneers of that section, the former of whom was killed in battle about a year after his enlistment as a Union soldier during the Civil War, leaving a widow and four children, Mrs. Turner having been the third in order of birth. Mrs. Richardson remarried and the family, in 1870, came to Audubon county, but shortly returned to Jones county, returning to this county, however, in 1876. The next year, however, the mother returned to Jones county, where she spent the rest of her life.
To Nathaniel and Marguerite F. (Richardson) Turner two children were born, Roscoe, born on May 13, 1879, who married Edith Pine and has one child, a daughter, Lois; and Alice, born on February 7, 1894, who attended college at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and is now living at home. The Turners are earnest members and supporters of the Methodist church and were largely instrumental in the organization of the church of that denomination at Greeley Center, Mr. Turner having donated the land on which the church was erected and ever since has been an active supporter of and interested worker of the church.
Mr. Turner is a Democrat, but makes no pretensions to being a politician. Though he has been elected to township offices he has never cared to qualify for the same. His interest in educational matters, however, is of the active sort and for fifteen years he served very acceptably as school director in his district, his services in that connection having proved very valuable to the interests of the youth of the district. The Turners are held in high regard by a large circle of friends and acquaintances and are popular with all.
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Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, September, 2019 from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 805-807.
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