Orsamus Turner

TURNER

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 3/20/2009 at 01:24:12

Orsamus Turner is now living a retire life upon his farm on Sec 3, Garden township. He came to the west from New York, his birth having occurred in Seneca county, of the Empire state, December 31, 1819. His father, Josiah P Turner, was born in New York in 1793, while the grandfather of our subject was Nathan Turner, a native of England. Crossing the Atlantic to the new world he became one of the early settlers of New York. Josiah P Turner was reared to manhood in the state of his nativity and there married Catherine Rolfe, a native of New York, born in Monmouth, and a daughter of Moses Rolfe, one of the early settlers of that locality. The battle of White Plains was fought near his home. Mr Turner, the father of our subject was a veterinary surgeon, following that profession in connection with farming in New York. In 1825, however, he left the east and made his was to Michigan, settling in Washtenaw county, where the city of Ypsilanti now stands. He there cleared away the trees in order to plow the land and develop a farm. His remaining days were spent upon that place, his death occurring on November 25, 1841, while his wife was called to her final rest on December 1, 1839.
Orsamus Turner grew to manhood in Michigan, where, amid the wild scenes of frontier life the days of his boyhood and youth were passed. The schools of that locality were not of a very superior order and his services were also needed upon the home farm, so that his educational privileges were limited. In later years, however he has largely broadened his knowledge, through reading, experience and observation. The year 1842 witnessed his removal from Michigan to McHenry county, Illinois, and there again he became a pioneer settler. He purchased land and developed three farms in the county, making his home there until 1877, when he came to Boone county, Iowa arriving on December 8. He had previously visited the county in October of the same year and had purchased the place where he now resides. Locating thereon he at once began the work of the fields and meadows and as the years have passed has placed his land under a very high state of cultivation and has added to the farm good buildings and modern equipments. On June 17, 1882, his buildings however, were swept away in a tornado, but no one was hurt in the family although some stock upon the place was killed. Mr Turner later erected his present attractive residence, a good barn and other buildings upon the place. He planted a row of black walnut trees upon his land and made other valuable improvements. He too, is acquainted with the methods of the practice of veterinary surgery and to some extent has followed the profession both in Illinois and in Iowa.
Mr Turner was married in McHenry county, Illinois, May 21, 1845, to Clarinda M Sanborn, a native of New York, born in Attica. Her father, John T Sanborn, became one of the early settlers of Illinois, removing to that state from New York in 1841. In 1870 Mr Turner was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife who died in McHenry county on February 19, of that same year, leaving two children. Lydia, who for the past three years has been an invalid, and John Pell who remained with this father until his death December 3, 1900, when fifty-one years of age.
Politically Mr Turner was originally an old line Whig. More than sixty years have passed since he cast his first presidential vote, for in 1840 he supported William Henry Harrison, when the rallying cry of the Whigs was “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too.” In 1856 he supported John C Fremont, the first candidate of the new Republican party, and has voted for each of its candidates for the presidency since that time. That he is one of the valued citizens of the community is indicated by the fact that for twenty consecutive years he has served as justice of the peace. His decisions have been strictly fair and impartial and thereby he has gained high commendation and has the honor and confidence of all concerned. He has served as a delegate to numerous conventions of his party in Illinois and has filled the office of county supervisor for six years. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church with which he has been identified since 1852. His life has ever been in consistent harmony with his profession, and whether in office or out of it he is true and loyal to the trust reposed in home and to the principles of an upright manhood.

1902 Boone County History Book