Ancestors of William Wesley Turner of Sumter Co., GA :: FamilyTreeCircles.com Genealogy
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Ancestors of William Wesley Turner of Sumter Co., GA

Journal by jwhardin41

I am waiting on a 37-marker test through the Turner DNA Project for
further confirmation. However, there is much evidence suggesting that
the Parents of William Wesley Turner were Abednego and Mary Polly Tatum Turner who were both born in Lincoln Co. GA. If this is TRUE,
then his ancestors since the first immigrants from Land's End, Cornwall Shire, England, would be as follows:

Richard and Elizabeth (unknown surname) Turner

John and Elizabeth Brashears Turner

Meshach and Rebekah Robinson (or Robertson) Turner (2nd m.)

Shadrach and Margaret Hill Turner

Abednego and Mary Polly Tatum Turner

One of the difficulties in finding Abednego and Mary is that many
Internet postings of Shadrach (son of Meshach I) only show his son Shadrach III, or the children from his first marriage, or even have
both wives listed and some of the children from the 2nd marriage but somehow leave out Abednego, the 7th child of Shadrach.
Another problem is that every TURNER posting that I have come across that does have ABEDNEGO and LISTS the name of his WIFE,
lists the WRONG NAME. They have the Tatum correct but have the wrong given name (ie. Sarah, Sally, Patsy, etc.). Even the use of Polly,
her middle name, would have thrown me off, because I knew from family tradition and the 1850 and 1860 Fed. Census that William Wesley's mother was named MARY.
What led to the discovery of this connection is the work of
LINDA TATUM VEAL and information she has posted concerning the
TURNER and TATUM surnames.
Adding to the intertwining of families and thus the confusion:
an AUNT of Mary Polly Tatum married a TURNER (Frances m. Shadrach)
and at least two cousins married TURNERs "of the Fiery Oven". From
the NE counties of Wilkes, Lincoln, Taliaferro many of them moved in the SW direction to Jasper, Monroe, Macon, Lee, and SUMTER Co., GA
beginning in and soon after the 1827 Land Lotteries and resettlement
of the former Creek Indian Lands.
Unfortunately, the 1830 and 1840 Fed. Census do not give the names
of wife and children. However, the 1830 Monroe County Census does show an Abednego Turner with 2 females, one 30-40 and the other 5-10,
and either 6 or 7 males, one 30-40, three 5-10, and either two or three under 5 years old (I am reciting this from memory and do not remember if the youngest son, Richard, was born yet.) It is known from other sources that Abednego and Mary had moved to Monroe County
also. It seems that there are Land Sale or Tax Records that show that they were living there.
Abednego died sometime before the 1840 Monroe County U.S. Census, which shows Mary Turner as the Head of the Household, with 5 children
living with her, all boys, two 15-20 James and Isaac, two 10-15
William W.(Wesley??) and George W.(Whitfield??) and one 5-10 which would have been Richard H. Turner, the 7th child. The next door neighbor was a John Turner age 20-30,(with wife and one infant child) who was almost assuredly her oldest son John. One may assume that Louisa, the 2nd child and only daughter, was also married as she was about 18-19 in 1840.
Mary next appears in the 1850 U.S. Census in Sumter Co, GA living with William Wesley and Cynthia Pennington Turner, along with son Whitfield. She also is living with her son and daughter-in-law as of the 1860 U.S. Census but died sometime after 1860.

by jwhardin41 Profile | Research | Contact | Subscribe | Block this user
on 2007-11-07 21:08:28

jwhardin41 has been a Family Tree Circles member since Nov 2007. is researching the following names: TURNER, VITREAUX.

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Comments

by jwhardin41 on 2007-12-20 02:02:00

Results from yDNA test confirm "Exact Match" at
12 and 25 markers and 36/37 match at 37 markers
in my own DNA and that of a direct descendant of
Richard Turner "the Immigrant" b. abt 1650 in
Cornwallshire, England and living in King William
Co., VA Royal Colony at least as early as 1717.
Richard Turner appears on the 1704 Quit Rent Roll for King and Queen Co., VA owning 200 acres of land but it is not certain if that is the same Richard Turner. Some researchers claim that his children were born in Gloucester Co., VA and if that is the case, these Turners were in Virginia
by the year 1679.

According to the work done by Family Tree DNA
through the Turner DNA Project, there is a better than 90 % probability that the documented descen-dant Kit # 20605 and Kit # 105606 share a common ancestor within 9 generations. Both are of the somewhat more rare R1a Haplogroup which appears only in the "Light Blue" ( Group 10 ) Turners,
descendants of Richard Turner through his sons James or John. Based on the use of characteristic
"SMA" Turner names used by my gg-grandfather
William Wesley Turner, in naming his sons, it has long seemed self-evident that he was of that branch of the Turner surname. His oldest son was
named Isaac ABEDNEGO Turner and youngest was SHADRACH Crawford Turner. The more famous of the surnames of the mothers who had married into the "SMA" branch of "Clan TURNER" are also pre-served, as with CRAWFORD and HILL. My Great Grand
Father was Benjamin HILL Turner.

In affirmation of such circumstantial aspects,
the line of descent from Richard Turner for Kit #
20605 is through John Turner b. abt 1690, the
father of the "Brothers of the Fiery Oven"...
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

The line goes Richard Turner > John Turner >
MESHACH b. 1725 King William (later Caroline) Co.,
VA who m(1)Margaret Lewis m(2)Rebecca Robertson >
SHADRACH b. 1752 Pittsylvania Co.,VA (oldest son of Meshach and Margaret)m. Margaret Hill

Meshach and Shadrach sold their lands in VA and moved to WILKES Co., GA in 1785.

Shadrach and Margaret Hill Turner are recorded
as having had 12 children, seven sons and five daughters. Turner DNA # 20605 is descended from their 2nd child and oldest son Richard Turner
b. 1779 Pittsylvania Co., VA. Although Richard Turner and his wife, Mary Henderson, were able to do One better than his parents and were blessed with 13 children, none of the seven sons were named WILLIAM, and thus, Richard was an UNCLE,
not the father of William Wesley Turner.

The second son of Shadrach Turner and Margaret Hill, was Lewis Turner who is known to have had one child by his wife, Susannah Stewart, who
was a daughter. None of his "heirs" by virtue of Marguarette would be the father of Wm. Wesley.

Although son #3, Shadrach (III) had three wives and did have a William by his first wife,
Unity Gilliam, his son was Wm. K., not Wm. W.,
and was b. 1809, somewhat early to be my ancestor who was b. 1824 or 1825.

Without going through the exact details pertaining to other sons of Shadrach and Margaret
#4, #5, and #7, William K. Turner, Meshach, and
James B., will it suffice to say that they either do not have a William or, if so, he is of the wrong age, has the wrong middle initial, the
wrong wife, address, phone # ???( LOL)...
And THUS, is not likely the father of William Wesley Turner.

Son #6 with the most awkward sounding of those
Babylonian names, ABEDNEGO, sure seems to be the man. Although I have not found what his DubYa is for, the fifth child of Abednego and Mary Tatum
Turner was William W. Turner and was born about 1825, the same or very near the age of my gg-grandfather. There are a whole HOST of other circumstantial factors that stand in support of the claim that "Ab" is the most likely candidate
for father that I have detailed in previous postings.

Although the DNA research and its results do
not necessarily "prove" the connection between the "Line of Richard Turner" and the "Line of William Wesley Turner", the 90 % PROBABILITY of common ancestry,... ADDED TO the wealth of other
evidence... AND, the one by one elimination of the other possibilities ...
...I feel very secure now in teaching my seven
year old daughter about how her Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather was named MESHACH,
and he had a son named SHADRACH, and that son had a son named ABEDNEGO, and how the wicked King
Nebudchanezzar threw them in the "Fiery Oven" but the Holy Spirit protected them and they were not harmed because they loved GOD and were obedient to GOD. And THEN, they left PITTsylvania Co., VA
and "Went Down to Georgia". She can explain the concept of polarity in water molecules to her
bewildered grandmother and draws nicely swirling double-helixed DNA, so I suspect she is onto my game.

I highly recommend going through a surname project group and working with Family Tree DNA
in having a yDNA test performed. If you are female, grab a cousin, brother, uncle or related surname you want to test for and convince them to do the test. Pay for it yourself if you have to and go ahead with the 37 marker from the outset. If you go through a project, the discount is substantial, down from about $250 to $189, plus the advantage of having a large group of others to compare to WHO ARE INVOLVED IN SEARCHING FOR THEIR ANCESTORS. I am also a 36/37 match with two other TURNERs # 15487 and # 17141 and actually, it appears, more closely related at 92 % prob-ability of a common ancestor within 9 generations
...BUT we all shared a common problem, the old
"Brick Wall", our "papered trail" only goes back so far. However by showing such close genetic
proximity to a TURNER with documents, # 20605, our understanding and conviction about our ancestors is VASTLY improved. Testing in isolation without Project participation will be nowhere nearly as effective.

Thank You for the Opportunity to Learn and Grow through the information shared on this site, for the chance to reveal what I have been fortunate enough to discover, and the ability to express some of my personal views.

Best Regards,
Jeff Turner

by jwhardin41 on 2007-12-27 03:31:13

CORRECTION and UPDATE:

ELIZABETH BRASHEARS was NOT the wife of
John Turner b. abt 1690 (son of Richard Turner)

ELIZABETH BRASHEARS m. John Turner, JUNIOR (the son of John Turner, in MARYLAND ) This "JOHN" was a descendant of WILLIAM Turner "the Immigrant" of that line of Turners and not of Richard.

According to a recently discovered source on LDS, ABEDNEGO TURNER b. 1792 Lincoln Co., GA (m. MARY "Polly" TATUM 14Jan1819 Lincoln Co.GA)
DIED: 02 SEP 1833 MONROE Co., GA

Thank You,
Jeff Turner

by victoriaturner on 2009-12-29 18:53:29

I have been looking for a relation of Benjamin Turner. He was the son or grandson of the owner of the land where the confederate army used the family land for union soldiers during the civil war. The family in Georgia tried in the 1960's-70's to get reimbursement by the Federal government for taking the land which is now Andersonville National Cemetery. Ted Turner heavily supports this museum. My grandfather was Linwood Turner and was half Cherokee. My father was Larry Turner or Lawrence. Any information would be helpful.

Thanks,

Victoria Turner

by ThatTurnerGirl on 2015-04-19 11:12:00

Don't know if anyone is still keeping this Journal but I am a descendant of William Wesley Turner. I have a lot of post-civil war info. I live in Dallas Co. Arkansas. He was a grandfather of my line.

by MSA10thGenJPTurner on 2020-11-03 01:25:35

I have been out of the research picture for years but have "leaped" back in; I hope after 5+ yrs you happen to read this post:
Benjamin Hill Turner was my great grandfather. He descended from Richard Turner who immigrated to Virginia before 1718. The line to "Ben" runs: Richard-John-Meshach-Shadrach-Abednego-William Wesley and then Benjamin. BHT was one of 7 children: Isaac, Richard, John, William, Nancy Victoria, Benjamin Hill, and Shadrach Crawford ("Tom"). Benjamin Turner married Delphia Ann Hardin, who was the daughter of Moses and Anamerica "Ann" or "Annie" (Moore, full blood Cherokee) HARDIN. Moses was 1st cousin of James Hardin, father of infamous outlaw JOHN WESLEY Hardin. I think that makes me 1/16th Cherokee w/ a bit of outlaw thrown in. Benjamin and Delphia, along with "Tom" and his wife, are buried in the Stony Point Cemetery at Bucksnort (near Fordyce), Arkansas. Cynthia Pennington Turner (Grey, she later remarried), mother of BHT&SCT is buried across the Hwy at "Old" Stony Point. After the US govt stole the Turner Plantation (300+, almost 400 acres; William Wesley had leased 14 acres to the CSA) the family eventually left Sumter County Georgia and moved to Princeton, Dallas County, Arkansas.
There is much more to share (ie, line from Richard goes back through Land's End, Cornwall, England UK to at least 1300s ROGER Tourner w/ some Sirs and Ladies along the way). I can give you sites where it is posted on Net later. I am a slow H&P typist and out of time for now.

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