SAMUEL TURNER, deceased, one of the leading merchants and most prominent citizens of Douglas County, Missouri, was born in Indiana, November 3, 1836, a son of William and Hannah (West) Turner, and grandson of James Turner, all of whom settled near Arno, Missouri, in 1839, or 1840, and there engaged in farming. The grandfather was a soldier in a number of the early Indian wars, and died in Missouri, in 1861, when quite advanced in years. His wife, Mary, died in Arno, a few years after his death, at the age of eighty-four. William Turner located in Lynn County, Missouri, after the war and there he breathed his last in 1876.
Capt. Samuel Turner, when a mere child, moved with his parents to Spring Creek, Douglas County, Missouri, and soon moved to the present site of Arno, where he lived until his death, with the exception of two years. When his country’s honor was assailed, he proved his loyalty to his country by going to the front as a volunteer. He enlisted in the Webster County Missouri Home Guards, and served for some time; was enrolled in the Seventy-third Regiment of enrolled Missouri Militia, under Col. Parmer, and served six months, when he enlisted in the Sixth Provisional Regiment of Missouri Volunteers, under Col. Sheppard, during which time he was assistant quartermaster-general, and at the termination of this service he joined the Sixteenth Missouri Cavalry, and served until the close of the war as quarter-master-general, ranking as captain. At the close of the war he returned to his home at Arno, entering into the mercantile business and farming and stockraising. He carved out of the valleys of Cowskin, Beaver and Prairie Creek one of the largest and best farms in the county. He was a member of the G. A. R., and socially he was a member of the A. F. & A. M. and the I. O. O. F. He was a very successful and honorable business man, and in politics a firm and steadfast believer in the principles of the Republican party. He was deeply interested in the educational interests of his country, and, at his own expense, fitted up and successfully run the Arno Academy, the nursery of the educational interests of the Ozark Mountains.
His wife, Mrs. Sarah (Lyons) Turner, is a daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Page) Lyon, the former of whom was born in Ohio, a son of Joseph Lyon, who is supposed to have been killed in the War of 1812. The father of Mrs. Turner came to Missouri in 1838 and for about five years lived on a farm on Crane Creek in Stone County, Missouri, and was there married to Miss Page, whose father, John Page, was a pioneer of St. Louis, was a miner and was one of the first to do any work of this kind in Stone County. Mrs. Turner’s mother was born in Missouri, and is still living, making her home with her children; but the father of Mrs. Turner was killed in 1862 by guerrillas, while a member of the Home Guards. He was a miller by trade, and also operated a carding machine, and to him is due the credit of having built the first flouring mill in Douglas County, but he was also engaged in tilling the soil. He was twice married, first to Sarah Vorse, before coming to this State, and by her had one child, America, who is living in Dade County, the wife of Mr. McLamor. By his second wife he became the father of the following children: Hannah, wife of John Clinkingbeard, of this county; Mary F., wife of Solomon Cox, of Ft. Smith, Arkansas; Irving, of California; Louise Davis, of Ava; Joseph McClurg, of Taney County; Josephine, wife of George Pearcy; Matilda, who died at the age of eighteen; Minerva, wife of John Kirk, of Taney County; Orval, married and became the father of four children, two of whom died.
To Samuel Turner and his wife the following children were born: William J.; Mary, wife of George Pearcy, died soon after her marriage; Louise is the wife of Amos Gibson, of Oklahoma Territory; Ida is the wife of John Moloy, of Ava; Samuel Edward is in business at Arno; Sallie J. is attending school at Drury College; Lillie, Frank and Loice. Mrs. Turner has an abundance of this world’s goods, and has many friends in the section in which she resides, as did her husband, who was one of the most worthy men of Douglas County.