The subject of this sketch is one of Malheur County’s heaviest property owners, having an estate of eleven hundred and sixty acres of fine soil and very valuable as a hay producer. He is one of the prominent men of the country, a man of fine capabilities, and highly respected and esteemed by all. Mr. Turner was born in Boone County, Missouri, on February 1, 1827, being the son of James and Sarah Turner. He was reared on a farm, gained his education in the primitive log school house of the time and at the native place on October 7, 1848, he was married to Miss Nancy March, a native of the same place. In the spring of 1851 he started with his wife and one child to San Francisco, going via New Orleans and Nicaragua. While on the sailing vessel from the Isthmus the little one sickened and died and was buried in the ocean. Owing to tedious delays he did not arrive at San Francisco until March, 1852, and then went direct to Yuba County, near Marysville, where he procured a farm and vent to raising the fruits of the field. He also raised stock and continued there until 1862, at which time he came to Walla Walla and then to the Salmon River mines. He returned to The Dalles to winter and in the spring of 1863 went to Idaho City, where he followed mining until 1866. After that date he came to Old Eldorado near Malheur, and engaged in lumbering, where he spent three years and then in 1869, Mr. Turner came to the vicinity of his present estate and took up a homestead, and there turned his attention to raising sheep. Later he sold his sheep and raised cattle. He now has, as mentioned above, one of the finest estates in the County, being three miles southeast from Dell. He handles much stock and many tons of hay each year. He has a large, two story, ten room house, fitted up tastily, and a large barn and all the buildings, equipment’s orchards and stock to make rural life comfortable, enjoyable and interesting. In politics Mr. Turner is a stanch Democrat of the Jeffersonian type and a man with the courage of his convictions.
To Mr. Turner and his estimable wife there have been born six children, as follows: Kelton, deceased; Samuel C., deceased; John P., married to Elizabeth Allen and living near Dell; Ellen, wife of M. Grimes, of The Dalles; Laura, deceased ; Martha, wife of J. Barrett, of The Dalles. On June 16, 1863, Mr. Turner was called upon to mourn the death of his faithful wife, and on the same day the daughter died, and they two sleep in one grave. Mr. Turner is now enjoying the golden days of his career amid the comforts of his large estate, the kindness of friends and the esteem of the entire community and he is one of the capable and wise men of the region.
