Leah Matilda Roderick, wife of Warren Turner, b. 1842

[picture provided by cousin, name withheld]

24 June 1842 - 1 Jan 1919, Morganton, NC
*buried: Forest Hill Cemetery, Morganton

*nicknamed "Til"
*A charter member of the First Baptist Church of Morganton, North Carolina.

*appears in the 1850 census: Burke Co., NC, age 8
*appears in the 1870 census: Linville, Burke Co., NC
*appears in the 1900 census: Morganton, Burke Co., NC; age 57, wife
*appears in the 1910 census: Morganton, Burke Co., NC; age 67, wife

*The following is a transcription of a newspaper clipping, dated October 26, 1878 (sixty years old when found in the Bible of Leah M. Turner in October 1938) reads:

"RODERICK FAMILY REUNION

On the 26th of October last a reunion of Daniel Roderick's family was held at the old homestead in Linville Township, Burke County. There were forty-five relatives present. Daniel Roderick died in the year 1860, at the age of fifty-six years, leaving his wife, Elizabeth who is now living at the advanced age of seventy-eight years and was present at the above mentioned occasion. At the death of her husband, Mrs. Roderick was left with a large family to raise. She has three children dead, and eleven living, all of whom are married and are members of some branch of the Christian church.

She has sixty-four grandchildren, six of whom are married and fourteen great-grandchildren. Her descendants with their wives and husbands number one hundred and nine persons of whom ninety-seven are now living. All these descendants were possessed with good minds and none of them ever had a law suit or have been imprisoned for crime, thus fulfilling the passage by scripture: 'Train up a child in the way it should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.'"

Frederick Gray Turner, Sr., Postmaster, b. 1877

2 Oct 1877, Morganton, NC - 9 Nov 1950, of a heart attack, Piedmont Mem. Hosp, Greensboro, NC

*buried: 10 Nov 1950, Forest Hill Cem., Morganton

* an employee of the Railway Mail Service from 1900 to Sept. 1939 in the chief clerk's office in Greensboro . He survived three catastrophic train wrecks without injury : first, the 1904 head-on collision of the Knoxville with the Asheville bound train, that killed 60 people; a second head-on collision; third, he was in a mail car when the locomotive plunged off a washed-out bridge.
* was a charter member of the First Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina


I remember seeing a framed badly-yellowed photograph from a newspaper on my grandfather, Fred Turner Jr's bedroom wall of a very nasty train wreck. It was, in fact, the 1904 collision mentioned below, one of the worst in American railroad history for sheer destruction and loss of life.
In his obituary, Fred Sr's harrowing account of the wreck is as follows:

Warren Gray Turner, CSA, b. 1837

[Photo courtesy of cousin, name withheld for privacy]

9 Jan 1837, Edgecombe Co, NC - 20 Jun 1913, at his home in Morganton, NC
*buried: Forest Hill Cemetery

Imagine my surprise to receive notification from a distant family member that a photograph of our great great grandfather, Warren Gray Turner, was in storage in the N.C. Museum of History, in Raleigh. It's not this portrait (which appears to be when he was mustered in for the Civil War) because it shows him tired-looking, covered in hair, beard to his chest like Grizzly Adams (most likely post war).

*first assignment: Company E, 6th Regiment, NC Troops - 20 June 1861 (Company E was formed in Charlotte, NC on the 28 May 1861); promoted to Corporal - 30 June 1861; promoted to 3rd Lt. - 17 June 1862; promoted to 2nd Lt. - 24 Dec 1862; promoted to 1st Lt. - 1 July 1863

*commanding officer: Col. R. F. Webb

*battles/engagements: 2nd Manassas - 30 Aug 1862; Chancellorsville, VA - 3 and 4 of May 1863; Gettysburg; Cemetery Hill - 2 July 1863; captured at Rappanhannock Station, VA - 7 Nov 1863

*wounds: wounded at 2nd Manassas - shot in the right leg, disabling it - 30 Aug 1862; admitted to general hospital #7 in Richmond, VA for "fever remit"; second wound was given as "a wound in the left thigh"

*confined at Old Capitol Prison, Washington, DC; transferred to Johnson Island, Ohio - 11 Nov 1863; exchanged at Cox's Wharf, James River, VA - 22 Mar 1865

* moved with his parents to Burke County, NC at age 12

* worked as a school teacher and farmer before the Civil War

* while imprisoned in Ohio, he met the spy Belle Boyd, and was so impressed by her that he named his first daughter Belle Boyd Turner

* after the war, he farmed as well as owned and operated the Shuffler Mill on Upper Creek

* lived on Valdese Avenue in Morganton, in a two story Victorian house on a large acreage of land

* he and his wife were members of the First Baptist Church in Morganton, North Carolina

* worked as Postmaster of Morganton during the second Cleveland administration



*His Obit from a book at the Family History Library:

W. G. Turner Dead
After a lingering illness, Mr W. G. Turner passed away at his
home on North North Morganton last Saturday morning.
Mr Turner was born in Edgecombe County 1837 and came to Burke
County when twelve years of age. His age was therefore 76 years. He
married May 21, 1871, to L. M. Roderick, of this county who survives,
and the surviving children are Mrs Charles Lane, Mrs J. L. Anderson,
Mr C. V. Turner, Morganton; M. W. Turner, Hartville, SC; F. G.
Turner, Greensboro; and Hardy Turner, Lenoir.
Mr Turner taught school in Burke for several years before
enlisting in the War Between the States. He was a 2nd Lieutenant of Co
E, 16th NC Regiment, and proved a gallant, brave soldier. At the
Battle of Gettysburg, he was taken prisoner and removed to Johnson's
Island, where he remained ten months. He was twice wounded.
Mr Turner was a merchant in Morganton for many years after the
war, and was postmaster here during the first Cleveland
administration. He leaves a name for honesty and uprightness of which
his family and friends feel justly proud.
The funeral was conducted from home Sunday morning at 10 o'clock
by Rev H. H. Jordan, and during the service, Mr Hardy Turner, a son,
led very sweetly on the piano the singing of "Nearer My God to Thee"
and "Asleep in Jesus." The remains were interned in Forest Hill
Cemetery.
---From The Morganton News-Herald. Jul 3, 1913. Reprinted in the
Journal of the Burke County Genealogical Society, Vol 10-2, p4.
(Another article in the Jounal in 15-5, p 15, mentions his
participation in the Civil War and veterans activities.)

William Thomas Hall, CSA, b. 1846, Hallsboro, NC

Born 14 Mar 1846, died 26 Mar 1890, Hallsboro, NC from alcoholism. Buried, Hillcrest Cemetery, Lake Waccamaw, NC.

This photo (c. 1880s) was recently discovered in an old trunk of my grandmother's, Virginia Florence Hall Turner. This is her grandfather. It was badly faded when I got my hands on it, and after washing it through the computer for several hours, this was the best detail I could tease from obscurity.

According to the Benjamin Franklin Hall type-written record in our possession: "William Thomas married Florence [Eugenia] Meares, in 1879. He died March 26th, 1890, leaving his wife and two children, a son, John William Hall, and a daughter, Margaret Jane Hall, who are now living at Hallsboro near the old family home, and have families of their own."

He enlisted in the Civil War at 16 and his first assignment was Company B, 3rd Regiment, NC Troops. Battles/engagements: captured at Spotsylvania Courthouse, VA - 12 May 1864; confined at Point Look Out, Maryland; transferred to Elmira, New York - 10 Aug 1864; released at Elmira, NY after taking oath of allegiance - 27 June 1865.

William was listed in the 1850 census: "South Division, Duplin Co, NC, Nos: 482/482; William T. Hall, age 4, M." ....And the 1880 census: " W. T. Hall, age 34, clerk in store, born 1846."

From "Recollections and Records" by Ray Wyche: "On March 11, 1889, the community of Hallsboro was incorporated by an act of the legislature. The town limits were set at 600 yds in each direction from the intersection of the Elbow Road and the railroad. Thirty-six acres owned by Short and Beers were excepted. The legislature appointed eight temporary officers: William T. Hall, mayor; J. C. Henry, marshal; and H. L. Struthers, W. P. Haskins, D. Miles Flynn, S. Bruce Hall [Samuel Bruce Hall, Ben Franklin Hall's nephew], and J. C. Henry, commissioners..."

Jennie Eulara Farley Hall, b. 1888, Jackson's Crossing, NC

Born 24 May 1888, Jackson's Crossing, Columbus Co., NC; died Apr 1974, Hallsboro, NC.

This photo was one of three discovered recently in an old chest belonging to my grandmother, Virginia Florence Hall, eldest daughter of Jennie. She's holding Virginia in the picture (c. 1908).

She was born in an area called Jacksons Crossing, a tiny place between Hallsboro and Whiteville, NC. She completed high school in Hallsboro, NC, held Sunday dinners and bridge parties all the time (Mom remembers seeing and hearing her laugh a lot in company which was a strong juxtaposition of the tough, "my way or the highway" everyday woman she was.)

Jennie died after both siblings (James and Chester), her husband and her daughters; Mom said that she was devastated to lose Elsie and when Virginia died, it seemed to finally break her. She came up to Raleigh for the memorial service at 1st Presbyterian Church (the church I grew up in where my grandfather, Fred Turner worked as custodian). Jennie spoke of her dead brother Chester frequently and very sadly, as if she had had a particularly strong attachment to him.

She never learned to drive and spent almost her entire life on the Hall farm.

John William Hall II, b. 1879, Hallsboro, NC

Born 23 Dec 1879, died Sept 1955, Hallsboro, NC.

This photo was recently discovered in an old cedar chest belonging to my grandmother, Virginia Hall Turner. This is her father as a young man, c. 1900. Loving the ears. Manly chin, too.

He is listed in 1880 census as " J. W. Hall, 5 months old."

John was Postmaster at Hallsboro, and ran a general store, a blacksmith shop and a grist mill
(his general store was the only store in Hallsboro that sold coffins - Mom remembers playing in the store and being creeped out by the coffins.)

He was also a farmer, sheriff of Columbus County, NC, from 1923 to 1936, a staunch Presbyterian who helped found the Hallsboro Presbyterian Church in 1916, where he served as an elder until his death. He was also the superintendent of Sunday School.

John studied at Horner Military Academy at Oxford, North Carolina, before he married. He refrained from drinking because alcohol ruined his father's health.

Margaret Hall Merritt's house, Hallsboro, NC

Yes, I know. Another crummy photo. (I'll replace it soon).

This is W. E. and Margaret Jane Hall Merritt's house, built to his orders across the way from the Hall farm, c. 1910. I was also present for the clearing of this house upon Margaret's death. Among other things, I remember a big spinning wheel on the stair landing and dead mice in odd places. My grandmother Virginia Hall had her wedding photos taken in this house, before a fireplace in the dining room.

Margaret Jane Hall was my great grand aunt, daughter of William Thomas Hall (b. 1846) the first temporary mayor of Hallsboro, and his wife, Florence Eugenia Meares (b. 1859).

The Hall Farm, Hallsboro, NC

A crummy photo, I know.

This is a painting of the house that hangs in our kitchen, done by a Maud Wyche, not sure when but it's always been hanging up, at least 40 years.

This is the farm that my family owned for generations. It's presently on the register of historic places. It passed from our possession in the 1980s. I remember going there at one point to help move furniture and empty the house after the last owner died, my great uncle, John Formy-Duval, husband of my grandmother Virginia's sister, Elsie. The oldest parts of the house are said to date to the 18th century.

My mother, her brother, her cousins and parents spent a lot of time here, visiting with Jennie Farley Hall and her husband John William Hall II (my great grandparents).

It was a fully running farm - tobacco, potatoes, peanuts, etc. My mother said there was a large pulling mule named Lil that was used to plow the rows.

This is my grandmother Virginia Florence Hall, c. 1920s, as a girl on the farm.


This is my grandmother outside the Hall farm with my uncle John Hall Turner, c. early 1940s. (I remember surviving the summer by parking under trees a lot, too. )

This is also John playing around in a goat cart with one of the farm hands, c. 1940s. That's the house behind them.

And here we have just a random floppy-eared pig on the farm getting some good eats. Fatten up, pig! We're gonna eat you!