(Until recently it has been assumed that Serelda was born in Anderson/Roane County, Tennessee. However, ancestry.com suggests the possibility that she may have been born in Anderson County, Kansas.)
Serelda met (1) Joshua King Christenberry, son of Joshua Christenberry and Mary Boyd, and had at least one child by him. She met (2) Frank Hardin and had at least one child by him. There may have been other men as well whose children she bore.
While still a young girl, Serelda's father, James, died. After the death of James, his daughter, Elizabeth Turpin Potter, and her husband, Absalom Potter, took Serelda with them to Oklahoma.
Eventually Serelda returned to Tennessee. After returning to Tennessee, she and her sister, Amanda, were seduced by older married men. Later Serelda would have affairs with two other wealthy young men: Joshua King Christenberry and Frank Hardin. The reputations of these two young women were ruined. They were regarded as "untouchables" and were even shunned by some of the members of their own family. When John Turpin, one of their older brothers, learned that his sisters had become pregnant, he separated himself from the family because of the disgrace. He played his fiddle as he walked down the road and away from home.
In 1873, Serelda Turpin sued Joshua King Christenberry for support. The case was entitled "State on relation of Surrelda Turpin vs. Joshua King Christenberry." Who this child might have been is not yet known; the date of this court case precedes the birth of King Turpin. Perhaps Serelda was pregnant with a child by King Christenberry at this time, or perhaps Serelda had another child by King Christenberry prior to her son, King, that has not yet been identified.
On March 16, 1875, Serelda gave birth to a child fathered by Joshua King Christenberry: King Joshua Turpin (our direct ancestor). Shortly after her son's birth, however, King Christenberry married Annie McKamey (March 16, 1876). Annie had eight children by her husband.
In 1876, Serelda Turpin sued Frank Hardin for support. The case was entitled "State on relation of Surrelda Turpin vs. Frank Hardin." One should note that this case took place the year prior to Frank Turpin's birth. Did Serelda have a child by Frank Hardin that has not yet been discovered in this research, or did she take him to court during the pregnancy?
Serelda had at least two more children following the birth of King: Frank Turpin (born October 12, 1877) and Laura Caldonia Turpin (born March 1, 1881). A daughter named Rosie was also born to Serelda, but the name of her father has not yet been determined.
In the words of her daughter, Laura, "My mother never was married. She just stayed around here with these rich folks and had children by them."
Both Serelda and Amanda were beautiful women. They were finely dressed, and had plenty of money. Part of Serelda's "wealth" was the result of her suing men for the support of the children which they fathered. The situation changed for Serelda, however, after King Christenberry died. As long as King was around, he kept the money coming in to them. After his death Serelda and her children found themselves in poverty, and at times they were even homeless.
For a good portion of her adult life, Serelda lived with her mother, Jerusa, and her sister, Amanda.
ROBBED OF THEIR HOME. About 1896 or later (the period of King Christenberry's death), Serelda and her children experienced what Laura Turpin has described as "the worst robbin' case I've ever heard tell of":
Serelda and her children lived in several different places, and it seems that for awhile King Christenberry and perhaps one or two other wealthy men supplied Serelda and her children with whatever they needed. "We had money as far as that went," Laura recalls. However, in one single day their situation drastically changed.
The two boys, King and Frank, had begun to work, and Serelda had helped them get their jobs which paid $5 per week for both of them combined. Times were hard. It was difficult for a white man to get a job that would pay much because the freed slaves would work for so little pay.
Serelda and her children were able to move into a house owned by a wealthy man near the place where the boys were working. One day after King and Frank had only worked a week or two, they went to pick up their pay. A man named Avery Crabapples saw them getting paid, and he followed them home. When he reached the house, he told their mother that she would have to give him the money that her boys had brought home. He took their money and said, "You'ns will have to move from here! You'll have to leave the house and leave everything, and go right now!" In Laura's words, "He broke a hickory, and the children that couldn't walk much way, he whooped them and made them move."
Avery Crabapples drove the Turpins away from the house and deep into the woods. They spent the whole night in the woods, and the next morning they ventured back toward the house. When they arrived back at the house, everything had been taken, and Avery Crabapples had taken over the house. Serelda and her children were left homeless.
When Laura Turpin provided the author with this account, she closed by saying, "Avery Crabapples was his name. That was the worst robbin' case I've ever heard tell of. I've heard tell of them robbin' people to get their money, but they ain't ever taken the house with them.... Well, I hope he's in heaven. I tell you, people have got to do awful good to get there. You really have to do good."
ACCOUNT OF HER DEATH. Serelda died on September 27, 1926 at 6:10 p.m. at Laura's house in Concord, Tennessee. According to Dr. A. R. Garrison, she died of cancer which had overtaken her nose and the right side of her face. He last saw her alive seven days earlier, on September 20th. She was buried two days after her death, in Providence Cemetery in Solway. The death certificate was signed by Laura Turpin Dunaway's son, Sherman Dunaway. Exactly one month later, Serelda's sister, Amanda, would die of a heart attack and stroke in the same house.
