Descendants of Isaac Turpin

I have recently heard from a descendant of Isaac Turpin, son of Martin Turpin and Elizabeth Russell. She is Lisa Brock of Clinton, Tennessee.  According to Lisa Brock, she is the daughter of Elmira Letisha Cagley, son of Lydia Alice Thacker (who married George Isaac Cagley), daughter of Sarah Clementine Turpin (who married Elias Bragg Thacker), daughter of Isaac Turpin. That makes Lisa the great-great granddaughter of Isaac. [The photo to the left of Sarah Clementine Turpin, daughter of Isaac Turpin, has been provided by Lisa Brock.]   Lisa reports: First, according to a court document, Isaac Turpin owned land that adjoined Amos Thacker in 1869.  It was located on Chestnut Ridge in the 15th district of Roane County, Tennessee. The second document I have is a marriage bond for Isaac's son, William H. who married Nancy Crawford in 1877 in Roane County, Tennessee. This marriage bond was signed by William Turpin and Isaac Turpin.

Obituary of Henry Turpin, Jr.

I never knew Henry Turpin, but I do have a great deal of interest in any of these Kentucky Turpins. Our East Tennessee Turpins and many Kentucky Turpins share a common ancestry, descending from Solomon Turpin in Gap Valley, Virginia in the late 1700s. Simply stated, Henry Turpin is probably a distant cousin.

Henry Turpin Jr., 78
Turpin, Vice & Fritz Funeral Home

Not Specified — Henry Turpin Jr., 78, of Waco, husband of 55 years to Betty Lou Thomas Turpin, died Monday, April 19, 2010, in his home.

Mr. Turpin was born March 14, 1932, in Estill County, Ky., the son of the late Charles Henry and Nora Bell Hatton Turpin. Mr. Turpin was a member of the Waco Nazarene Church and was dedicated to his family. He was a veteran of the Korean War where he served four years in the U.S. Marines. Mr. Turpin loved to play bluegrass music. He retired from IBM after 30 years of service and he was a member of the Masonic Order.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Turpin is survived by: four daughters, Debra Clark (Carl), JoAnn Hedges (Larry), Paula Elkins (Scott) and Cheryl Casteel (Joel), all of Waco; four brothers, Eugene Turpin (Charlotte) of Richmond, James Turpin (Betty), Forest Turpin (Faye) and Johnny Turpin (Brenda), all of Waco; two sisters, Catherine Kaylor and Christine Gentry, both of Waco; eight grandchildren, Bobbi Agee of Irvine, Crystal Hedges of Richmond, Matthew Agee (Harley) of Beattyville, Ky., Aaron Bryan of Indianapolis, Ind., Heather Hedges of Waco and Travis Casteel (Sarah) of Berea, Jerred Elkins and Jessica Hunt, both of Richmond; and three great-grandchildren, Chelsea, Brittany and Andiria Agee, all of Waco.

In addition to his parents, Mr. Turpin was preceded in death by: one brother, Charles Turpin; and one sister, Eva Jo Turpin Schoenrock.

Funeral services for Mr. Turpin will be conducted at 11 a.m., Thursday, April 22, 2010, at Turpin, Vice & Fritz Funeral Home with Pastor Bob Mills and Bro. Kenneth Bishop officiating. Burial will follow in Turpin Cemetery in Estill County.

Pallbearers will be Matthew Agee, Aaron Bryan, Travis Casteel, Larry Hedges, Scott Elkins, Carl Clark and Joel Casteel. Honorary pallbearers will be Earl Barnes and John and Sally Congleton. Visitation will be from 5 to 9 p.m., Wednesday, April 21, 2010, at the funeral home, with a Masonic service at 8 p.m.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to: the Compassionate Care Center, 350 Isaacs Ln., Richmond, KY 40475.

www.TurpinViceFritz.com

[Source: http://richmondregister.com/obituaries/x563626324/Henry-Turpin-Jr-78 ]

More Martin Turpin Speculation

We are still trying to make sense of why Martin Turpin would show up in Knox County, Tennessee in 1805 (the year that he married Elizabeth Russell in Knox County at 22 years of age) with no other Turpins in sight. Many hold that he was the first of two sons named Martin born to Martin Turpin of Gap Valley, Virginia. The rest of the Gap Valley Turpins ended up in Kentucky. How did our Martin get separated from the rest of the family and end up in East Tennessee?

Could it be that our Martin Turpin had become legally obligated to accompany some other family in their move from Virginia to Tennessee? Could it be that as a minor he had been placed under the legal guardianship of another family?

On May 2, 1797, a person named Martin Turpin was "bound to David Love" for purposes yet unknown in Montgomery County, Virginia. [Source: Lewis Preston Summers' Annals of Southwest Virginia, 1769-1800, vol. 1. Johnson City, Tennessee: The Overmountain Press, p. 868.] If this person was in fact our Martin Turpin, he would have been about 14 years old at this time.

There was a David Love born on March 25, 1763 in Augusta County, Virginia who married a Mary Draper on July 9, 1784 in Montgomery County, Virginia. [Source: familysearch.org] If this David Love is the same one to whom Martin Turpin was bound, Love would have been 34 years old at the time. According to Judi K. Ramsey, (Lakewood, California), David Love died April 3, 1827 in Maury County, Tennessee (Middle Tennessee). [Source: familysearch.org]

David Love's father was Joseph Love who settled at Campbell's Station (west of present-day Knoxville) in 1798 and died November 10 (or October 11), 1804 in Knox County, Tennessee. [Source: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=1940love&id=I0373 ]  Worth Ray's Tennessee Cousins notes that Joseph Love was Sheriff of Knox County and that David Love was Deputy Sheriff of Joseph Love of Knox County [Page 230].


If this is the family to whom Martin Turpin was bound, then it is conceivable that Martin moved with the Love family to Knox County. In 1805 Martin Turpin married Elizabeth Russell.

Did Martin Turpin move to Knox County, Tennessee with the Love family?

Obituary of Virginia N. Turpin Burks

The following is the obituary for my father's half-sister, Virginia N. Turpin Burks. Some of the information given is not accurate.


Burks, Virginia N.
Homemaker

Virginia N. Burks, 69, formerly of South Sandusky Street, died at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2000, in the Autumnwood Care Center, where she had been a resident since Feb. 1, 1998.

She was born June 12, 1931, in Miami, Ariz., to the late King and Nellie (Griggs) Turpin. Her step-mother, Bertha Green, survives. On Oct. 1, 1948, in Pikesville, Ky., she married Curtis Burks, who also survives.

Other survivors include: six sons, Allen Burks of Harriman, Tenn., Jerry Burks of Pemberville, Jack Burks of Tiffin, Joe Burks of Bloomville, Rick Burks of Sandusky and Randy Burks of Fostoria; 19 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren; six half-brothers, Jim Turpin of Princeton, W.Va., Robert Turpin of Burgoon, Melvin and Doug Turpin, both of Fostoria, Wayne Turpin of Kansas, Ohio and Roger Turpin of Fremont; a sister, Pauline Davis of Virginia; and five half-sisters, Kathryn Graham of Kansas, Alice Hatfield of Findlay, Teresa Halcomb of Gibsonburg, Linda Halcomb of Fremont and Sandra Turpin of Alabama.

A brother, Jack Turpin, also is deceased.

Mrs. Burks, a homemaker, was a member of the Pentecostal Church.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday in the Turner-Engle Funeral Home, with the Rev. Thomas Ramsey officiating. Interment will be in Seneca Memory Gardens.

Visitation is 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. today and one hour before the service Friday at the funeral home.

Memorials may be made to the family.

Source: http://www.fostoria.org/CalBits/Obituaries/archive/2000/a_b.html#47

Various Notes about the Life of Laura Turpin

Over the years I have collected various notes about the life of Laura Turpin:

Laura was among the first to receive the Pentecostal blessing in the Hardin Valley region.  To this day many remember her as one of the godliest women they have ever known.  Everybody knew her affectionately as "Aunt Laura."

Reverend Bobby Scott recalls his association with Aunt Laura during the 1960's when he served as the minister of youth at Solway Church of God:

You won't find a more godly woman on the earth. When she stood to testify, she would speak no more than ten words, and the Spirit of God would fall on the congregation.

She was very supportive of the youth ministry. She was always praying for me.

Many times when the Holy Ghost would come upon her, she would start walking the church floor swinging her hands.  Her experience with God affected every facet of her worship as well as her daily life.

Charolette Hinshaw adds, "She was a blessed Saint of God. I can see her walking up and down the aisle of the church clapping her hands ever so gently and just saying, 'Wooo wooo wooo.' As she would pass by you, the power of God could be felt coming from her."

She and her brother, Frank, attended the Church of God at Solway, about four miles from their home.  She would visit the sick and go from house to house inviting people to church.  For years to come long-time residents of the valley would recall seeing the light of Laura's lantern at night, knowing that she was about doing the work of the Lord.

Wherever one found Laura, Frank was usually there as well.

Laura and Frank would leave home for the Sunday evening service at about 4:00 p.m.; the service started at 7:00 p.m.  They would cross the field from their house there on the edge of Hardin Valley, walk about a mile down Steele Road, ford Beaver Creek or take a boat across when the water was up (later a swinging foot
bridge was added), walk about a mile down Swafford Road, take a turn onto Guinn Road and finally end up on Solway Road where the church is located.  It was a total distance of about four miles.

One of the early preachers for the Church of God, George Britt, recalls Laura letting him ride her mule to church along this route when he had come to do some special revival services there at Solway.  She and Frank still walked, but they insisted that Brother Britt ride the mule because he had been feeling ill.

In the late 1930s the doors of the church closed.  Laura and Frank came anyway.  They came to the empty church to pray.  One time while they were praying, the Holy Ghost came upon one of them and a message came forth in tongues.  The interpretation followed:  "This church will grow, and it will become greater than it has ever been before.  Great and mighty things will become of this church."  In 1942 a pastor finally came, and from that point onward the church began to progress.  [These dates need to be verified.]

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Aunt Laura "Robbed" of Her Childhood Home

It probably happened in the 1890s--at some point after King Christenberry's death.  Serelda Turpin and her children (King, Frank, Laura and perhaps others) 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" [the name has not yet been verified] 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 me 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."

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A Directory to Articles about Laura Turpin

The following are a few of the articles posted about Laura Turpin, daughter of Serelda Turpin:

• "Aunt Laura" Turpin
• Laura Turpin's Walk to Church
• Randy Tinch Recalls the Days of Laura Turpin
• A Visit to Solway Church of God
• Return to Hardin Valley
• Aunt Laura "Robbed" of Her Childhood Home
• Various Notes about the Life of Laura Turpin

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Randy Tinch Recalls the Days of Laura Turpin

Over the past several days I have received three Facebook messages from a gentleman I have never met in person.  His name is Randy Tinch, and he knew my great-great-aunt, Laura Turpin, personally.  Here is a compilation of the stories that he tells:

My wife Sharon and I were saved in Solway Church of God [located in Solway, Knox County, Tennessee] in March 1971 and knew Aunt Laura Turpin quite well. I would spend time at Aunt Laura's tiny home when she lived on Dogwood Road just a short distance from Solway Church of God.  I would go there several times a week just to talk with her about the Lord, about sanctification and the Holy Ghost.

Sometimes the presence of God would become so strong in her house that it was overwhelming. She shared a lot of stories about things the Lord did for her and Frank.  [Frank was Laura's brother.]

One story was about a light that came to them one night as they were returning home from church, when they lived at the old home place on the other side of Beaver Creek. They had walked across the old mill dam without a light.  Once they reached the other side, because of the woods it became so dark they couldn't see how to go on. So Laura and Frank knelt down and prayed for the Lord to help them. When they finished praying, she said a light came to them.

She said it wasn't a bright light, but it was bright enough for them to see how to go on up the creek, cross a fence, and then it went with them until  they reached an old wagon road that went from the creek up to the old home place. The light remained at the bottom of the hill  as they walked on up the hill. When they reached the top, the light vanished.

Laura said she knew the Lord sent that light to help them.  I asked her to tell me that story over and over.  I never got tired of hearing about it.

A few weeks before she died as I visited her in the nursing home, she laid her hand on me and prayed for me. Over the years, I have known, been around, and been prayed for by people such as Rod Parsley, Jesse Duplantis, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Billye Brim, T. L. Lowery and a few others, but when Aunt Laura laid her hand on me--just skin and bone--that probably had the greatest impact on my life.

I asked Randy Tinch if he knew when Laura came to faith in Christ.  Here was his response:

I don't remember when she was saved, but she received the baptism of the Holy Ghost at home.

A revival had broken out at Chandlers View Baptist Church which was located in what is now the Solway Methodist Church cemetery.  A sister by the name of Anna Cagley had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit which caused quite a stir in the church.

[Anne Cagley was born August 25, 1893 and died December 13, 1961.  She is buried at Solway Methodist Church cemetery.  Source: http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/knox/cemeteries/solway.txt]

Others, including Laura, began praying and asking the Lord to do the same for them. Laura said they began to pray and ask the Lord to send someone to the church that knew something about this experience.

In a short period of time after they began to pray, Sam C. Perry, who had just received the baptism at the Azusa Street revival, got off the train there at the Solway depot.  Without anyone knowing him and without him knowing them, he walked into the Chandler View Church and began to preach about the infilling of the Holy Ghost.

Laura said she was so hungry for the Lord but did not receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit at church.

She had gone home after one of the services and had gotten behind the front door to pray.  As she was praying, she was filled with the Holy Spirit.

She said the Lord led her to either a piano or organ they had in the home, and she played and sang in tongues.

Aunt Laura's testimony was always, "I thank the Lord I am saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost with the Bible evidence of speaking in tongues."  I heard that many many times during Wednesday night testimony services.

When I asked Randy Tinch when this encounter with the Holy Spirit took place, he responded with this note:

The year was probably around 1906 or 1907.  [Note that the Azusa Street Revival began in April of 1906.]  Sam C. Perry had returned from Azusa Street back to his home in Fort Myers, Florida and started preaching the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  He had preached his way up into Tennessee when he came to the church Laura and Frank Turpin attended.

Sam C. Perry became a Church of God minister.  I understand that he came back to that church many times. There is a lot of information about him in the history of the Church of God--Like A Mighty Army.  He had apparently gone to Azusa Street in 1906, came back and was preaching about the experience. I would assume that he came to where Laura was in the latter part of 1906 or first part of 1907.  So, it was during that time frame that she received the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

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