A Visit to Fort Blackmore

March Video Tour - Part 8

Finally, here is the concluding clip from my March family history video tour.

After leaving Solway Church of God in Solway, Tennessee, I continued on to Virginia in search for Martin Turpin's point of origination on the Clinch River. (Martin settled in Knox County sometime between 1796 and 1805).

Originally I had thought that Fort Blackmore was a possibility; however, it does appear that the Clinch is navigable even further upstream. In fact, even present-day Richlands, Virginia (over 50 miles further upstream) may have been a more likely starting point.



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Laura Turpin's Walk to Church

March Video Tour - Part 7

My great-great aunt, Laura Turpin (1881-1982), used to walk at least four miles from her home in Hardin Valley to the Solway Church of God (Solway, Tennessee) every Sunday.

On March 3, 2008, I drove the exact route that Laura and her brother, Frank, used to walk. In the following video, you will join me as I drive from the Solway church to the approximate location of Laura's home in Hardin Valley.


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A Visit to Solway Church of God

March Video Tour - Part 6

"Aunt Laura" Turpin and her brother Frank were responsible for the establishing (or re-establishing) of the Solway Church of God (Knox County, Tennessee) in the early twentieth century.

In the following video, you will be taken to the Solway church and to its adjacent cemetery where several notable Turpins are buried: Rildia (Serelda) Turpin, Amanda Turpin, King Turpin, Ida Belle Turpin, Laura Turpin Dunaway, Frank Turpin, and others.


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A Visit to Bethel Valley

March Video Tour - Part 5

In the following video clip you will note my almost child-like excitement over the fact that I had stumbled across the eastern entrance to Bethel Valley near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Please understand that I first heard about the significance of this place to our family history about ten years ago, yet I had never been there.

Bethel Valley is significant in that it may have been one of the places where the Turpins lived after arriving in the Knox County, Anderson County, and Roane County area in the early 1800s.


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A Visit to the Clough-Christenberry Cemetery

March Video Tour - Part 4

Here is some very rough video work--the worst series of clips from my little family history video tour yet. Sorry. I really wish that I had taken more time, but I was in a bit of a rush.

On this part of my journey, I discovered the Clough-Christenberry cemetery located in a wooded area in the middle of the Oak Ridge Country Club golf course. Only a few of the grave markers were legible.

I discovered later that some of the Christenberry names that I mentioned on the clip are connected with the Christenberry families that I visited earlier in the day at the George Jones Memorial Baptist Church cemetery.

Note that the Scott Cemetery (where a number of Turpins are buried) and this Clough-Christenberry cemetery are within sight of one another. In view of the proximity, I am wondering if the country club site may be the site where the Turpins and Christenberrys once lived side by side. As you view the video, ponder that question with me. Hopefully somebody out there in cyberspace has some answers.

Okay, enough for the text. On with the show....


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A Visit to Scott Cemetery

March Video Tour - Part 3

Join me as I search for the gravesite of Martin Turpin (the son of James Turpin, the son of Martin Turpin) at the Scott Cemetery near Oak Ridge, Tennessee.


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A Visit to George Jones Memorial Baptist Church

March Video Tour - Part 2

My family history video tour continues with a visit to the George Jones memorial Baptist Church cemetery, located at the site of the Wheat Community near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Here I am in search of Joshua King Christenberry's gravesite.


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En Route to Oak Ridge

March Video Tour - Part 1

On March 3, 2008 I took a trip to the Oak Ridge, Tennessee area to explore possible sites where the Turpins may have settled near the Clinch River in the late 1700's and early 1800's. The following video (Part 1) documents the first part of my journey, taking the viewer to the site of the Wheat Community in Roane County.

In this video I make reference to a "Mary Elizabeth Russell" as being the wife of Martin Turpin. Since producing this clip I have learned that her name was simply "Elizabeth Russell"--"Mary" was not her first name.



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