Patrick Donnelly & Julia Crowley's Children's Birth Certificates

John Henry Turner (1861-1893): A First Cousin, Four Times Removed

Zephaniah Turner and Sallie M. Conner are  my 4x great grandparents.  They had 10 children that I know of.  Their ninth child was Richard Henry Turner.  He went by Henry.  He was born March 28, 1825.  As per Aunt Helen’s notes, he studied art in Dusseldorf, Germany. He remained in Germany until the Civil War was over.

 

When he did finally return to Culpeper County, Virginia, he was accompanied by his wife and two children.  He married Fraulein Henrika Gilchrest. Their two children were John Henry Turner and Marie Carlotta Turner.  Neither child married.  All four are buried in St. Paul’s Episcopal Churchyard in Woodville, Rappahanock County, Virginia.  This bloodline came to an end, but his son John Henry’s gravestone left me with a handful of questions (he also went by Henry)  It reads:    

 “He was the first white man who explored the hitherto unknown region between Porcupine River in Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.”

Photo taken by Findagrave.com volunteer EG&JG (#46855711).

Thanks to a findagrave.com volunteer EG&JG (#46855711), his memorial can been seen here: http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=54820374

A few searches later and I came across: http://www.explorenorth.com/library/history/geodic-ak-1902-T.html  that had the following to say about him:  

Turner, 1889-1891

    Mr. John Henry Turner, Assistant in the Coast and Geodetic Survey, was engaged on the Alaskan boundary survey from June, 1889, to July, 1891. In the summer of 1889, with Mr. McGrath, he ascended the Yukon River to Fort Yukon, where the party divided. On August 12 Turner began his journey up the Porcupine River to the boundary. On the 19th he landed at the site of an abandoned camp near the one hundred and forty-first meridian, and there began the building of quarters for officers and men and the erection of an observatory. This camp was named Camp Colonna. Longitude was determined by moon-culmination observations in March and April, 1890.
    On March 27, 1890, he set out upon a sledge journey from Camp Colonna northward to the Arctic Ocean, where he arrived on April 8. The next day he started back, and reached Camp Colonna on April 17. Later he left Camp Colonna, descended the Porcupine and Yukon rivers, and proceeded to St. Michael, Norton Sound, where he was compelled to remain until July, 1891, when he departed for Washington. He returned to Alaska in 1892 on boundary work, but owing to ill health was obliged to give it up. During his stay in Alaska he made a valuable collection of bird and animal skins, which he presented to the University of California. The expenses of this collection he bore personally. He died in Washington on June 13, 1893. An account of his work was published in the National Geographic Magazine in 1893, Vol. IV, pp. 189-197; see also Coast and Geodetic Survey Report 1890-1891, Part I, pp. 86-88. 

National Geographic Magazine article can be found here: https://archive.org/stream/nationalgeograph41892nati#page/189/mode/1up

For the great grandchildren of Hugh Turner and Willetta Montague, this is our 1^st cousin 4 times removed.