PLEASE HELP:
If you are descended from Elijah Turner and have taken an autosomal DNA test, please let me know if you have any shared matches with these surnames: Agee, Ligon, Moseley.
Elijah Turner was born in Caroline County, Virginia in 1747[1]. He died before 23 Oct 1820 in Bedford Co VA.[2] Before, say, 1764, in Virginia, Elijah married Sarah (–?–).[3] Sarah was likely a native of Bedford Co VA.
Elijah Turner gave the land that established the Goose Creek Meeting house of the Quakers in his area.
During the Revolutionary War, Elijah Turner was sworn and appointed by Bedford Court (26th Aug 1782) to view the way from Meadows of Goose Creek to Court House. (Clerk’s Office, Bedford Co VA. Order Book 6, p 365) Petitioner to the General Assembly from Bedford Co for dividing the county. Dated 21 Nov 1781. (Original in VA State Library).[4]
Elijah and Sarah had the following children:
1. Tabitha TURNER was born ca 1763. She died in Bedford Co VA, on 6 Jul 1846. On 20 May 1784 Tabitha married Henry HAYNES in Bedford Co VA. Henry was born in 1745 in Lunenburg Co VA and may have been a first cousin of Tabitha’s. He married first Bathsheba Hampton on 22 Mar 1768, by whom he had 11 children. Children of Henry and Tabitha may have included a Mildred and Sally; these are consistently listed:
i. Nancy (1785-
ii. Frances (1788-)
iii. Joel (1789-)
iv. Stephen (1790-)
v. Matilda (1792-)
vi. Tabitha (1793-)
vii. Rhoda (1795-)
2. Richard TURNER was born about 1764 in Bedford Co VA; he died in Franklin Co VA in 1841. On 1 Dec 1792, he married Rachel AYRES, daughter of James AYRES & Hannah [LITTLE?], and aunt of Elizabeth (Doss) Turner [below], in Bedford Co VA. She was born in 1771 in Bedford Co VA. Their children were:
i. Jubal Franklin (1793-)
ii. Whitfield (1795-)
iii. Jeffrey (1797-)
iv. Martha Greer (1809-)
3. Sarah TURNER was born ca 1765 in Bedford Co VA and died there in May 1851. On 27 Dec 1785, she married Drury HOLLAND in Bedford Co VA. He was born ca 1760 possibly in Cumberland Co VA and died 31 Jul 1826 in Bedford County. Their children were:
i. Stephen Arthur (1786-)
ii. Frances (1787-)
iii. Susan
iv. Dicey
v. Rhoda (1796)
vi. Sarah
vii. (son)
4. Wilson TURNER was born in 1776 in Bedford Co VA. He died in Franklin Co VA, on 27 Aug 1827. He was a Baptist minister. On 12 Apr 1796, he married Elizabeth DOSS, daughter of Azariah DOSS & Lydia Ann AYRES, in Bedford Co VA. Born on 30 Jun 1779 in Bedford Co VA. Elizabeth died in near Bremen, Muhlenberg Co KY, on 8 Sep 1844. They had the following children:
i. Greenville Person (1797-1877)
ii. Lucinda (ca1800-)
iii. Sarah A
iv. Wilson C Jr (ca1804-)
5. Theodocia TURNER was born about 1778. On 31 Dec 1799 in Bedford Co VA, Theodocia married John MURPHY, Jr, who was born 7 May 1777 in the same county. Their children were:
i. John (1800-)
ii. William (1802-)
iii. Sarah (1805-)
iv. Elijah Turner (1806-)
v. Catherine (1808-)
vi. Henry H (1811-)
vii. Sanford (1814-)
6. Elijah TURNER was born ca 1782 in Bedford Co VA. He died there on 28 Jul 1856. On 15 Oct 1804 when Elijah was 22, he married Mary TOLLEY in Bedford Co VA. Born say ca 1784, Mary died in Bedford Co VA. Their children were:
i. John (1806-)
ii. Gideon (1809-)
7. Jesse TURNER was born about 1781. On 31 Jul 1802, he married Magdalene WILLIAMSON in Bedford Co VA. Nothing further is known.
8. Meador[5] TURNER was born in 1785 in Bedford Co VA. On 8 Dec 1806 Meador married Piety HACKWORTH in Bedford Co VA. On 31 Jan 1826 in the county, he married Catherine Thurman. In 1840 he was in Preble County OH. Meador and Piety had the following children:
i. Lucinda (1807-)
ii. George Hackworth (1809-)
iii. Calvin (1811-)
iv. Ann (1812-)
v. Albert (1813-)
vi. Sarah (1814-)
9. Rebecca TURNER was married on 1 Apr 1819[6] to William ORE in Bedford Co VA. Both were possibly born in 1788 in Bedford Co VA. Their children were:
i. William (1815-)
ii. Sarah Jane (1817-)
© 2008, Kathy Alvis Patterson
[1] Hopkins, Walter Lee. Leftwich-Turner Families, Harrisonburg VA: C J Carrier & Co: 1980, pp. 199-200, 288.
[2] Elijah Turner Will (1820), Bedford Co VA. The will of Elijah Turner Sr was written on 15 May 1820 and was proved on 23 Oct 1820. Executrix and Executors were wife Sarah, Cpt. William Leftwich (son of Col. William Leftwich) and Drury Holland Sr. Witnesses were John Campbell, Benjamin H. Morgan, Nicodemus Leftwich, and Robert Hurt.
[3] Her maiden name is unknown although Haynes or Hampton has been suggested as possible families to which she may have belonged. Genforum presented the fact that John and Mary (Turner) Hampton [Elijah Turner’s sister] sold land on the the south side of Goose Creek to a Henry Haynes on 20 Nov. 1778. Henry Haynes had married Bersheba Hampton earlier that year. I think John was born 1720 and Mary a little later. Possibly this was either Sarah’s family, or the source of some researchers calling her Sarah Haynes. Henry Haynes married as his second wife Tabitha Turner. His parents and two uncles as listed at Ancestry.com had no known daughter Sarah.
[4] This is accredited to him as Patriotic Service, and his proven descendants are eligible for memberships in groups like the Daughters of the American Revolution or the Sons of the American Revolutionary War. See NSDAR Nat’l No. 479446. Lineage application of Katherine Alvis Patterson, national no. 554801, National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, supplemental (Elijah Turner), “Add” volume 823, approved 2000.
[5] The Turners are my mom’s family, yet my dad had ancestors in colonial Virginia named Meador. Are my parents related?
[6] Their children’s birth dates may indicate this date is a mistake.
Alvispat's Weblog 
Elijah Turner is my 6th great grandfather through Sarah Holland. Thanks for the info.
Elijah Admire Turner, Sr is my 6th great grandfather through his daughter Tabitha Turner and Husband Henry Haynes, Through their daughter Milley Haynes and Stephen Day who bore Ferdinand Day. Ferdinand Day and Patra Day bore Cephas Day. Cephas Day and Jimmy Tinsley bore Terry P Day. Terry P. Day and Virginia S. Thompson bore my grandmother Odessa Day. Odessa Day and Willian Lee bore my mother Nada Lee-Martin. How do I go about tracking back to verify lineage. Especially If I’m interested in NSDARS.
For the DAR, you need to start collecting birth, marriage and death certificates from yourself as far back as they are available. Depending on the state where events took place, this should be back to about 1900. Let’s hope parents are named.
Then a generation or so more can be verified through census records. Deeds, wills, Bible records, even other ladies’ DAR applications help as well.
Let me know if you run into a problem somewhere and I’ll see what I can find.
Only problem I have is Milley shows up under Bersheba’s list of children on Ancestry instead of Tabitha so kind of confusing.
I’m looking into it right now. Henry Haynes and Tabitha Turner are already in the DAR research database. Ancestry is not the place to look, although it can point you to records. The family trees are especially flimsy for evidence.
Dear Janine,
It doesn’t look as though your Milley was a daughter of Henry Haynes and Tabitha Turner.
Note that surety at her marriage was James Haynes, and there is not James in the Haynes-Turner family either.
I found a document that might be of interest to you, “’Effectually to secure to them the blessings of freedom’: the Experiences of the Free Black Haynes Family, 1799-1850,” at https://anaconda.lynchburg.edu/Documents/ProspectiveStudents/Academics/SHSS/ISTORIAVOL1ISS1SCHMIDT.pdf.
Thomas Haynes, a white landowner, in his will proven in 1809 in Bedford Co VA, names probable grandchildren Milley and James, among others.
Since this is the only occurrence of the names Milley and James in the Haynes family in Bedford County, I think it probable these are your kin.
Further searching might provide more evidence.
Kathy
And Ferdinand Day in his 1880 census was called a mulatto.
Would that we could find a connection to our HENRY TURNER in the Carolinas!!
Elijah Turner born 1772 NC and bothers John and Matthias…
Only logical father in area is HENRY TURNER born approximately 1745.
This was in the Tryon Co NC (became Rutherford Co and Cleveland Co NC) area which sits on the NC/SC border with Spartanburg Co SC and York Co SC. Descendants of this family are in all these counties as time passed but are only 25 miles apart actually.
This connection of Elijah Turner to Henry Turner …to where did Henry come from??? …has been going on for 40 years by many many researchers!