David Elliot Turner
David Elliot Turner, owner of the old William G. Sutton farm, in New Jasper township, was born on a farm in that township, one mile south of the village of that name, March 12, 1860, son of Cornelius and Elizabeth (Spahr) Turner, both of whom also were born in this county, members of pioneer families, and who spent all their lives here.
Cornelius Turner was born in Silvercreek township in 1833, son of William and Elizabeth (Cruzen) Turner, who were married in this county on May 28, 1819, and established their home in Silvercreek township. William Turner, who was a soldier of the War of 1812, serving in the command of Joseph Lucas, was born in the vicinity of Cincinnati on October 23, 1792. His wife was born in Virginia on October 27, 1802, and was but a child when her parents came to Ohio and settled in this county, where she was married in her seventeenth year. To that union were born nine children and the descendants of these children form a numerous connection in the present generation. William Turner lived to be eighty years of age. His wife died in her seventieth year. Cornelius Turner, one of the sons of this pioneer couple, was given excellent educational advantages and after a course in Wesleyan University at Delaware was licensed to preach as a "local" preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church. After his marriage he became engaged in the insurance business at Jamestown and there he died in 1871, he then being thirty-eight years of age. His widow survived him but two years, her death occurring in 1873. She was born, Elizabeth Spahr, in 1835. daughter of William and Sarah (Smith) Spahr, pioneers of Greene county. Cornelius and Elizabeth (Spahr) Turner were the parents of seven children, namely: William Albert, who established his home at Washington, Iowa, and there spent his last days; Sarah E., who married Douglas Rathbone and who, as well as her husband, also died at Washington, Iowa; David E., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch; Rosa, who is living on a farm two miles west of Jamestown, widow of Nathan Devoe; Ida, who married James Rathbone and died at Washington, Iowa; James, who also died at Washington, Iowa, and Phoebe, wife of Thomas Dewitt, of Springfield, Ohio.
David E. Turner was but eleven years of age when his father died and was but thirteen when he was orphaned indeed by the death of his mother. He was reared in the household of his maternal grandfather. William Spahr, in New Jasper township and in the schools of that neighborhood completed his schooling. After his marriage in the summer of 1884 he for some time made his home on the place of his father-in-law, James R. Sutton, in New Jasper township and then bought a farm of seventy-five acres in that same township, on which he made his home for four years, at the end of which time, in 1900, he sold that place and bought the Sutton farm of one hundred and eighty acres adjoining his former place on the west, moved on to the same and has since made that his place of residence, he and his wife living in the substantial old brick house which the latter's grandfather, Jacob Sutton, erected on that place in 1851.
On June 12, 1884, Mr. Turner was united in marriage to Mary Arminta Sutton, who was born on the place on which she and Mr. Turner are now living, daughter and only child of James Raper and Catherine Elizabeth (Greenwood) Sutton, the former of whom was born on that same farm and there spent all his life. James Raper Sutton was born on October 27, 1844, son of Jacob and Susan (Smith) Sutton, the former of whom was a son of William G. Sutton, who in 1812 established his home on the tract of land now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Turner and is referred to in older chronicles as the first permanent settler in that portion of Greene county comprised within the borders of New Jasper township and further reference to whom, as well as further details regarding the history of the Sutton family, is made elsewhere in this work. James R. Sutton grew up on that place and after his marriage established his home there. He married Catherine Elizabeth Greenwood, who was born on a farm two and one-half miles east of Xenia, May 25, 1846, a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Layman) Greenwood, the former of whom had come to this county with his parents from Virginia when but a lad. Robert Greenwood was married twice, his first wife a Watkins, and was the father of eight children, four by each wife. James R. Sutton died on March 26, 1900, and his widow died on July 1, 1906. They were members of Mt. Tabor Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Sutton was for years a class leader in the same.
To David E. and Mary Arminta (Sutton) Turner one child was born, a daughter, Susan Elizabeth, who married Ray Fudge, who lives on the farm adjoining that of the Turners, and has two children, Russell David and Frances J. Mr. and Mrs. Turner are members of Mt. Tabor Methodist Episcopal church, Mr. Turner being the present class leader as well as a member of the board of trustees and a steward. He also is serving at present as district steward of the church and formerly and for years served as superintendent of the Sunday school. By political inclination he is a Republican.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918