T. J. TURNEY, farmer and stockman, P. O. Barnhill, was born May 7, 1830, on the old homestead in Barnhill Township.
He is a son of Anthony B. Turney, born August 16, 1787, in Virginia. When three years old, he moved to Kentucky with his parents, Michael and Ellen (Methaney) Turney, and lived there till about 1815, when he, in company with his wife and brother-in-law, went to Natchez, Miss.. in a flat-boat, and in the fall of the following year returned on horseback to Kentucky.
While traveling in the Indian nation, he stopped with a Choctaw chief the same night on which an earthquake occurred. The astonished and bewildered Indian asked many questions as to the cause of the earthquake. None of the party could give information except Anthony B. Turney, who explained to the chief the nature and cause of the earthquake. Boundless hospitality and presents were the result of the explanation.
After reaching home, the father of our subject, in 1816, made an extended tour through the Illinois territory, and located on what was afterward called Turney's Prairie, to which place he and his father came in the spring of 1818, and after raising a corn crop they returned to Kentucky and moved their families that fall to their new homes. He afterward moved to the place where the subject of this sketch now lives, while the grandfather of our subject moved two miles southeast of Fairfield, where he died. His descendants have become numerous and noted, filling offices of trust in this county:
Anthony B. Turney died August 25, 1876. The mother of our subject was Frances (Mobley) Turney, born January 20, 1792, in South Carolina. She died in this county April 12, 1867. Her father married a Miss Coleman. She was the mother of eleven children, of whom six are now living.
Our subject is mainly self-educated. He devotes his attention to farming and stock-raising, owning a farm of 256 acres.
He was married, February 12, 1857, in this county, to Miss Canzada Whitson, born January 12, 1832, in Indiana, daughter of Jonathan and Parthena (Brown) Whitson. This union was blessed with ten children, of whom seven are now living, viz.,
Mr. and Mrs. Turney are members of the Church of Christ.
In politics, Mr. Turney has been identified with the Democratic party.
The Turney family is mentioned in other parts of this work.
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