John S. Turner
Almost thirty years have passed since John S. Turner became a factor in mercantile circles in Bellbrook, where he began business on a small scale. He has steadily increased his stock to meet the growing demands of his trade and now has a store which would be a credit to a place of much greater size. His business reputation, too, is unassailable, for his enterprise and honorable methods have commended him to all.
Mr. Turner was born in this village November 5, 1850, his parents being James and Nancy (Snodgrass) Turner. His boyhood days were passed in this village, where his father had located when yet a young man. The latter was married in Sugarcreek township and engaged in real-estate dealing.
In the common schools our subject acquired a fair education, fitting him for life's practical duties. For a few years he clerked in Bellbrook and thus gained a knowledge of mercantile methods which have proved of value to him in the control of his business enterprise. Soon after his marriage he began business on his own account, and he now owns not only a large stock of general merchandise, but the building in which he is carrying on business. He also has an excellent residence in the town and a farm of one himdred and ninety acres of valuable land west of Bellbrook, situated on the trolley line. These investments have been made as the result of his success as a merchant. As the years have passed he has prospered in his undertaking, for the people have reliance in his business methods and also patronizes him because of his reasonable prices.
On the 5th of June, 1874, Mr. Turner was united in marriage in Sugarcreek township, to Miss Martha J. Cunningham, a daughter of James and Sarah (Stratton) Cunningham. Four children have been born to this union: James, who is a graduate of Wittenberg College of Springfield, Ohio, and is employed by the Foos Gas Company, of Springfield, was married to Miss Maude Butt, of that city, and there they make their home. John, who is a farmer of Sugarcreek township, married Miss Helen Pease, of Bellbrook, and they have three children. Harry M., who on the 1st of January, 1902, was admitted in his father's business, married Ethel Barnett, of Spring Valley. Grace, the only daughter, is yet a student in school.
Mr. Turner is a leading and active representative of the Democratic party and since 1881 has continuously filled the office of township clerk, while since 1878 he has been village clerk. He has also been treasurer of the school district since 1884 and is a citizen whose devotion to the best interests of the community is above question. He co-operates in every movement and measure for the general good and his labors have not been without result in promoting the progress and prosperity of Bellbrook.
From History of Greene County, Ohio, by George F. Robinson (S. J. >Clarke Publishing Co, 1902)
For nearly forty years John S. Turner has been engaged in the mercantile business at Bellbrook and during that time has also taken part in local public affairs, for thirty years serving as township clerk and for nearly thirty-two years as village clerk, besides having for some years served as treasurer of the local school district.
Mr. Turner was born in Bellbrook on November 5, 1850, son of James and Nancy (Snodgrass) Turner, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of Virginia, who established their home at Bellbrook after their marriage and there spent their last days, the latter dying on February 25, 1869. She was born in 1820 and was but a child when her parents came to Ohio and settled in Greene county. James Turner was born in 1813 and his youth was spent in Maryland, his native state. During the days of his young manhood he came to Ohio and took up his residence in Greene county. He was married in Sugarcreek township and after his marriage established his home in Bellbrook, where he became engaged in the real-estate business. He died there on October 4, 1886. He and his wife were the parents of four children, the subject of this sketch having had three sisters, Elizabeth, who died in infancy; Josephine; who married Thomas E. Stake, of Bellbrook, and spent her last days in that village, her death occurring there in 1913, and Mary M., who died in 1898.
John S. Turner was reared at Bellbrook and upon leaving school became engaged as a clerk in a local store. In the summer of 1874 he married and established his home in Bellbrook, continuing his employment as a clerk until in 1881, when he opened a grocery store there and has ever since been thus engaged. Since 1902 he has had associated with him in business his son, Harry M. Turner. In addition to his commercial activities Mr. Turner served for years as township and village clerk and as treasurer of the school district. Politically, he is a Democrat.
On June 9, 1873, in Sugarcreek township, John S. Turner was united in marriage to Martha J. Cunningham, who also was born at Bellbrook, January 24, 1853, daughter of James and Sarah (Stratton) Cunningham, the latter of whom was born in Dover, New Jersey, August 19, 1826, and was but a child when she came to Ohio with her parents, the family locating two miles south of Bellbrook in this county. James Cunningham was born at Bellbrook, September 15, 1818. He grew up to the cooper's trade and for some time carried on a cooperage business at Bellbrook, but when that business became commercially unprofitable on account of the scarcity of material in the neighborhood he moved to a farm and thereafter followed farming. He died on January 24, 1884. On April 18, 1844, James Cunningham had married Sarah Stratton, who died on the home farm a half mile east of the village on December 9, 1867. To that union were born ten children, of whom Mrs. Turner was the fifth in order of birth, the others being the following: F. P., born on April 6, 1845, who became a lawyer; Mary Angeline, November 25, 1846, who became a resident of Dayton; Robert A., July 28, 1848, who died in infancy; Charles E., September 27, 1850, who became a musician in the regular army; Elizabeth, May 18, 1858, who died at the age of fourteen years; James C, December 19, 1859, who established his home in Sugarcreek township; William, September 17, 1860, who also established his home in Sugarcreek township; Nellie M., June 3, 1863, who married Victor Taylor, and Minnie T., November 22, 1865, who married William Stephenson.
To John S. and Martha J. (Cunningham) Turner have been born four children, three sons and one daughter, namely: James, who was graduated from Wittenberg College, later became employed in one of the manufacturing industries in Springfield, this state, there married Maude Butt, of that city, established his home there and has four children, John A., Robert, Frances and Nancy Jane; John, a farmer of Sugarcreek township, residing a mile and a half west of Bellbrook, who married Helen Pease, of Bellbrook, and has six children, Marjorie, Gladys, Roger, James, Richard, and Paul; Harry M., who since 1902 has been associated with his father. in business at Bellbrook and who married Ethel Barnett, of Spring Valley, and has three children, Harry, Wade and John; and Grace, who married Dr. W. S. Ritenour, of Xenia, and has one child, a son, Scott Turner.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918