LUCAS NEWTON TURK
LUCAS NEWTON
TURK, clerk, superior court, Homer, Banks Co., GA., son of William
H. and Isabella (Ash) Turk, was born in Franklin, now Banks, county Ga.,,
Dec. 30, 1850. The founder of the Turk family in America was James Turk, who
with his family, consisting of his wife, Mary, and three children, Jane. William
and Ibby or Irby, came from the north of Ireland, province of Ulster, county
of Antrim, to this country in 1757. William,
then thirteen years of age, landed in Charleston, S.C, and settled in Abbeville
district, Abbeville county, on Long Cane creek.
He entered the service of his adopted country
in the early part of the revolutionary war, and bravely continued throughout
the struggle, a part of the time being on Gen. Pickens' staff as his express
bearer or courier. After the close
of the war he married Miss Margaret Archibald, daughter of John Archibald,
who lived in Roan county, now Iredell County, N.C.
In 1792 he
moved his small family and his mother to Elbert county, Ga., and settled
on Cold Water creek. He afterward
moved with his family and a servant girl, Nellie, to Franklin county, Ga.,
and located on Webb's creek,where he died, April 10, 1795.
A son, William (grandfather of L.N. Turk),was
born June 20, 1794, in Franklin, now Banks county, Ga., in a fort called Norris
on Webb's creek, where the family had taken refuge from the Indians.
This place was within one and one-half miles of Homer, and near there
he lived and died.
His occupation was farming.
He was a soldier, serving as a colonel during
the Seminole war, and he served for many years as judge of the inferior court,
and for six years was principal keeper of the Georgia penetentiary at Milledgeville,
receiving his first appointment under Gov. Herschel V. Johnson.
He died in 1877.
Mr. Turk's father, William H., was born in
Franklin county in November, 1818, and followed farming all his life.
Early in the late civil war he enlisted in
Company A, Twenty-fourth regiment, and served three years.
He officiated a number of years as justice
of the peace and died in 1885. Mr.
Turk's great-grandparents on his mother's side were William and Jane (Fleming)
Ash. He was a native of South Carolina
and served under Gen. Sumpter during the revolutionary war. His maternal grandparents
were A. F. and Elizabeth (McCracken) Ash.
He was born in Union District S.C., and came with
his father when a boy to Franklin County, Ga.,
He served in the Indian war as a major.
He represented his county (Franklin)
in the Georgia legislature for a number of years and he was a man
of great force of character. Mr. L.
N. Turk grew to manhood on the farm and owing to the unsettled condition of
the country he received but little schooling.
He is essentially a self-educated man and as his father lost all his
property during the war he began life with nothing.
He served his county as surveyor for eight years and in 1858 he
was elected clerk of the superior court and has been continually re-elected
since. He made his first purchase
of land in 1878, a small farm which he has profitably cultivated and to which
he has gradually added until he now has 450 acres and a comfortable home.
Mr. Turk was married in 1878 to Miss Isabella
Telford, born in South Carolina Nov, 27, 1857, daughter of G.B. and Elizabeth
(Wilson) Telford, native South Carolinians, who moved to Georgia in 1872.
Mr. Wilson was a cousin of Ex-Governor Brown, and during the late war
served in the home guard.
Of the children which blessed this union, four
are living: William, Joseph, Minnie and George.
Their mother, an esteemed member of the Presbyterian church, died
Oct. 21, 1893, and Jan. 17.1895, Mr. Turk married Miss Alice Burns, born in
Banks County, May 13, 1859, and daughter of John M. and Harriet (Long) Burns.
He father, a son of David M. and Sarah (Hay) Burns, was born in Jackson
county, Ga., where he still lives and served with the Confederate army during
the late war.
Her grandfather Burns erected the first flour mill built in Jackson
county, and was a general of militia when it was considered a great local
distinction and much coveted.
Mr. and Mrs. Turk are members of the Presbyterian church.
Source: Memoirs of Georgia, Volume I., Southern Historical
Association, 1895
Copy and Copyright 2003 by Jacqueline King
