The Story of James Turner (1819 - 1895)
The story begins with Thomas Stedman and Sarah Neaves in a sleepy hamlet called Woodside Green just outside of Lenham, Kent, England. Thomas and Sarah were my 5th great grandparents and one of their daughters was called Mary. Mary married a James Turner (son of a James Turner) and they had a son whom they also called James.
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[James is the 3rd in a line of James Turners in his family tree. To avoid confusion we will call him James III, his father James II and his grandfather James I]
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In 1841 Thomas and Sarah Stedman are elderly and living next door to Mary and James II Turner, in Woodside Green. Mary is 45 years old and is their eldest daughter. Both Thomas and James II are described as agricultural labourers. The 1841 census is taken on 6th June and Mary and James' son, James III Turner, is not living at home. I believe he is living on a farm a few miles away in Frinsted and working for a farmer called John Champion. James III marries a short time after the census is taken in June or July that year.
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To my paternal first cousins and I, James III is our 1st cousin 4 times removed, and his mother, Mary (Stedman) Turner, is our 4th great aunt.
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The simple tree below illustrates the relationship. My direct line is via another child of Thomas and Sarah Stedman, their youngest son George (b.1814).
Woodside Green
Thomas and Sarah Stedman pass away shortly after the 1841 census. During 1841 Thomas is still working as an agricultural labourer at the age of 75, which would have been a tough manual job. In 1843 he develops an abscess which kills him and he passes away on 21st March. He and Sarah had been married almost 50 years, and Sarah, who is several years younger than Thomas, also passes away 4 months later from a heart condition. Could it have been a broken heart? My third great grandfather George Stedman, who lived near by, was present at both their deaths, and they are recorded as buried at Lenham, but I have never managed to find a grave.
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To find Woodside Green, if you exit Lenham square via the Faversham Road, cross straight over the A20 (which was built around about 1927, so would not have been there during the times of Thomas and Sarah), and pass the 'new' cemetery entrance on the right hand side (which also would not have been there as it was only built in 1922), keep going, round the bend to the left (passing Lime Tree cottages), following the bend to the right (with Lea Farm on the left, and Top Hill Farm on the right) you will reach Woodside Green. There is barely anything there now, but in times gone by, it may have been a thriving small community inhabited mostly by persons carrying the Stedman DNA, and perhaps dominated by the Turner family pub, The Duke of Wellington, which sadly is now a derelict looking building on the right hand side. It still has the pub sign on the front wall of the house.
Woodside Green in the 1860s with The Duke of Wellington marked with the arrow, and The Duke of Wellington how it looks today (June 2024).
Prior to the 1841 census, researchers can often trace ancestors further back by using the parish registers. If you are lucky enough to find that your ancestors were gentry, then the records may be detailed, but unfortunately, if your ancestors were lowly agricultural workers, they are unlikely to have left any significant details behind for us to discover. There is little information regarding James III Turner's grandparents (our 4th great grandparents) Thomas and Sarah Stedman.
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What the registers do tell us is that Thomas and Sarah were married in Lenham on 13th October 1794, and that Sarah's maiden name was Neves/Neaves. I also know that the surnames Stedman and Neves/Neaves were mentioned regularly in the birth, marriage and death registers of St Mary's Church in Lenham all the way back to when the records began in the mid-1500s. Both the Stedman and Neves/Neaves family would have been well known in the area. and the Neaves still are. I also know that Thomas and Sarah had at least 7 children baptised in Lenham during the first twenty years of their marriage; their first two children, Mary and Hannah, are mentioned in the extract below. Their final child (that I know of) was a son; George Stedman our 3rd great grandfather.
Thomas and Sarah's marriage entry in the Tyler Index to Parish Registers (Lenham) and transcribed in date order
The baptism of Thomas Stedman is also recorded in the Tyler Index to Parish Registers, on Christmas Day 1764. He is the son of Elizabeth Stedman, but no father is mentioned. He also has an older sister, Ann, and a younger brother, Joseph, both recorded in this register as the children of Elizabeth Stedman, but again no father mentioned. Other researchers of our family believe that Elizabeth Stedman married James Cleverley on 29th December 1773 (and that he is their father) and the marriage is also recorded in the same register but I am not aware that his paternity has ever been proved, nor do I know how it would be proved. I often wonder whether there would have been any stigma to being illegitimate, particularly in those times. I have read a few online articles which suggest that this may not have been so. One article suggests that there was a culture of informal marriage, and that communities considered the children of an unmarried couple to be legitimate, even though they were illegitimate under the law. Let us hope that this was the situation with Thomas and his siblings and that they did not suffer any undue discrimination that was through no fault of their own. All three of Elizabeth's children were baptised as Stedmans at Lenham, and the word 'illegitimate' has not been recorded in the register. This makes me like to think that if the church in Lenham were willing to baptise them, then they were accepted in their community. However, if James Cleverley were indeed Thomas' father, and he married Elizabeth in 1773 when Thomas was not even 10 years old, why didn't Thomas and his siblings start using the surname Cleverley?
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St Margaret's, Wychling
We almost missed this church when searching for it. Set well back from the main road, it is in a quiet and secluded location, a little further up the lane from Woodside Green towards Doddington. It is one of the most isolated churches in the area. The graveyard is filled with wild flowers to encourage insects and wildlife. It is peaceful and tranquil with a beautiful view of the surrounding Kent countryside.
The marriage of James II Turner to Mary Stedman
28 October 1816 - St Margaret's Church, Wychling, Kent, England
James II Turner married Mary Stedman in 1816. Both would have been in their early 20s. Mary would have been pregnant as their first child Eliza is born early the following year. Their son James III is born a couple of years later on 28th March 1819, and they go on to have at least five more children.
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James II Turner, was also the son of a James I Turner who had died on 10th September 1810 at the age of 56. A gentleman called Alan Christensen has a copy of this will. According to the will, James II's father left him a house and about 3.5 acres of property in Woodside Green, just outside of Lenham in Kent. He also left money to his other children. Another of his sons also received a house and some property. This indicates that having inherited property, James II could have been considered a reasonably wealthy man compared to the Stedman family whose eldest daughter Mary married their son in 1816.
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I think it is reasonable to believe that the property/land that James III left in his will would have been the house that is still there today bearing the sign 'The Duke of Wellington', and the land on which it stands. Whether it was the place where beer could be purchased prior to 1810 when James III had died, I do not know, or even prior to 1861 when the widowed Mary (Stedman) Turner is recorded as a 'grocer and beer shop keeper' in the census returns. If it had been, then it is likely laws were being broken, as it wasn't until The Beer Act of 1830 that any house holder became allowed to apply for a license to sell beer from a dwelling house. By the 1871 census it is actually known as 'The Duke of Wellington' and one of James III Turner's younger brothers is running the pub with his wife; also an Uncle Henry Stedman is residing there (this was one of Mary's brothers; Mary had died suddenly in November 1869).
The Duke of Wellington c.1890
According to information at www.dover-kent.com the Duke of Wellington public house was built by the Turner family around about 1790. This would have been James I Turner and his wife Elizabeth. James II Turner would have been born around about the same time. My understanding is that it would have originally been built as a dwelling. This online source goes on to say that the Turner's ran out of money and the project was paused, but finally it was finished at some point, and the family moved in. By the time of James I Turner's death in 1810, the property is finished and he is leaving it in his will to his son James II Turner, who then marries Mary Stedman in 1816 and in 1819 James III Turner is born.
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The Life of James III Turner (1819 - 1895)
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An autobiography of James III Turner can be found in the memories section on www.familysearch.org (taken from Church Archives MS 2050 Reel 14, 20:1:7). This information states that as soon as James III Turner was old enough, possibly as young as 7 or 8 years old, he worked with his father. We do not know what he did, but it is likely that it was agricultural labouring of some sort.
Around about 1833, when he was a young teenager, James III Turner was hired to work by a local farmer (possibly John Champion in Frinsted as mentioned previously), which he did for the next seven years, until he met and married Mary Ann Finch in 1841. The farmer then wanted to hire him as a bailiff, and the young couple could live in a house on his farm. The house needed some repairs done, and the farmer had promised he would sort this out, but he went back on his word and did not do so. James was particularly bothered that when it rained it came down the chimney, and immediately would put the fire out, so James and his wife, who by now had a baby son, could not warm the home, or possibly cook food.​​
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1851 Census - Newington, Surrey
James had complained to the farmer about the state of the house, but the farmer had got angry and threatened to throw them out. James then spoke to a stranger about his predicament, and the stranger told him that if he could get a seven year character reference from a local clergyman, he could get him a job in the police up in London. However, James already had a brother in law living in London who advised him not to work for the police, as he could get him a better job. James ended up working for a corn merchant, and by 1851 he and his wife Mary are living in Newington, South London. They have two sons; James who is 10 and William who is 7.
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It was while he was living in London that James hears the gospel being preached, and apparently as soon as he heard it, he believed it. He put his name forward for baptism in February 1850 and was baptized in Surrey at the Kent Road Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Mary Ann (Finch) Turner
James III & Mary Ann Turner's London Adventure
[information taken from www.wikitree.com]
So James III and his young wife Mary are living up in London by 1843. They are found in Newington in 1851, a district just South of the River Thames. At the time it was part of the county of Surrey, but is now part of the London borough of Southwark. James was employed by a corn merchant and was working as a porter, likely among the wharves of the dock lands area on the River Thames near to their home. They have 2 young sons, their daughter Emma having tragically died in 1849, a few days before reaching her 3rd birthday.
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From 1837 onwards, Mormon missionaries had begun arriving in England. The Mormon church only having been founded seven years prior to this date. Eight months after the Mormons arrived in England, church membership had grown to 2,000 people. By 1850, when James III is baptised, 42,316 people had been baptised and James III was one of them.
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Around about 1849/1850, perhaps whilst he was grieving the loss of his baby daughter, James III had either attended an organised preaching by one of the Mormon missionaries, or had fell upon a preaching during his daily life. Whatever had happened, apparently as soon as he heard the preaching of the gospel, he immediately believed and soon after was baptised. It was almost another year until his wife Mary Ann was baptised; perhaps she took some convincing. Perhaps their new found faith provided them with support in their grief; they had moved away from their family and their familiar rural lives and perhaps felt lost and alone in the bustling society of Newington, and perhaps the Mormon church was welcoming and kind, providing them with a substitute for the family support they had left behind. Either way, their new religion was permanent and their sons, James IV and William, were baptized in 1852. The family were all members of the Kent Road Branch near their home in Newington, South London.​​​
James returns to Lenham
At the beginning of 1852, James III and his wife Mary Ann travel back to Lenham with their two sons. James and Mary Ann being so convinced with their new faith that they wanted to share it with everyone they knew. They return to their small hamlet where James III begins to preach the gospel to his family and friends, and despite meeting with considerable opposition to his converting mission, by 1854 he had managed to grow a congregation of thirty. One of this congregation is George Stedman, my 4th great grandfather, and James' maternal uncle. George was James III's mum's much younger brother, in fact there were only a few years between George and James, with George being slightly older. It is likely that they had grown up as friends rather than uncle and nephew. James baptises George in February 1853. We also know that the majority of George's children became converts to the Mormon faith, eventually following James III to Utah, USA over the next three decades. I wonder whether my 3rd great grandfather was opposed to the faith, as he remained in England and until I began to research my tree I had no idea that my 4th great grandfather was a Mormon, and neither did my dad. There was considerable persecution of these Mormon missionaries during the 19th century and I wonder whether non converted family were ashamed to talk about it, and perhaps that is why there are no family stories about those who left England to start new lives over seas. You'd think something as exciting as that would have become family folklore, but it didn't.
James and Mary Ann say goodbye!
Once converted, the Mormons encouraged their new members to emigrate to USA and help them build their own community. Many converts were poor and local church branches would provide them with financial assistance to be able to make the journey overseas. It must have been an exciting prospect for James and Mary Ann, and their two young boys to think about making a new life together in what was probably described as a great opportunity. Indeed it probably was a good opportunity, but I wonder if they were warned of the long and arduous journey, and the hard work that would be required to enable them to make their new life in America.
By early 1854 James III and Mary Ann are ready to leave for USA. They left from the port of Liverpool in February 1854 and sailed for New Orleans. The ship's passenger list includes James Turner (age 35), Mary A Turner (age 31), James Turner (age 13), William Turner (age 10), and Jemima Finch (age 73 - Mary Ann's mum).
An extract from the passenger list of 'The Windermere'
A Treacherous Journey!
There
James III and his family arrived in Liverpool with other saints (a term used for the Mormon converts), all travelling towards a new life in America. Surviving passenger accounts describe several weeks of waiting for good weather to allow the ship to sail safely. Logbooks and passenger diaries tell the story of that journey. On 22nd February 1854 the ship left Liverpool and began its journey to New Orleans. The weather was not particularly good, and that same day people were beginning to get sea sick.
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During the next few days, passengers continued to be sick, and other ships were seen that had been victims of recent storms; one with her bow torn off, and another with its main mast torn out. An old gentleman passed away and was buried at sea. By the beginning of March they had passed Ireland, a passenger had given birth, but the baby had died and been thrown overboard. It must have been a distressing and sad sight for James III and his family to watch a baby being thrown into the churning ocean. One account written by the sister of two young boys who died on board wrote 'it almost killed my mother to see those two darlings, with weights attached to their feet, slide into those shark-infested waters'. How awful, that mother would have never gotten over it.
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By the middle of March, passengers had seen sickness and death, been thrown about the ship during storms, dodged boxes and crates, and even a stove sliding about the decks, and then smallpox broke out. The ship continued on its way, the weather getting warmer, and the smallpox outbreak getting worse. People were dying, particularly children. It must have been a frightening time for everyone on board; a contagious disease and nowhere to escape.
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The treacherous journey, 5473 nautical miles, from Liverpool to New Orleans took 61 days. And yet there was still a long way to go to reach the promised land!
An account of the journey of 'The Windermere' [1854]
On arrival at New Orleans on 23rd April 1854, all those suffering from smallpox were taken to hospital. Some of those in charge remained with them until they were well enough to continue the journey. All of those who were in good health, including James III and his family, were quarantined for 3 days to make sure they did not carry the smallpox infection, and then they took a steamboat up the Mississippi to St Louis. It is likely that James III and his family joined Daniel Garn's company heading to Salt Lake City, and sailed on the 'Grand Tower' steamboat on 27th April 1854 and headed up the Mississippi River.
We don't know exactly what the journey was like for James III and his family, but we do know that Mary Ann's mother dies on the way. It is most likely she died from cholera, as it is known that an epidemic broke out, and it is recorded in some of the pioneer journals that many died from cholera during the journey. This would have been distressing, particularly for Mary Ann. Cholera is basically caused by a poor water supply and a lack of sewage facilities. Persons ingest food or water contaminated with bacteria which causes sickness and diarrhoea, rapidly leading to dehydration, and if not treated properly, death.
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We do not know for certain that James III and his family accompanied Daniel Garn and the other pioneers on their trek West as his name is not recorded on the list of pioneers. However, there were 477 persons in the company, and only 91 of those are listed, and based on the dates he arrived into USA and the date he arrived at Salt Lake City, it is presumed that he did.
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It is recorded in a journal of one of the pioneers, that the cholera outbreak occurred on the journey further up the River from St Louis to Kansas City. It was illegal to throw bodies overboard, so the corpses had to be buried at the side of the river. Other passengers would be called upon to help bury the dead; a rude coffin would be put together, the body deposited inside, and the passengers towed to the shore line where the coffin would be quickly buried in a shallow grave. James III, Mary Ann and their sons would have likely witnessed this happening to Jemima Finch, Mary Ann's mum. With all the deaths, burials at sea, and tragedy they had witnessed in the preceding months I wonder if they would have become somewhat immune to the distress of such situations. I wonder if they felt despair or any regret of leaving their homeland, or whether they were still full of hope for their futures once they reached the promised land. They were almost there. What further events could occur to knock their spirits?
On arrival at Kansas City, the company prepared to travel on to Atchison, Kansas; 1200 miles from New Orleans. According to another pioneer "Kansas City was full of Indians and pigs. There was considerable sickness in camp, and many people died". They continued to Atchison where they began to gather together all the equipment and supplies for travelling across the plains; cattle, wagons, tents, some of which they had been making during their journey. Church leaders were organizing the journey; 30 to 50 wagons per company. The immigration program to Salt Lake that season was considered immense, and as a result, prices of livestock and wagons was high. The Saints were not only those from the ship the Windermere, but other ships that had sailed around about that time too. Imagine the hustle and bustle and the haggling that would have been going on. Imagine the excitement of travelling towards a new future, and the exhaustion of the journey, and the sadness of the deaths, and the anxiety of what the future might hold. Were James III and Mary Ann wondering what on Earth they had done? Or was their Mormon faith so strong that they knew they had made the right decision.
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Daniel Garn and Company departed Westport, Kansas City, Missouri on 1-2 July 1854 with 477 individuals, and about 40 wagons. Some of those individuals recorded in their journals that they walked most of the way to Salt Lake City, which was just over 1000 miles and took 3 months. A pioneer describes his first sighting of the plains; “We got a glimpse of the vast, uninhabited prairie, with its immense herds of buffalo, its bands of natives, and the clouds of dust which plagued the long wagon trains.” He continues his description at Fort Kearny, “We began to see signs of buffalo, the trails made by these animals to and from the river were about three feet wide and sometimes eighteen inches deep. On occasions, we saw herds of buffalo that extended for miles in length and breadth, and the plains would be black with them. Sometimes they would run right through our train.”
James III, Mary Ann and their boys travelled for over 5 months from Woodside Green in Lenham, UK to Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Arrival at
Salt Lake City
To be continued ....