Joyce, Sorry to disappoint you, but this is another Smith Turner. Believe it or not there were several men with this strange name living during the 18th and 19th Centuries. It was common practice to use family names as given names. It served several purposes: (a) it honored an ancestor, (b) it reinforced family ties and (c) provided diversity of names in a time when nuclear families were larger and lived in the same community as extended family members. My Smith Turner was born in Accomack Co., VA (or maybe Worcester Co., MD) in about 1750. This is on the Delmarva Peninsula, east of the Chesapeake Bay. He enlisted in a Virginia Regiment that was raised on the Eastern Shore for the Revolutionary War. I have census, land and marriage records that place him in Accomack Co. between 1797 and 1806. Yesterday, I did some research in the DAR Library in Washington, DC and discovered some likely ancestors in Worcester Co., MD. It appears that my Smith Turner is descended from a William Turner, a Presbyterian minister, and Mary McLemore who migrated from Scotland to Northern Ireland and then to Worcester Co., MD in the late 17th Century. The ancestry is as follows: William Turner m. Mary McLemore Elisha Turner m. Elizabeth Hicks William Turner m. Comfort Oxford William Turner m. Elizabeth ______ Smith Turner This is tentative. I have to go to Worcester County and check the land records and will probate records to verify all this. Marriage records are scarce before the 19th Century. The usual way of publishing a marriage was to "post banns." This meant that the intention of a couple to marry was announced from the pulpit of the local church on three successive Sundays. Marriages were recorded, if at all, in the church's vestry book or in the family bible. Keep in mind that these people were Presbyterians which meant that they did not belong to the established chuch in the colony of Maryland (Roman Catholic) nor in Virginia (Episcopal). By the way, if anyone knows of a Bible record that records this family, please let me know. I would like to have a copy very much. Philip A Turner <philip.turner@worldnet.att.net> -----Original Message----- From: Joyce's Genealogy Hideout <trubbs@prodigy.net> To: TURNER-L@rootsweb.com <TURNER-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Saturday, May 22, 1999 6:56 AM Subject: [TURNER-L] Smith Turner Hi Philip, As soon as I saw your Smith Turner, I assumed that he had to be a son of Thomas Turner and Catherine Smith. I checked my files and would say that he probably is. I have a copy from the internet of the Thomas Turner bible, Smith Turner is listed as the 10th child. You can get a copy of this at ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ky/madison/bibles/1656-001.txt If you are unable to get to it, let me know and I will send it to you as an attachment or snail mail it to you. Thomas Turner was supposedly born in Spotsylvania Co., Va on Aug 27, 1734, son of John Turner and Sarah Williams. He died Dec 9, 1822 in Madison Co., KY. He married Catherine Smith daughter of Andrew Smith & Annah Yeates. John's Father was probably Thomas Turner a quaker. John was born 1705-1714, died 1768. Sarah Williams was born 1710? died 1778? I know that Thomas Turner and Catherine Smith were in Rowan, Yadkin, NC in Aug 13, 1769, their daughter Annah Turner (my direct line) was born there. Annah married Christopher Columbus Martin Jan 25, 1790 in Madison, KT. The 1759 Rowan County Tax List has a Thos Turner listed, don't know if it is ours. I have not checked out this book, but it is supposed to have been thoroughly researched. "The Turner Family - Discovering the Father of Thomas Turner, John Turner and Philip Turner of Rowan Co., N.C. and Madison CO., KT' by Virginia Darcy Slaughter, 8405 N. Wagon Trail Rd., Columbia, MO 65202. If her research is correct that would give us Philip as Thomas Turner's grandfather. Glad to meet another 'cousin'. Keep in touch. Joyce Ames Hoxsey ==== TURNER Mailing List ==== Join and support RootsWeb, home of the TURNER list and many other genealogy lists and resources - go to http://www.rootsweb.com/