"An Illustrated history of Baker, Grant, Malheur and Harney Counties : with a
brief outline of the early history of the state of Oregon." Chicago?: Western
Historical Pub. Co., 1902.  Page 555.  Malheur County.

ARCHIBALD W. TURNER

     The subject of this sketch is one of Malheur county's heaviest property
owners, having an estate of eleven hundred and sixty acres of fine soil and very
valuable as a hay producer.  He is one of the prominent men of the country, a
man of fine capabilities, and highly respected and esteemed by all.  Mr. Turner
was born in Boone county, Missouri, on February 1, 1827, being the son of James
and Sarah Turner.  He was reared on a farm, gained his education in the
primitive log school house of the time and at the native place on October 7,
1848, he was married to Miss Nancy March, a native of the same place.  In the
spring of 1851 he started with his wife and one child to San Francisco, going
via New Orleans and Nicaragua.  While on the sailing vessel from the Isthmus the
little one sickened and died and was buried in the ocean.  Owing to tedious
delays he did not arrive at San Francisco until March, 1852, and then went
direct to Yuba county, near Marysville, where he produced a farm and went to
raising the fruits of the field.  He also raised stock and continued there until
1862, at which time he came to Walla Walla and then to the Salmon river mines.
He returned to The Dalles to winter and in the spring of 1863 went to Idaho
City, where he followed mining until 1866.  After that date he came to Old
Eldorado, near Malheur, and engaged in lumbering, where he spent three years and
then in 1869, Mr. Turner came to the vicinity of his present estate and took up
a homestead, and there turned his attention to raising sheep.  Later he sold his
sheep and raised cattle.  He now has, as mentioned above, one of the finest
estates in the county, being three miles southeast from Dell.  He handles much
stock and many tons of hay each year.  He has a large, two-story, ten-room
house, fitted up tastily, and a large barn and all the buildings, equipments,
orchards and stock to make rural life both comfortable, enjoyable and
interesting.  In politics Mr. Turner is a stanch Democrat of the Jeffersonian
type and a man with the courage of his convictions.  To Mr. Turner and his
estimable wife there have been born six children, as follows:  Kelton, deceased;
Samuel C., deceased; John B., married to Elizabeth Allen and living near Dell;
Ellen, wife of M. Grimes, of The Dalles; Laura, deceased; Martha, wife of J.
Barrett, of The Dalles.  On June 16, 1863, Mr. Turner was called upon to mourn
the death of his faithful wife, and on the same day the daughter died, and they
two sleep in one grave.  Mr. Turner is now enjoying the golden days of his
career amid the comforts of his large estate, the kindness of friends and the
esteem of the entire community and he is one of the capable and wise men of the
region.
     

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in April 2006 by Diana Smith. Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.