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52 Ancestors: Week 16, James and Rachel (Silvester) Turner

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James Turner,1 son of Richard and Eleanor (Cowell) Turner, was born in Barnacre, Lancashire, England, baptized in Garstang, Lancashire, England 27 October 1745,2 and died in Saint Patrick, Charlotte County, New Brunswick 1823.3 He married in Pownalborough, Lincoln County, Massachusetts (now Wiscasset, Maine) 20 November 1776, Rachel Silvester,4 daughter of Joshua and Mary (_____) Silvester. She was born in Pownalborough 14 June 17565 and died in Bocabec, Charlotte County, New Brunswick 22 December 1848.6 They were both buried in Bocabec, although no original markers remain.7

James Turner supposedly came to America in 1774.8 According to an entry in the journal of Rev. Jacob Bailey dated 21 June 1779, he set out for Halifax, Nova Scotia with his brother Thomas Turner and their brothers-in-law John and Martin Carlow at the beginning of May 1778. They enlisted with the rebels on 20 May 1778 to avoid detection and deserted by 1 December 1778.9 By the date of Bailey's journal entry, he was in Halifax.10,11,12

In 1782, he was recorded in the "Penobscot Journal" (now Castine, Maine).13 By 1784, he was in New Brunswick when he is listed in the "Return of Men, Women and Children of the Penobscot Loyalists settled in the District of Passamaquoddy the 10th of June 1784."14 On 3 August 1784, he was amongst those granted 100 acres surrounding Bocabec Cove.15 On 30 July 1785, he purchased 100 acres "to be paid in lumber" from David Dailey, another one the grantees from the year prior.16 At some point during this time, he "served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War in America that he was attached to the engineer department commanded by Capt. Harkup" according to the testimony of his widow in 1841.3

Children of James and Rachel (Silvester) Turner, baptized in St. Andrews, Charlotte County, New Brunswick:8

  1. Mark Turner; m. Elizabeth Hanson.
  2. James Turner, bp. 20 July 1786; m. Eunice Hanson.
  3. Harriet Turner, bp. 29 Aug. 1791;17 m. Thomas Turner Bailey.
  4. David Sylvester Turner, bp. 23 Dec. 1796; m. Rachel Hanson.
  5. Mary Turner, bp. 23 Dec. 1796; m. Isaac Young.
  6. Richard Turner, b. about 1793, bp. 23 Dec. 1796; m. (1) Phoebe Hanson, (2) Catharine _____.
  7. Sarah Turner, bp. 6 May 1800.
  8. William Turner, bp. 23 July 1801; m. Abigail Hanson.
  9. Colin Turner.
  10. Edward Turner.

  1. His middle name is claimed to be his mother's maiden name of Cowell in many online trees, the modern marker erected at his gravesite, and even the New Brunswick Genealogical Society's First Families of New Brunswick, but there are no primary sources to corroborate this.↩

  2. Garstang Parish (Lancashire, England), Bishop's Transcripts, ". . . Register of all the Christnings [sic], Marriages, and Burials at the Parish Church of Garstang in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred Forty and Five," unnumbered p. 1, 27 October 1745, "James sn. of Richard Turner of Barnaker;" digital images, Ancestry, "Lancashire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812" > Bishop's Transcripts > Garstang > 1740-1749 > image 15.↩

  3. "Records of Old Revolutionary Soldiers and Their Widows," entries for James and Rachel Turner, RS148 Charlotte County Council Records, Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.↩

  4. William D. Patterson, contributor, "Record of Marriages in Pownalborough (now Wiscasset and Dresden), 1760 to 1786," The Bangor [Maine] Historical Magazine 7(1892):85; digital images, HathiTrust.↩

  5. Albert Henry Silvester, "Richard Silvester of Weymouth, Mass., and some of his Descendants," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 86 (1932):89; digital images, AmericanAncestors.↩

  6. Daniel F. Johnson, New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics, vol. 12, no. 1278, obituary of Rachel Turner, 6 January 1849; transcript at Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.↩

  7. Find a Grave, memorial 87395854, James Turner, Turner Family Cemetery, Bocabec, Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada.↩

  8. Cleadie B. Barnett and Elizabeth S. Sewell, Loyalist Families (n.p., 1983), 48-49; digital images, FamilySearch.↩

  9. Massachusetts State Archives, "Muster Rolls of the Revolutionary War, 1776-1833," vol. 36, Sea Coast Defense Rolls, 1775-1780, "An Abstract or Pay Role [sic] for Captain Thomas Robbins Company under the Command of Col. John Allen Raised for the defence of Machias," 1 December 1778, entry for James Turner; digital images, FamilySearch, DGS 8092197 > image 276.↩

  10. William S. Bartlet, The Frontier Missionary: A Memoir of the Life of the Rev. Jacob Bailey, A. M., Missionary at Pownalborough, Maine, Cornwallis and Annapolis, N. S.; with Illustrations, Notes, and an Appendix (New York: Stanford and Swords, 1853), 329; digital images, Internet Archive.↩

  11. Lorenzo Sabine, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution with an Historical Essay, 2 vols. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1864), 2:367-368; digital images, HathiTrust.↩

  12. William D. Romanski, "The Adventure of Thomas Turner, James Turner, William Cookson, John Carlow and Martin Carlow," Generations 45 (Spring 2023):55-56; digital images, New Brunswick Genealogical Society.↩

  13. Rosemary E. Bachelor and Mary H. Dormer, editors, "The Penobscot Journal: 1782," Downeast Ancestry 7 (December 1983):130-131; digital images, FamilySearch.↩

  14. Rosemary E. Bachelor and Mary H. Dormer, editors, "Penobscot Loyalists Settled at Passamaquoddy: 1784," Downeast Ancestry 7 (December 1983):134-137; digital images, FamilySearch.↩

  15. Rosemary E. Bachelor and Mary H. Dormer, editors, "Penobscot Association Land Grants: 1784," Downeast Ancestry 7 (December 1983):142-145; digital images, FamilySearch.↩

  16. Charlotte County, New Brunswick, [Deed] Record Book A:11-12, David Dailey to James Turner, 30 July 1785; digital images, FamilySearch, DGS 4152542 > images 14-15.↩

  17. St. Andrews Parish (Charlotte County, New Brunswick), "Baptisms and Marriages, 1787 to 1810," unnumbered p. 6, "Harriot Dr. of James Turner Christ. Augst. 29th --- 1791;" digital images, New Brunswick Genealogical Society, Anglican Registers Project, register MC223-S2-6D.↩