Mysteries of the Turner Clan

According to our Turner Family Records, this is a branch of the Lamont Family of Argyleshire in Scotland. The Turners supposedly relocated to County Fernahaugh (?) Ireland in 1609.

Our ancestor, John Turner, was born in 1810 in Ireland and came to Halifax in 1828. (At age 17 (or 27 depending on which statistic you choose.) According to the family record, in Halifax he met and married Alice Doyle, from an old Irish family.

Children of John Turner and Alice Doyle:
Name…………………….birth year
John ………………………..1830
George……………………..1832
Elizabeth Jane………….1836
Archibald…………………1841
William……………………1844
Ellen………………………..1849
Sarah……………………….1850
Margaret………………….1852
Matilda…………………….1857
Adeline……………………..1858
Mary Ann…………………1861
Christina…………………..1863
Robert Alexander……..1865

This represents 35 years; if Alice were 12 when John was born, she would have been 47 when Robert was born! One can only hope those 4-5 year gaps among the older ones don’t represent infants that didn’t survive. (Or do they represent a first wife than didn’t survive?)

This comes from the 1871 Census, Keppel Township, Grey County, Ontario:

John Turner……..Born circa 1800……..age 71 (thus age 28 when he landed in Halifax)
Alice T………………………………1821……………50
(Thus age +/- 7 when John arrived in Halifax; +/- 9 when her son John was born!)
Archibald…………………………1845……………26
William…………………………….1847……………24
Matilda…………………………….1859……………12
Adalaide…………………………..1861……………10
Mary Ann…………………………1863…………….8
Christina…………………………..1865…………….6
Robert Alexander………………1867……………4

This census would indicate that the younger children are Alice’s. I’m wondering if John Sr was a widower and maybe even married Alice years later in Ontario, not Halifax?
According to our family records, John died in 1894 and is buried in Oxender Cemetery, Toronto. (This is odd when his home was in Grey County.) Alice is buried at Mount Clemens, Michigan. (And this is really odd!)

Our Great-grandfather’s Marriage Registration:
Married April 18, 1877 in Bruce County, Ontario
William Turner, age 30, born Ontario about 1847
Father’s name: John, Mother: Elizabeth (And who, pray tell, is SHE?)
Married to
Alice Watchorn, age 20, birth year about 1857
Father’s name: Charles; Mother: Anne

If these stats are correct, the Turner men definitely preferred younger women!

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