Erastus J. Turner.

SHERIDAN COUNTY.

William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas.

HON. ERASTUS J. TURNER, lawyer and real estate dealer, was born at Lockport, Erie County, Pa., Dec. 26, 1846. When he was only one year of age, his father, J. L. Turner, a Methodist clergyman, removed with his family to Ohio, remaining thee until 1849, when he pushed further west into Indiana, remaining there until 1853, then removed to Niles, Mich., where he lived until 1856, when he located at Henry, Ill., and from thence to Bloomfield, Iowa, in 1860. E. J. Turner was for three years a student at the Adrian College of Michigan.

In 1870 he entered the law office of Gen. Weaver, the recent Greenback candidate for President, remaining with him for two years; then located at Mount Ayer, Iowa, where he practiced law and conducted the Ringgold Record for two years; afterward embarking in the mercantile business at Ottumwa and Corning, Iowas, remaining in the business until his removal to Sheridan County, Kan., in February, 1879.

He purchased a section of land and laid out the town of Kenneth, and engaged in the practice of law, selling town lots and dealing in other real estate, continuing in the business to the present time, besides being largely interested in wool growing, having an extensive sheep ranch extending for a distance of three miles, on the south bank of the Solomon River, beginning a distance of about six miles from Kenneth. He considers Sheridan County as one of the best cattle and sheep territories in Kansas. When he located in the county only twenty claims had been taken. Before the 20th of June of the same year there was not a section of land within the borders of the county upon which claims had not been made.

He as served two terms in the Kansas Legislature, being elected a member of the House of Representatives in 1880 and 1882. He was in the army from November, 1863, until July, 1865. He enlisted in Company E, Thirteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, but was soon afterward detailed to duty in the Provost Marshal's Office, doing duty most of the time at Louisville, Ky., and Nashville, Tenn. He is a member of the A., F. & A. M. Nov. 28, 1873, Mr. Turner was married at Afton, Iowa, to Ella Beymer, a native of Clyde, Ohio; she died Jan. 25, 1882, leaving one child - Kenneth Beymer Turner -- who was born at Corning, Iowa, Dec. 5, 1874.

Military Record.

Erastus J. Turner, Age 18, Residence Adams, Nativity of Pennsylvania, enlisted in the 13th, Co. E, Iowa infantry on November 28, 1864, mustered in same day. Mustered out July 21, 1865. at Louisville Kentucky; Substituted for Hiram Long.