Melvin Rudolph Turner

Melvin was born on February 19, 1853, in Lincoln, Penobscot, Maine, the son of Luther Turner and Anceline (Hawes) Turner.  He lived there until sometime in the 1870’s, when he “went west” to Colorado.  Two of his brothers went around the same time.  In 1880, he was living in Rio La Plata, La Plata, Colorado, single, working as a mail carrier.  In 1900, he was living in Indian Creek, San Juan, Utah, working as a farmer.

Later in life, at age 50, he married Maggie Dresser [Gresser] (Margaret Rachel Rohwer [Rohner]) on the 11^th of July, 1901.  They had one son, Willard Howard Turner, born in Durango, La Plata, Colorado, on October 18, 1903.  They must have separated, because in 1910, 1920, and 1930, he was living apart from her in Paradox, Montrose, Colorado.  In 1930, he was living with his son’s wife’s parents.

He died on September 6, 1932, in Pueblo, Pueblo, Colorado.

Unfortunately, that is all the information I have on Melvin.  Mostly I have followed his trail in census records.  Sometime in  2009, I decided to track down my great-great grandfather’s descendants.  The family had already been tracked back to him, but I had NO information on any of his children except my great grandmother Flora.  Thanks to census information, family pictures, letters, and other research I was able to fill in Flora’s brothers and sisters, their children and grandchildren and a little further in some cases.  I was fairly satisfied and left it at that.  Most of the family was back in Main and Massachusetts or Utah, and western Colorado.

In September of this year, I took a road trip to Colorado for a high school reunion, and visited friends and cousins along the way.  My first stop was in Fowler, (EASTERN) Colorado to visit my cousin.  While there we went by the Fowler cemetery so I could take pictures of the family gravestones.  He showed me the gravestone of Melvin R Turner, and told me that he had been down and out and died in Pueblo, Colorado, and that the family had been located and they brought him to Fowler to bury him near his sister Flora, and had provided a marker.

What?!  My great-great uncle Melvin buried in Fowler?  Died in Pueblo, likely a drunk?  That didn’t make sense.  He had been living in Utah and WESTERN Colorado for his adult life!  What was he doing in Pueblo? 

When I got home, I did into a Google search for Melvin’s name.  I found an article on the “Telluride Blanket” which had a pamphlet online!
http://www.telluridemuseum.org/exhibits/   
My great-great Uncle, Melvin Turner, FOUND the “Telluride Blanket”!  The pamphlet also had quite a bit of information on Melvin, including the fact that he had been badly injured in a horseback riding accident in the early 1900’s.  Evidently, he had received severe head injuries, and had been treated with opium.

According to the pamphlet about the Telluride Blanket, he’d been taken to a hospital in Montrose shortly before his death.  I still don’t know how or why he ended up dying in Pueblo, but at least there is a possible explanation for his appearing to be destitute and a drunkard.

There was a page missing from the pamphlet, so I called the Telluride Museum the next day, and they kindly sent me a full pdf of the pamphlet.  They have, evidently, been looking for relatives of Melvin for many years and came up empty.  Until I called them and told them I’m related, although very distantly.

I won’t be too much help to them, but I do have some good quality pictures of Melvin, and maybe I have enough research on some of the Utah family that they might have something to go on to find closer relatives.

I have found a short article about his death among my mother’s things.  Evidently, he did visit his sister Flora fairly often.

I wonder how far reaching his discovery was in shaping some of her family’s future……Flora’s daughter Ellen dabbled in unearthing Indian artifacts near her home in Nepesta.  Ellen’s oldest son became a Park Ranger and became the Superintendent at Mesa Verde.  Ellen’s oldest daughter married an avid archaeologist.  Several of Ellen’s grandchildren collect Indian pottery and other objects.  Was Melvin the inspiration for their interests? 

I wasn’t too far away from Telluride on my way home from Colorado.  I wish I had known about this then so I could have visited the museum and seen the blanket.  Good excuse to go back to Colorado sometime soon.

I have a newspaper clipping with a picture showing Melvin and his brother Hiram as using river boats on the Colorado River at some point in time, and I have found a letter from his sister Ella asking my grandmother if she knows any more about the circumstances of his death.
© Linda C Robinson 2016