Blocked

                   NOTE: Nance was elected Golden Girl of Antioch and Ruth was Miss Personality. The sisters remained close all their lives, living together in San Leandro at the last.  

   After Ruth's divorce to Albert Yates, Ruth became Deputy County Assessor for Alameda County, where she stayed until retirement.

   In a letter to Dot (Dorothy): From the Turner Bible: Maria Agnes Fleming Turner (our grandmother); Sallie Mulhearn Fleming (our great grandmother); Mary Collins Mulhearn (our great great grandmother). 

   Patrick and Michael Collins were uncles (or great uncles?). Michael became a priest and moved to New York. Sallie Mulhearn married Frank Fleming, a farmer from Roscommon, Ireland. Three girls and two boys were born. The two boys died as babies-also their sister Kate. Frank Fleming came to America and died in New Orleans of Yollow Fever.

   Maria Agnes Fleming (our grandmother) was born in Dunsmore, County Galway, Ireland, in 1847. She sailed for San Francisco in 1869 with friends-Nellie Bruce and her five sisters. Nellie married a Doctor Bruce and our grandmother, Maria Agnes Fleming, met and married Captain John B. Turner shortly after her arrival. 

   Our grandfather, Captain John B. Turner was born in Saline County, Missouri on May 1, 1831. His father, Thomas Turner, was born in Albemarle County, Virginia. He died May 10, 1866 at the age of 56 in Antioch, Califronia. Thomas Turner, our great grandfather, was a pioneer in the great West and built the first fort in Missouri during the Black Hawk War. They crossed the plains in covered wagons in 1849 and engaged in the cattle business. In the 1850's Captain John Turner and his two brothers owned a steamboat which was called "The Antioch." It sailed on the San Joaquin and the Sacramento Rivers. There were no railroads in those days and they did a big business hauling freight and cattle and passengers.

   Our grandfather's mother, Catherine Turner, was born in Louisville, Kentucky. She died May 2, 1875 at 51 years 11 months and is buried in the family polot in Antioch. She was a very devout little Methodist and the old family bible shows the print of her pencil as she marked certain passages. Our grandmother Maria Fleming Turner, used to say she was so religious that wouldn't cook on Sunday.

   (Signed) Your lilttle Aunt Ruth

   The above is a letter to me from Aunt Ruth Bates and she ended it with "God bless them all and may they be in heaven. God bless you girls and your dear husbands and little families."

   Maria died peacefully in her daughter's Ruth's arms.