BACK AT HOME On July 22, 1864, the Turnbow's last child was born that being John. This now brought their family to a total of seven including their five children. They continued to live In their little home on the Lampasas River, described by Mrs. Opal Turnbo Barrington as being a more finished house (compared to the log cabin they originally built) with a kitchen across the back, one large room, and a tiny sleeping room on the front of the house. The house had a fireplace built from the rock that covered that area as well as a porch across the front. The house was surrounded by rock fences approximately five feet high, which were built of native stone. Today one can still see the remains of the fireplace and the rock fences that surrounded the place. During the 1860's, this family continued to spell their name Turnbow" as It appears that way on several old documents. The Civil War records all carry the name with this particular spelling. It would not be until 1876 that the "w" would be permanently dropped from the family name. According to Mrs. Ermadine Turnbo Riley of Clifton, Tennessee, many Turnbows dropped the "w" from their names during the Civil War signifying whether they were Northern or Southern sympathizers. The story goes that the northern sympathizers continued to carry the "w". That would not be the ease with the Andrew Jackson Turnbow family, however, for he enlisted In the Confederate Army. Some 10,000 Texans, It Is said, left Texas during the Civil War and joined the Union Army. It is speculated that during the last half of the l860's the Turnbow family continued farming and raising horses. There were no schools in the area at this time, so any education given the children came from either the parents or from neighbors. There was plenty of work for the children, as just the business of surviving in these times required everyone's cooperation. |
From the book "The Texas Turnbo's"
By: Charles A. Turnbo
Page 30