Date Original
1918-1919
Description
This collection contains two letters written between Dallas Herndon and Jesse Turner regarding Jesse Turner's mother.
Biographical/Historical Note
Rebecca J. Allen Turner(1823-1917) was born in Warwickshire, England, July 14, 1823. Her family immigrated to the United States around 1826. Her first few years were spent in Bedford, New York. By 1840 the family had settled in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, where her father was a construction contractor. Rebecca attended the Steubenville Female Seminary in Steubenville, Ohio from 1838-1841. In 1847 she went to Little Rock, Arkansas with her family to attend the funeral of her brother George Allen who was killed in a steamboat explosion. While in Arkansas she met Ada Henry of Van Buren, Arkansas and the two women became friends, corresponding over the years. Rebecca taught in the Pittsburgh schools earning $250 a term. She attended the May 29, 1851 Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, and became very interested in politics and was an ardent supporter of the Free Soil party. In 1853 her brother William invited Rebecca to go south with him on a steamboat trip. Rebecca accepted the offer and spent the summer in Little Rock and Van Buren, Arkansas with Ada Henry. It was on this visit that she met the widower, Judge Jesse Turner. The two corresponded after her return to Pittsburgh. Allen married Judge Turner in Pittsburgh in 1855. She made Van Buren, her life-long home and died there in 1917.
Physical Description
Document, 8.5" x 11"
Geographical Area
Arkansas
Language
English
Identifier
SMC.058.003
Resource Type
Text
Collection
Turner-Herndon correspondence, SMC.058.003
Publisher
Arkansas State Archives
Contributing Entity
Arkansas State Archives
Recommended Citation
Turner-Herndon correspondence, Arkansas State Archives, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Rights
Use and reproduction of images held by the Arkansas State Archives without prior written permission is prohibited. For information on reproducing images held by the Arkansas State Archives, please call 501-682-6900 or email at state.archives@arkansas.gov.
Disciplines
United States History
