Meet the Members: John David Turnbull

John is 55 years old and is a founding member of TCA.  He and his wife, Denise live in Monmouth, Illinois.  Denise is a local girl from Monmouth.  They have two children, a son, Zachary and daughter, Natalie.  In addition to two children, John says that they have two English setters, a 1971 MGB and a set of Pipes that are needing to be used.  To quote John, the dogs and the MGB run a lot, but the Pipes reside on a wall in his office and are rather dry.  John runs a funeral home which was established by his Great Grandfather, David Turnbull in 1884.

John’s Great Great Grandfather was William Turnbull of Roxboroughshire, near Kelso, Scotland.  He was the son of Isabella and Alexander.  He immigrated to the United States in 1784 through Ellis Island, NY.  He then traveled south through South Carolina and on to Nashville, TN where he married Elizabeth Marshall from Nashville.  They had nine children: Alexander, Gilbert, John, Elizabeth, Isabelle, William Hume, Thomas, James and David. 

William and several of his sons eventually settled in Monmouth, IL, in order to have more freedom in their religion and move away from slavery.  William is buried in a country cemetery near Monmouth.  John and several of his cousins have discovered that his actual gravesite is difficult to find.

William’s third son John, is this John’s Great Great Grandfather.  His son, David, moved from Xenia, Ohio to Monmouth, Illinois after marrying Ada Stevenson.  He then established Turnbull Funeral Home in Monmouth in 1884.  Their son, John Maxwell, continued in the family business as did his son, David, who is John’s father.  John says that at this point neither of his children appear to be interested in running the family business.

 TURNBULL SADDLE (continued from page 1)

Mary Irene and Rupert met due to an accident that Mary Irene’s cousin was in, resulting in litigation.  The plaintiff’s attorney was Rupert Turnbull (later to become a Judge).  Mary Irene immediately disliked Turnbull.  Turnbull, on the other hand, fell in love at first site.

 Judge Rupert purchased Turnbull Ranch (as named by him) in 1922 where they resided 27 years.  The ranch included 25 acres of orange groves and made a wonderful place for Mary Irene to enjoy her interest in horses and in riding.  The ranch was eventually sold to Leonard and Thelma White, who renamed it Chateau Bradbury, the name it bears today.

 Mary Irene is TCA member, Dana Hume’s grandmother.  Her family recently donated Mary Irene’s parade saddle to George Pitman, who has a private museum in Rancho Santa Fe, California.  Mr. Pitman has had people from all over the world visit his collection.

Left to right; Mary Irene, Byron(Dana’s father), and Rupert Turnbull

 In restoring the saddle, the name Mary Irene, which appeared on a silver plate on the back of the saddle had a

 More information about Mr. George Pitman and silver saddles can be found at www.silvermag.com/b.saddles.htm.