John Turner

John Turner is the youngest of three children born to John Turner and Sophia Lay, both from England. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the family dreamt of being with other Saints in the Salt Lake Valley. Sophia passed away before the family left England. John and two living children (John and Sophia) immigrated to America and joined the John A. Hunt Company. They began the journey west on August 1, 1856.

Exhaustive travel conditions, disease, injury, lack of food and medicine, premature birth, and extreme weather were some of the greatest threats to pioneers. Cholera, a bacterial disease caused from contaminated water, infected many of the travelers. John (senior) became ill and suffered severe diarrhea for weeks before passing away on October 6, 1856. John and his sister were also ill but traveled on.

A month later on November 12, 14-year-old Sophia died and is buried on the Wyoming plains. A few days later, 11-year-old John, that last of the family, died of the disease. He was buried in Wyoming along the Mormon Trail.

From the company journal: “Sun 16{.} John Turner aged 12 years died at 7 am of diarhea”