Turgeons in the News
The Turgeons were in Dakota territory well before statehood. Abraham Turgeon was the first brother to arrive in the territory, which was probably sometime after the US Civil War. In a few years, he summoned his brothers to join him as he sensed there was "money to be made" in the wild west. The brothers started a business to transport supplies from Fort Pierre to the new mining community of Deadwood, Dakota territory.
The Turgeons were well respected in the new territory, and eventually each saved up a "small fortune" and obtained farms and ranch land in both Gregory and Charles Mix counties. A few of the brothers eventually moved onto neighboring Brule County, and integrated completely into the social and political fabric of these new communities.
Most of the news articles are new to the website (please look for other Turgeon refrences and stories contained in irishjohnsmith.com for more stories, photos and news articles). There are a few articles that we have refrenced before, notably the drowning of our great grandfather in the Missouri River. The reason for their inclusion is because they come from many news sources beyond the local papers that we originally referenced in earlier articles.
Blanch Turgeon with Becky (Rebecka), daughters of Onesime and Desange Turgeon. They lived in La Rouche, Charles Mix County, South Dakota. Blanche married Alfred Johnson, and died in 1949 in Edgemont, Fall River County, SD.
These two articles are about a young Turgeon male who went on a crime spree in Brule County.
One of the events that shaped our family history was the death of Phil Turgeon. This article is from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. His death was attributed to drowning, although it was suspected that it may have been foul play. Phil was known to carry large sums of money, and led to "foul play" gossip. One thing of interest - this article does say that John Trachy was a cousin of Phileas...always assumed so.
|
Our great grandfather Phileas Turgeon was not too happy with a fire caused by negligence that killed some of his horses. There were two Frailick brothers, John and Lewis, living in La Rouche, Charles Mix county. Both were in their early 20s when this fire occurred, so $1,000 would have been nearly impossible to hand over. This occurred in 1893.  
Based on other news articles, it appears that most of the Turgeon brothers were among the pioneers of using irrigation in South Dakota. These articles were written in 1895.
Morale of story - don't sell alcohol to the Indian...unless you are a Turgeon. J. W. Turgeon was fined $25...but Herman Lau went to jail for 90 days for almost a similar offense. 
It is particularly intersting what the news reporter wrote at the end "lad's father is prominent...and is wealthy." If this were any other young man, it is likely he would have been sent to prison, especially since robbing a post office is a federal crime. Phileas Turgeon This is his grave stone in Charles Mix County. The inscription is probably latin, and is etched throughout the stone itself. It may be something worth 'visiting' to discover what is actually inscribed on the stone itself. A few things can be seen: Filias Turgeon and it references his wife "Merida". It is hard to see on the photo, but the date of his death is shown near the bottom with a final "RIP" etched at the end.
Anne and Becky (Rebecca) Turgeon I wonder which brother contracted rabies? Hydrophobia was an archaic term for rabies...coming from the latin "fear of water". People who contracted rabies didn't want to drink fluids, even though they may be extremely thirsty...too painful. This article was written in March 1898, and we show no Turgeon brother death in this year. There was a brother who died of unknown circumstances in the previous decade, and unless his date of death is recorded incorrectly in our family tree, we can only assume that this brother survived rabies...rare as that may be. |
