Thomas Memory Turner (July 17, 1847 – September 2, 1917)[1] was an American composer, band leader, and music professor. He was known to his friends as "Mem".[2]
Turner lived in Lewisburg, West Virginia from 1876 until November 1879.[9] A son, Charles Augustus Turner, was born there. Memory Turner's job is listed as a goldsmith on his birth record.[10] Turner directed the Lewisburg Concert Band. His sister Cora would sing for them.[11] He also was a jeweler and watchmaker.[12]
Return to Staunton
Turner returns to Staunton in November 1879, and lived on 12 Madison Street. He continued to play in the Stonewall Brigade Band.[13] He directed the "Stonewall Octette", a group of singers attached to the band.[14]
Turner ran a jewelry store in Olivier's Bookstore on 102 E. Beverley Street (also known as Main Street) now a part of the historic district. Turner fixed watches and jewelry as well as offered his services tuning instruments.[17][18][19] He continued to tune pianos for most of his life.[20][a]
Return to Lewisburg
Turner again instructs a band in Lewisburg in 1884,[22] and is living there by 1889, living at Alderson and Hinton in between. His wife Kate dies in Alderson on October 14, 1888. His son Claude died in Lewisburg, on September 5, 1889, at the age of just 14, falling headforemost into a vat of boiling water at the Greenbrier Cannery.[23] Both Kate and Claude are buried at the Old Stone Church.
Second Return to Staunton
After the death of his wife and son, Turner again returned to Staunton, and lived at 213 W. Beverley St.[9]
Western Lunatic Asylum
He became director of the Blackford Cornet Band of the Western Lunatic Asylum, a ten- or eleven-piece band composed of the male attendants.[24][25] He was paid $6 a week and an extra $3 if he tuned the pianos.[26]
One account reads "The music of the Hospital Band sets aside solitude and relieves the monotony of asylum life, and has a wonderful effects in quieting the noisy and disturbed patients, besides being a source of great pleasure and enjoyment to the more quiet class, and is greatly enjoyed by visitors to the institution."[27]
Second marriage
On February 15, 1893, he married Virginia Ann "Nannie" Wyatt in Harrisonburg, Virginia, at the residence of Hubert or Herbert Coffman. They were married by C. R. Cruikshank.[28] She died March 9, 1894, in Staunton.[29]
Maryland
From 1896 to 1897 Turner was in Baltimore and Gaithersburg. In Gaithersburg, he taught a band,[30][31] and attended a reunion of the Central Brass Band, which he had instructed.[32]
Norfolk
Turner settled in Norfolk late in life, where he taught music. He died there September 2, 1917.
^"Mem Turner Here". Staunton Daily Leader. September 8, 1909. p. 1. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
^National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Confederate Organizations, compiled 1903 - 1927, documenting the period 1861 - 1865; Catalog ID: 586957; Record Group #: 109; Roll #: 429
^"West Virginia Births, 1853-1930," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F1P2-X4L : 9 March 2018), Charles Turner, 02 Apr 1877; citing Lewisburg, Greenbrier, West Virginia, United States, county courthouses, West Virginia; FHL microfilm 595,033.
^"Personal". Staunton Spectator. July 23, 1878. p. 3. Retrieved January 14, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
