Kerenhappuch Turner - Notable Women Ancestors Notable Women Ancestors - Kerenhappuch Norman Turner
Kerenhappuch Norman Turner

Kerenhappuch Norman was born in about 1717 to Isaac Norman, Jr. and his wife Frances (nee Courtney) in what is now Culpeper Co., VA. She was married in about 1733 to James Turner. She bore him 5 children, the youngest of which was her only son James Turner, Jr. The two James prospered as tobacco farmers. After her husband died she moved with her son to Halifax Co., VA where she was living at the time of the Revolutionary War. During the war, her son joined the Virginia Militia where he was a Captain. A skilled rider, Kerenhappuch would on occasion carry dispatches for the army, occasionally even through the lines of the unsuspecting British. During the battle of Guilford Courthouse in 1781 her son received very serious wounds, and when word of this reached his mother she rode to the scene of the fighting where she successfully nursed his wounds and those of others for many weeks.

After the war she and her son moved to Richmond Co., NC where in 1805 she died of a broken neck suffered from falling off a horse while hunting.

What is believed to be the first statue ever erected to an American heroine was dedicated in her honor on 4 Jul 1902 in the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro, NC.

(The foregoing is documented in the files of the U.S. Daughters of the Revolution and the Guilford Courthouse NMP.)

Be sure to visit the Kerenhappuch Turner web site for genealogy information and to read another biography.

If you have information or questions, please e-mail W. B. Atkins, Jr..email icon

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