Generations attend Turner School

The Hannibal Courier-Post chronicled the day that Stephen Tarleton, son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard H. Tarleton Jr., rural Hannibal, started classes at Turner School on West Ely Road. His first day of school marked the fifth generation of the Henrietta Gentry and Stephen Glascock families to attend the school.

He is pictured with Miss Helen Young, his teacher.

When Henrietta Gentry attended Turner School, the building was a log cabin heated by a fireplace. Benches of split logs with four holes bored in the corner for the rough legs, provided seating room for the pupils. The area surrounding the school house was a dense forest with only a narrow path through the trees. According to family lore, Henrietta Gentry walked the mile and a half down this narrow path from her home to the school and back each day. Because of wild animals and unfriendly Indians, a boy was sent with her to ward off danger.

The next generation of the family to attend Turner School was Mary Lucy Glascock (Mrs.

Claude Tarleton.) By this time, the log cabin had been replaced by a long brick building. It was said that the building was very drafty as the only heat during the long winter months was provided by a single box stove known as the "Ocean Wave."

Teachers prior to and immediately following the Civil War included Susan Seltzer, mother of the late Harry Houck, James Gentry, Charles Turner Jr. and William A. Goodrich.