The life of a con man part 2

[deb usa]

Thanks for all the info .... it lays some queries we had, to rest  

BTW who is John E Turner who is mentioned in Geneva's (I think) obit? All the othert siblings were named Osbaldeston , he is the only 'brother' named Turner! Do you think he could be Edwin Julian.


Cathy ...thanks for the article ...we knew he was cruel to his children , but poor Edwin seems to have almost been flogged !!!!  

deb

[deb usa]

Hi again

Dinosaur ..... You have done so much delving and searching into your family ... as have we  ...I just wanted to know what we found that is new to you....

still searching for the Vernons and Turner/Osbaldestons in 1861 

deb

[Dinosaur]

It's real easy to get muddled with this family. I can't begin to tell you the number of times they've reduced me to a quivering heap of protoplasm!!! Especially ETO who indulged in a great deal of self-aggrandisement, did not have a good memory for people's names, place names, or dates, and omitted numerous inconvenient truths from his diary which was more a work of fiction than fact!

Re great-uncle John Edwin Turner (aka Ed). The last time I found him using his birth name--Edwin Julian Turner Osbaldeston--was in the 1904 Chicago city directory which lists him as:  Osbaldeston Edwin J masseur (The address was that of his uncle Dr. Julian Osbaldeston). When he married Jean MacDonald in Rochester, NY on 12 Aug 1907 he used the name John Edwin Turner. I assume he changed his name legally but don't know exactly when and where.

As ETO's eldest son a lot of pressure was heaped on young Edwin. ETO was very ambitious. He pressured himself a lot and expected a great deal from those around him, even though some of them were still young children. Unfortunately ETO left both physical and psychological scars on his children. He also did not encourage or assist them to pursue higher education.

Edwin may have been with his father in Germany in May 1902 when ETO murdered two men--a very dark chapter. If so that could have caused Edwin to want to disassociate himself from ETO and the Osbaldeston name.

ETO taught his older children and his siblings to do massage. I think that ETO paid for his siblings Francis (with wife Sarah and their adopted daughter Kate), Emma (and husband Joseph Vernon and their sons), and Julian to come to the US in the mid-1880s. He taught them massage so that they could set themselves up in business as soon as possible. The Vernons stayed in Manhattan but brother Francis moved to Chicago.

Julian was in Canada where he married Margaret Close in late 1885. She was either a widow or divorcee with a child or children. An article on http://news.nnyln.net ("The Osbaldeston Case," Malone Palladium, Thurs, 26 Nov 1896) consists of a letter from a Brooklyn masseur (a competitor of ETO?) who alleges that Julian had to leave Canada after he locked his stepson (most likely a teenager) out of the house on a cold winter night and the child died. I have not yet been able to confirm this story. If it's true, it's awful.

Thanks, deb, for the source of the Erin passenger list. I'll answer your latest question -- about sources new to me -- after I've had a break.

Apologies for the length of these posts but I'm two weeks behind the rest of you!

[jaywit]

Dinosaur The 1861 census ref. for Francis James is RG9/2088/28/21. He is staying with an apparently wealthy farming family named Essex.
 Of course we can't be 100% sure he is your Francis but seeing as we can't find him elsewhere he is worth checking out.

[deb usa]

Hi

Margaret Close on her marriage cert states that her parents are
Denis Callins ...maybe Collins and margaret Watson ...so I also assumed that she had been married prior to JTO.

I am trying to find the article re Margaret's son ...

deb

[Greensleeves]

Thank you so much, Dinosaur,for spending so much time posting all this info; I'm sure you are putting a lot of us out of our misery, because we all seem to have got caught up in this story!

I did find Frederick Turner only last night, but as I am a bit of a novice, I wasn't sure it was him - particularly because in the 1871 Maria is referred to as his sister.  For the rest of you, the entries are thus:
1861 census at the Military Barracks, Shoeburyness, Frederick Turner, 25, Sergeant, Royal Artillery, b. Oxford and Elizabeth Turner, 25, b. Gibraltar.
1871 census shows them at Elswick, Northumberland: Frederick Turner, widower,36, Volunteer Adjutant, b. Oxford with Frederick (son) 8, b. Essex, Shoeburyness; Maria (sister), 40, b. Oxford, Woodstock and Frances (niece), 18, b. Berks, Reading.
In 1891 Frederick, 55, Retired Officer, Royal Artillery, is with wife Frances F, 35, b. Reading, and various children.
The entry for Maria had confused me somewhat because I knew Frederick didn't have a sister  called Maria, so thanks for clarifying that one - and many other queries - Dinosaur!

Regards
Greensleeves

[Keziahemm]

Dinosaur we have all been so engrossed in this story, very difficult to stay away!

When I was in Gloucester Archives last week had a look at the baptism of Joseph

St. John The Baptist, Gloucester
9th May 1835 Joseph Osbaldeston son of Josiah & Mary Anne
Father's occupation - Licensed Hawker of Books
Abode - St. John Baptist

Where was ETO baptised?

Susan 

[deb usa]

Hi Greensleeves, Susan and Jay 

It's so fascinating and addictive .....


Susan , on the 1851 census where the family is under the name James ...ETO is b OXFORD.

deb

[Trees]

Thank you Dinosaur for the new newspaper link I have tears rolling down my face as I read that he had exposed a massage impostor to the police and had been accused would you believe of seducing the "imposter's" daughter
http://news.nnyln.net/franklin-county/search.html
Can you imagine him picking the horse off the ground as a stunt to advertise his physical training classes  wonderful
I do hope you don't mind us enjoying this black sheep of the family he really is entertaining to say the least
H