John A. Turk, custodian of the Hancock county court house and one the best-known men in this county, is a native son of Hancock county, having been born on a farm in Center township on March 11, 1865, son of Moses and Rachel E. (Meek) Turk, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of this county. Moses Turk, who was born in the early twenties of the past century, came to Indiana from Virginia when a young man and settled in Wayne county, later coming over into Hancock county, where he married and established his home in Center township, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring when he was sixty-five years of age. He was a Mason and he and his wife were members of the Methodist Protestant church. Mrs. Rachel E. Turk was the daughter of Jeremiah Meek, one of the pioneers of Hancock county, who donated to the county the ground on which the Hancock county court house stands. Moses Turk and wife were the parents of six children, of whom but two now survive, the subject of this sketch, who was the last born, having a sister, Minnie, wife of W. W. Eastes, of Owen county, this state.

John A. Turk was reared on his father's farm and received his schooling in the district school in the neighborhood of his home and in the Greenfield schools. He grew up as a farmer and was engaged in that vocation until he was twenty-eight years of age, when he sold his farm and moved to Greenfield, having married in the meantime, and has made his home in that city ever since. For the first two year after moving to Greenfield, Mr. Turk was engaged in the sale of musical instruments. He then became the proprietor of a laundry and was thus engaged for five years, after which he was engaged in various enterprises until his appointment to the responsible position of custodian of the Hancock county court house in 1913, which position he still occupies. Mr. Turk is a Democrat and for years has given thoughtful attention to the political affairs of the county.

In 1893 John A. Turk was united in marriage ot Nora E. Alfrey, who was born in Marion county, this state, July 7, 1876, and who came to this county with her parents when she was a young girl, and to this union one child had been born, a son, Donivan Arthur Eugene. Mr. and Mrs. Turk are members of the Methodist Protestant church, Mr. Turk being one of the office bearers in that church. Mr. Turk is a Mason, an Odd Fellow and a Red man and he and his wife are both members of the Pocahontas degree of the latter order.

Transcribed from History of Hancock County, Indiana, Its People, Industries and Institutions by George J. Richman, B. L., Federal Publishing Co., Indianapolis, Indiana, 1916. Pages 908-909.

Submitted by Sylvia (Rose) Duda, Laingsburg, MI September 27, 2001.

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