Turner, Joe E., House

The Turner House is an excellent example of mid-nineteenth-century rural Texas domestic architecture. This house is one of the earliest structures still existing in the Hill County area, dating from the 1850s. Remarkably, the house remained relatively unchanged following modifications during the 1880s.

The typical characteristics of an early Texas house are evident in the plan, construction, orientation, and siting of the house. The plan is a "double house" with a room on either side of the open central hall or "run," with enclosed shed rooms along the north facade and an open porch extending along the south. Large hand-hewn, mortised, and pegged oak members provide the structural framework of the house. Except for the flush, horizontal cypress boarding shielded by the porch on the south, all other exterior walls are faced with cypress weatherboarding (clapboards). The window sash is pegged. The house is oriented with the porch toward the south protecting against the summer sun. The site is on the rise on the "mountain", located near a natural spring on the headwaters of Richland Creek.

The house is located on land granted to the heirs of a Texas soldier, Orlando Wheeler, who was killed fighting for Texas Independence at Goliad. One-third of the original grant, or 1573 acres, was allocated to Wm. L. Mitchell as "locative interest" for locating the grant. Mitchell, originally from Tennessee, gained title to the land in 1856, probably moved there shortly thereafter, and built the house.

In 1867, William and Mary Mitchell sold their property to Capt. John Stubblefield of Walker County, Texas for $1400 and moved to Ellis County. John Stubblefield was born on November 4, 1804. Sources list him as being from any one of three places: Virginia, North Carolina, or Kentucky. He lived in southeastern Texas as early as 1840. The Census of 1860 lists him as a cotton planter in Walker County worth $13,000 in real estate and $47,789 in personal property (including twenty-six slaves.)

Cattle owned by John Stubblefield ranged along the Richland and Pecan Creeks in Hill County early in the 1850's. According to the records surveyed, Stubblefield established the earliest ranching operation in Hill County. At the peak of these ranching activities, Stubblefield owned 1700 cattle and 120 horses. During the early 1860s, Stubblefield purchased 800 acres in the southern part of Hill County, but he did not move to the county until 1867, after the Civil War. This was when he bought the Mitchell property. Two years later he purchased additional land, including a gristmill and sawmill in Johnson County. This last site developed into a community named Stubblefield.

John Stubblefield died on April 3, 1877. Three years after his death, Joe E. Turner bought the place from Jacob Stubblefield, the adopted son and heir of John Stubblefield. The Joe E. Turner family modified the house, presumably during the 1880's. At this time the hall was enclosed and the kitchen addition replaced the north-west shed room. Joseph Turner's son, Reuben, lived in the house until 1950. Following Reuben Turner's occupancy, the house was abandoned for living purposes.

Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Crouch of Itasca, Texas, now own the house and are in the process of restoring it to its earlier appearance.