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Henry Turk (1859-1941)

Henry Marshall Turk was the great-grandson of John Marshall and Catharina Truby Rohrer; the grandson of John Marshall and Charlotte Kelker; and the son of John Turk and Mary Ann Marshall. He was named for his Uncle Henry Marshall, who died a prisoner of war at Andersonville. Henry Turk married Nancy Anna "Annie" Allison of Indiana, Pennsylvania, in 1888. He was a noted citizen of Parker, Pennsylvania, and served as an elder in his Presbyterian Church for more than 50 years. He worked as a telegraph operator for Western Union for over 70 years and for more than 60 years recorded the stages of the Allegheny at Parker's Landing. He “was acknowledged to be one of the most competent river observers in the Allegheny valley.” Mr. Turk died tragically at age 83 from being struck by a hit and run driver on a Sunday morning, after he just had checked the river stage at the government station. He was the father of seven children, four of whom survived him.

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