Geneva Calcier (Townes) Turner (1893 - 1983)

Born 13 Aug 1893 in Warren, Albemarle, Virginia, United States

Wife of Lorenzo Dow Turner — married 16 Sep 1919 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Died Jun 1983 at age 89 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Biography

Geneva (Townes) Turner is a part of US Black heritage.

Teacher and educator. She was born in Warren, Albemarle Co, Virginia. She moved to Washington, D.C., where she graduated from Howard University cum laude. She married former Howard classmate Lorenzo Turner and assisted him with linguistic research on the Gullah spoken dialect and recorded Gullah songs and speeches. She was a public school teacher in Washington, D.C. and she wrote children's books about African-American historical figures.

She was the editor of the church bulletin of the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church. She was a member of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., and contributed regularly to the Negro History Bulletin published by the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.^[1]

Additionally, Townes Turner was instrumental in establishing the Washington Conservatory of Music and School of Expression.^[2]

In the 1900 census Geneva (age 8) was the single goddaughter of George W Coleman in Scottsville District (Porters Precinct), Albemarle, Virginia, United States.^[3]

• Fact: Residence (1910) Precinct 3, Washington, District of Columbia, United States
• Fact: Residence (1920) Washington, District of Columbia, United States
• Fact: Residence (1930) Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Sources

1. ↑ Geneva Townes Turner Papers, Coll. 212. Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. Howard University. Donated to MSRC by Eugene Maloney in 1993. Finding aid prepared by Zora Martin Felton, April 2004
2. ↑ Geneva Townes Turner Papers, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Eugene Townes. Minimal level processing and machine-readable finding aid completed July 2017 by Kendra Jae.
   • This collection, which dates from circa 1895-1999, contains the personal papers of Geneva Townes Turner and documents her family and her life with Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner. Materials include clippings, correspondence, marriage certificates, photographs, portraits, programs and scrapbooks.
3. ↑ 1900 Census: "United States Census, 1900"
   Citing enumeration district (ED) 11, sheet 4A, family 56, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,698.
   FamilySearch (accessed 15 January 2022)
   FamilySearch Image
   Geneva C Towns (8), single goddaughter in household of George W Coleman (68) in Scottsville District (Porters Precinct), Albemarle, Virginia, United States.

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 31 December 2021, 02:51), entry for Geneva Calcier Townes FamilySearch Person: GDNL-LGP; contributed by various users.