Shortly after my father's death in 1979, I got out pencil and paper and sat my mother down and started collecting family names. (I still have that sheet of paper) Now you must remember that most of my life I was called "Judy" and when I learned that I was named after Julia Turnbull, my Great Grandmother, I realized it was because Julia was held in such high regard for having raised my mother because her own mother had died in the great flu epidemic in 1918. I am so proud to carry her name.

Anyway, I was still very busy raising my family and then Carl went into business and my time was devoted to helping him. FINALLY in 1989 we retired and started traveling. About 1991, in Tifton, GA., I went into the public library to get a pecan pie recipe and found myself in the genealogy room. There was a book of the NYS 1790 census on the shelf which I picked up to search for the family names I could remember (Turnbull, Wilson, Hornbrook). Imagine my surprise when they were all in the book! But were they my family?

So I sat down and started reading some genealogy magazines the library had. I found the address for the Turnbull Clan Association and wrote to Dorothy Berk. As a result of her publishing my letter, I received a note from Gary Turnbull of Utah and Lynn Turnbull Butler of Texas. WOW...did I really have cousins that far away?

Well, I got my hands on a northern NY telephone book and sent letters to every Turnbull listed. I was fortunate enough to have been referred to Donald of Antwerp. And the ball just kept rolling from there. Lynn helped me learn some of the ins and outs of research and was instrumental in my knowledge of the data offered by the Latter-Day-Saints Church. I spent hours reading microfilm both at the LDS Church and the public libraries I visited. I visited county court houses, cemeteries, state archives and any resource I could find. I was fortunate enough to have an understanding husband who took me to various states to do research, from New York to South Dakota, Utah and Washington. And of course there was Gordon, whose own father had done so much research. After all of that is when I met your brother , Donald W. Turnbull, and learned of a whole new branch of the family.

While much more could be added to this story there is no end to it. Genealogy is now my passion. In fact just yesterday, 8 August 2003, I returned from Valleyfield, PQ, Canada in search of data on our Isabella Turnbull Bryden and her descendants. .