Lingo-Turner settlement in Missouri

Several related families moved from Tennessee to Missouri in 1829, creating a thriving community, including a town of Lingo. A few excerpts of information about this community are included below. Two of the Lingos that moved to Missouri were Mary Lingo, who married Joseph Turner, and Samuel Sanders Lingo, children of James McEwen Lingo 1780–1859, brother of Elijah Lingo 1774–1830, who moved to Georgia around 1794.

Mary Lingo and Joseph Turner

Joseph Turner – when he was 18 years old he went from North Carolina to Tennessee (Tennessee being formerly a part of North Carolina).  He married Mary Lingo in Tennessee when he was about 20 years old.  After their marriage, they moved with a colony of Turners, Lingos and others to Randolph County, MO in 1829, and settled about nine miles westerly from Huntsville.  Joseph Turner gave a tract of land near Munker’s Creek for a church building and a grave and burial ground and named the place Eldad Church.  Joseph Turner was appointed Justice by President Andrew Jackson and his jurisdiction covered a large territory.  He was afterwards elected Judge for Randolph County, MO. In the 1850 Randolph County Census, Joseph Turner and family are living next door to Hiram Epperly and his family as well as Shelton Epperly and his two children. Eldad Cemetery is located 2.5 miles SW of Darksville, MO (source)

Judge Samuel Sanders Lingo

Added notes:

I know his obituary says he was born in Lincoln Co., TN. But Lincoln Co was not established till 1809. In 1805 it would have been Rutherford County, TN. On the 1820 Census his father James is listed in Lincoln Co., TN with a 15 year-old white male in his household. On 9 August 1825 Samuel married Sarah P. Smith. The record indicates he was born in 1805 in Tennessee. On the 1830 Census we find Samuel listed next to his father James in Lincoln Co., TN. On 1 October 1833 Samuel and his father James each purchased 80 acres of land in Randolph County, Missouri. On the 1850 Census his birthplace is listed as Tennessee, but on the 1860 and 1870 census Samuel’s birthplace is listed as South Carolina. 

Below are lightly-edited accounts that others posted on FamilySearch. There may be errors!

Samuel S. Lingo and Sarah (Smith) Lingo and James Lingo (his father) moved to Randolph County, Missouri about 1830. He was listed in the 1830 Census in He was a farmer, teacher and finally a judge for 35 years. Two of his sons were also judges. Bill Lingo located marriage certificates in Macon County, Missouri that were signed by James M. Lingo – Minister of the Gospel. Samuel Saunders Lingo had 18 children with Sarah Smith Samuel remarried in 1858 to Nancy Perrin, and they had 8 children. Thirteen of his children reached adulthood and married, according to Bill Lingo’s records.

From a different author:

Samuel S. Lingo was married twice. He had 13 children with his first wife, (Sarah Smith) and by his second wife (Nancy Perrin) had seven children, 4 sons and 3 daughters, thus making a total of 20 children. Samuel S. Lingo was a judge and the township of Lingo, in Macon County, was named after him. Samuel S. Lingo came to Missouri from Tennessee. He settled for a few years in Randolph Co., but moved to Macon County in 1845. He homesteaded land in Section 33, Lingo Township. The township was just being organized at that time and was named for him. He was a prominent man and served for 16 years as County Judge. He was twice married and his children numbered 20. He ended his days full of honors and years on the 25th of June 1877. Following information from Lingo Family Record, as compiled by David Lingo: Farming and cattle raising on his extensive holdings in Section 33 of Lingo township occupied most of his efforts, but Judge Lingo – he served sixteen years on the County Court Bench – found time to teach school and aid in other public activities. His fruitful and checkered career, beginning in the rugged hills of Lincoln County, Tennessee, ended in the prairie country of Lingo township, full of honor and esteem, on the 25th of June 1877. Interment was in Lingo Cemetary. Notes from June Epperly – Will of Samuel S. Lingo, Pg 135, “To my wife, Nancy Lingo, to my three children, Robinson Lingo, Perry D. G. Lingo, Alfred W. Lingo. To my heirs: Isaac S, James McNary, George W. Lingo, Joseph T. Lingo, John L. Lingo, Samuel H., Lee, Andrew I. Margaret A. Lingo, Perry D.G. Lingo, and Alfred W. Lingo. Lee and James M. Lingo, Exe. Written 31 May 1877. Witnesses: R. C. Mitchell, George W. Green, and T. w. McCormick, Recorded 7 June 1877” Typed as written in Book. From the book, “Gateway to the History of the Green Hills, 1976: Lingo Family History.” Samuel S. Lingo, with wife, Sarah Smith, and two sons, came from Tennessee to Missouri about 1830. They were among the early settlers of Randolph county, establishing themselves in the frontier settlement of Chariton Township on Darks Prairie, east of Chariton River. For ten Samuel and Sarah Lingo farmed and raised cattle (and children) in this outpost of civilization. Samuel taught school in combinataion with his farm work. Sarah was kept busy with house work and helping raise their children (10 before their move to Macon County. The youngest of these, Lee, was born December 16, 1843. Macon County was eight years old when the Lingos arrived. Bloomington was its first county seat – later moved to Macon City. The corner where the Lingo settled was then part of Russell township, but a new township was formed, the largest in the county; and was named Lingo for Samuel and his family. A year after their arrival in the new location, an eleventh child, Andrew J. was born to the Lingos. Two more children (daughters) came before the death of Sarah in 1853, possibly in childbirth with daughter Virginia. A second marriage to Nancy Perrin in 1854 brought seven more children (four sons and three daughters). These, added to the thirteen by his first wife, made a total of twenty children for Samuel S. Lingo. Farming and cattle raising on his extensive holding in Section 33 of Lingo township occupied most of his effort, but Judge Lingo (he served 16 years on the County Court Bench) found time to teach school and aid in other public activities. His fruitful and checkered career, beginning in the rugged hills of Lincoln County, TN, ended in the prairie country of Lingo township, full of honor and esteem, on June 25th, 1877. Interment was in Lingo Cemetary. (From Lingo Family Record, as compiled by David Lingo) From records sent to June Epperly from Robert Lingo: Samuel Sanders Lingo was born in Lincoln County, TN and moved to Randolph County, MO., in 1830 along with the Turner family. In 1845 he moved to the west side of the Chariton River, in Macon County, MO, settling on a farm in Section 33. The township was being organized at the time, and named for him. In 1850, he crossed the plains with his son George W., and both commenced mining near Coloma, California, but he returned to Missouri in 1852. He lived most of his life on this farm, also teaching school in the township, until moving near College Mound. At the age of 18 he became a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, founded by Joseph Turner. He was a member of the A.F. & A.M. Society. While living west of the Chariton River, he served sixteen years as Judge of the Macon County Court. Macon County Missouri: