Daisy Turner Papers

Jessie “Daisy” Turner was born in 1883 in Grafton, Vermont to freed slaves that escaped the southern states during the Civil War. Her father escaped to New Jersey and joined the Union Army there. After the war he moved to Boston and got married. In 1872 he moved to Grafton, Vermont and started to make a family. Daisy Turner is one of 13 children to Alec and Sally Early and they lived at their dream home, Journey’s End, in Grafton. They owned a timber mill and a small farm where Daisy worked for her father.

She moved to Boston in 1902 and was engaged but it ended poorly with an affair and a suit; she won $3,000 in a settlement. She vowed to never marry and returned home in 1923. Her father died the same year and she then made a living by renting a hunting lodge outside of Journey’s End for many years until it burned down in 1962. She lived in Grafton until 1985 when her niece persuaded her, at age 103, to move into a nursing home in Springfield, Vermont called the Springfield Convalescent Center. She died in 1988.

Daisy and her family were known for story telling and singing. She kept that tradition throughout her life even into her old age. These stories covered the Civil War, racism in the north east, business stories about her father, and her encounter with her unfaithful fiancé. She gained local fame and had a movie created about her which was a finalist in the American Film and Video Festival. She appeared in many more films and stories even into her 100s. She championed her family history and kept the legacy of storytelling alive until she passed away in 1988 at 104.