From Unflinching Courage by Adele Bushman Westover and J. Morris Richards, pp. 600-601
Isaac Turley, one of the leaders in the early years of Joseph City, was born on November 22, 1837, at Churchville, Toronto, Canada. He was the son of Theodore Turley and Frances Amelia Kimberly.
He was married in I860 to Sarah Greenwood, and later according to the custom among the church members, married a second wife, Clara Ann Tolton on October 4, 1867.
During his boyhood he was a close friend of Joseph F. Smith in Salt Lake City, and this acquaintance had an influence on him throughout his life.
He learned the trade of black smithing, and was often called to care for and repair the wagons in the early days of the colonies.
Isaac was called to settle in the Salt River Valley of Arizona in 1877 in the company of Daniel Jones which founded Lehi, near Mesa. He left St. George in March of that year, accompanied by his first wife and family and arrived at Hayden Ferry, where Tempe is low located in July.
He returned to Beaver, Utah, in September 1877, and made a trip to Salt Lake City to counsel with President John Taylor. He was released from the Jones Camp to go to St. Joseph (Allen’s Camp) on the Little Colorado.
They left for St. Joseph on November 20,1877, he and his wife Clara Ann Tolton, five children, in three wagons and a new buggy, with 150 head of cattle and 75 horses.
Here they joined the United Order Co. that had been formed on April 28, 1877. He served as one of the officers of the United Order until he moved, on May 7, 1881, to Snowflake with his two families.
In the spring of 1885, Isaac Turley went to Mexico and located at Canalitar. Later he moved to San Jose and established a community which took the name of Turleys. He was appointed presiding Elder for the 25 families living there.
That autumn he went to Snowflake and moved his wife Sarah Greenwood and children to Mexico, with the exception of his son Theodore who remained at Snowflake.
The following spring, 1886, he returned again and moved his wife Clara to Mexico. They reached Benito, Juarez, on May 27.
After a long fruitful life, during which he raised two large families, he died on December 3, 1908 in Mexico.
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