Samuel Turner

> "'Tis some visitor tapping at my chamber door-
> Only this, and nothing more."
>
> -Samuel Turner (The Raven)

Samuel Turner was an American sailer, the genetic father of Maxwell Locke, and the adoptive father of Michael Locke.

## Biographical information

### Marital status

Married (Spouse: Lenore Everett 1823-1829, Alice Mariott 1832-1889)

## Biography

Samuel Turner was born on June 9th, 1796, in Atlanta, Georgia.

As a child, he was sent to a respected school in Georgia, as his parents wanted him to be well-educated.

During the War of 1812, an only sixteen-year-old Turner ran away from home and lied about his age to serve in the US Navy as a sailer, which was something he always wanted to do.

Postwar, he continued his maritime lifestyle and became a merchant sailer in Savannah, Georgia, a major port city.

In 1823, he married a woman named Lenore Everett, but she would die of scarlet fever in 1829. Now a widower, Samuel immersed himself in his work to cope with the grief. He also worked a part-time job on a farm as a farmhand.

In 1832, he met the recently-widowed British nurse Alice Locke and her young son Michael Locke, the former of which he quickly fell in love with.

Within the span of only a few months, the two were married, and the new family stayed in America until early 1835, when they moved back to England. It was around this time that he had a curious encounter with Michael, one that he wouldn't understand the significance of. One day, he decided to show the young Michael coins of various curriencies that he had collected over his sailing years. He handed him an American silver coin at one point for him to look at. After a few moments of holding the coin, Michael suddenly yelped in pain and quickly tossed the coin away from him. Samuel, even though he was unaware of Michael's pricolici blood, was still quite concerned for him. He asked what was wrong, but Michael lied and said that he had been spooked by a bug. Samuel accepted this answer, and he didn't give it any more thought. Soon after, his first and only genetic child, Maxwell Turner, would be born on May 9th, 1835.

As a father, Samuel did his best. His sweet and caring personality along with his traditional Southern hospitality was very different from that of Abe Locke, Alice's former husband. It also helped Michael to grow into a well-behaved and courteous boy after the dangerous teachings Abe had tried to teach him.

On December 6th, 1845, Samuel Turner was working to buy gifts for his family before Christmas, and he had recently sailed to Cuba with his fellow merchant sailers to purchase shipments of cigars and sugar to resell. While alone in his rented room, drinking whisky and reading an old sailing book, he would be approached by a mysterious raven late in the night, who called out to him and taunted him as he thought of his past, including his lost wife Lenore, the loss of which he never fully recovered from. The raven was actually the spirit of Abe Locke, calling out to him as a raven from within hell, and Locke desired revenge for Turner taking his bride. He used his witchcraft to form illusions and was nearly able to break Turner's mind, as he said only the single word of "nevermore" to mock him and stayed all through the night. However, when Turner awoke early in the morning the following day, the raven was nowhere to be found. Turner, even through a viscious hangover, quickly transcribed the night's events in a notebook. He would eventually tell the story to an author named Poe in New York a week later while passing through. Poe would like the story, and he would slightly alter its language and then publish his tale, but without his name included.

On February 19th, 1889, Samuel would die of a stroke. He was buried in a York tomb, and ten years later, when Alice died, she would be buried alongside him.

## Gallery

The spirit of Abe Locke confronts Samuel in 1845