OUT OF THE WILDERNESS
A Western Quest Series Novel

Foreword
     
            This book is a work of fiction based on the few facts that are known about Thomas Turner of Ireland, my great-great-great-great-grandfather. An effort has been made to use historically correct names, dates, locations, and events when they are known. Glimpses of Thomas Turner are seen on deeds, maps, and early documents of colonial South Carolina. The location of the plantation is known from the deed and early maps of Marlboro County. This novel is written from his viewpoint as a fictionalized account of what his life must have been like in the remote parts of the forested wilderness of colonial America. Marlboro County was a very isolated and thinly populated area before the Revolutionary War. It was mostly continuous mixed hardwood and pine forest interrupted by streams and rare homesteads. We know that Thomas Turner came to this wilderness area, carved out a plantation and raised a family. From pension records, we know that the Turners fought in the Revolutionary War with the American patriots. I hope this will give the reader a glimpse into his life.