Adam Turpie was the son of John Turpie (Scotland) and Mary Riddle Turpie (Scotland). Although he and his older brother David H Turpie were born in Cinncinnati, Ohio, his family soon moved to Carroll County, Indiana. Adam's family would maintain a presence in Carroll County for nearly seventy years until his brother Robert's death in 1915, but most of the family soon moved away and so did Adam. By the 1860 census, Adam is living in Piatt County, Illinois, where, on August 11, 1862, at the age of 29, he enlisted in Company K, 107th Illinois Infantry. On June 21, 1865, after nearly three years service during the Civil War, Adam was mustered out at Salisbury, North Carolina. Adam returned to Illinois and probably moved from Piatt County to nearby Macon County because that is where he married his wife Martha Durning on March 22, 1867. He and Martha lived in Macon County just long enough to have their first child, Alta Turpie, in 1870. By the time their son Maxwell was born in 1873, however, they had moved to Woodson County, Kansas, along with Martha's brother David P. Durning and her father John Durning. Apparently still restless, Adam moved his family again - this time to Argentine in the Kansas City area - sometime after 1885 and before 1890. Adam seemed to take root in Argentine, even following his older brother David's footsteps into politics, albeit in a much smaller way as streets commissioner. Eventually, Adam and his wife Martha moved across the river to Independence on the Missouri side. Adam was still living there when he was admitted to the Soldier's Home in Leavenworth on May 1st, 1915. He died there one week later on May 8, 1915. Martha lived in Independence for five more years but subsequently moved to live with her daughter in Topeka where she died in November of 1921.