Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/227

 TURNER

TURNER

TURNER, Edward, jurist, was born in Fair- fax county, Va., Nov. 25, 1778. He attended Transylvania university ; studied law, and began practice in Natcliez, Miss., in 1802. He served as aide-de-camp to Gov. William C. C. Claiborne, and subsequently as his private secretary ; was clerk of the territorial house of representatives, 1802 ; register of the land-office, 1803 ; a repre- sentative from "Warren county in the territorial legislature, 1811, and several times afterward from Adams county. He was city magistrate of Natchez and president of the board of selectmen, 1813 ; a member of the state legislature from its beginning in 1818 until 1822, with the exception of one term, when he served as attorney-general of the state, and was twice speaker of the house. He was judge of the criminal court of Adams county, 1822-24 ; of the supreme court of Mis- sissippi, 1824-29 ; chief-justice, 1829-32; chan- cellor of the state, 1834-39; judge of the supreme court, 1840-43, and in the latter year a member of the state senate. He is the author of : Statutes of the Mississipjn Territory (1816). He died in Natchez, Miss., May 23, 1860.

TURNER, George, senator, was born in Edina, Mo., Feb. 25, 1850. He received a common school education, practised law, and was U.S. marshal for the southern and middle districts of Alabama, 1876-80. He was married, June 4, 1878, to Bertha C. Dreher of Montgomery, Ala. He was asso- ciate justice of the supreme court for the territory of Washington, 1884-86 ; and a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1889. He was a Republican prior to 1896, when he supported Bryan for the presidency. In 1897 was elected U.S. senator by the People's party, composed of Democrats, Silver Republicans, and Populists, for the term ending March 3, 1903.

TURNER, Henry Q., representative, was born in Franklin county, N.C., March 20, 1839 ; son of Archibald Adams and Mary A. (Howze) Turner ; grandson of Vines and Anna (Adams) Turner, and of William and Elisabeth (Thomas) Howze. He attended the University of Virginia in 1857, and in 1858 removed to the south, and in 1859 to Brooks county, Ga., where he taught school. He joined the Confederate army as a private in 1861 and served throughout the civil war, attaining the rank of captain, and being severely wounded at the battle of Gettysburg, Pa. He was married in 1865 to Lavina Calhoun, daughter of James O. and Sarah A. (Bonney) Morton of Brooks county, Ga. He was admitted to the bar in 1865 ; was presidential elector on the Horace Greeley ticket in 1872 ; was a representative in the state legisla- ture in 1874-75, 1876, 1878 and 1879, and a dele- gate to the Democratic national convention of 1876. He was a Democratic representative from the third congressional district of Georgia in the

47th, 48th, 49th, 50th, 51st and 52d congresses, 1881-93, and from the eleventh district in the 53d and 54th congress, 1893-97.

TURNER, Henry McNeal, A.M.E. bishop, was born at Newberry Court House, S.C, Feb. 1, 1834; son of Hardy and Sarah (Greer) Turner, and grandson of David and Hannah Greer. He taught himself to read and write, and in 1849 entered a law office where he was assisted with his studies. He joined the M.E. church, south, in 1848, and was licensed to preach in 1853, and after traveling and preaching among the Negroes in South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, he transferred his membership to the African M. E. church in 1858. He joined tlie Missouri annual conference ; became an itiner- ant minister, and was transferred to the Balti- more annual conference. He studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew and theology at Trinity college for four years ; was pastor of Israel church, Washington, D.C., in 1863 ; assisted in organizing the 1st colored regiment, U.S.A., and was the first colored chaplain of the U.S. troops ever commissioned. He was mustered out in Septem- ber, 1865, and recommissioned by President John- son a chaplain in the regular army, but declined and was detailed as officer of the Freedmen's bureau of Georgia. He resigned his commission in 1866, and resumed his ministry ; was a member of the constitutional convention of Georgia in 1867 ; elected a representative in the state legis- lature in 1868 and 1870 ; and was successively, postmaster of Macon, inspector of customs and U.S. secret detective. At the general conference of the A.M.E. church, held in 1876, lie was chosen manager of its publications at Philadel- phia, Pa., and was elected bishop by the general conference held at St. Louis, Mo., 1880. He ad- vocated the return of the Negro race to Africa, and organized four annual conferences there. He was married, first, Aug. 31, 1856, to Eliza Ann Peacher ; secondly, Aug. 10, 1893, to Mrs. Martha E. DeWitt, and thirdly at Baltimore, Md., Aug. 16, 1900, to Harriet E., widow of Bishop A. W. Wayman. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on liim by the University of Pennsylvania in 1872 ; that of D.D. by Wilber- force university in 1873, and that of D.C.L. by the Liberian college of West Africa. He is the author of : Methodist Polity and Hymn Book of the A.M.E. Church.

TURNER, James, senator, was born in South- ampton county, Va., Dec. 20, 1766. He removed with his family to northern North Carolina in 1770 : joined the Patriot army in 1775, and served througliout the Revolutionary war in a company of North Carolina volunteers under Col. John Macon. He was a representative from Warren county in the state legislature, 1797-1800 ; state