Butte County
Biographies
JOHN C. TURNER
JOHN
C. TURNER.--A name that stands high on the list of successful ranchers, in
the community one mile east of Bangor, Butte
County, where he has resided for about forty
years, is John C. Turner, a native of Maine, where he
was born on October 28, 1841, in the town of Moscow, Somerset
County. He is the son of Asa and Deborah (Whittier)
Turner. The father was born in Massachusetts
and was a seafaring man, as in fact all of the Turner family had been for many
generations. The progenitor of this
particular branch of the Turner family was Humphrey Turner, who was born in England
and came to America
in colonial times. John C. Turner’s
paternal grandfather was Capt. Asa turner, the owner of a sailing vessel, and
at one time actively engaged in the West Indian trade, until his ship was
confiscated by British privateers during the War of 1812.
John
C. Turner grew up in Maine, where
he received his education in the public school.
When he was about twenty years of age, on June 25, 1861, he enlisted in
Company A, Sixteenth Maine Volunteer Infantry; and
after several years of splendid service in the defense of his country, he
received his discharge on August 15, 1865, at Baltimore,
Md.
His service included the Battle of Fredericksburg, where he was wounded
on December 13, 1862, in the left hand, which disqualified him for active
service at the front, but he was assigned to detached duty with the Veteran
Reserve Corps, Second Battalion, where he did clerical work. He served until the time of his discharge in
the assistant provost marshal general’s office, in Baltimore. At the time of his honorable discharge, he
was a corporal. After leaving the army
he returned to his old home farm in Maine, where he
remained a year and a half; and then, in 1867, he left for California,
sailing by the way of Nicaragua, and
landing in San Francisco on March
17, 1867. After his arrival he located
at St. Louis, Sierra
County, and there engaged in
mining. For four years he was in the
livery stable business in Sierra County,
and then kept the hotel at Scales for about five years. In June, 1878, he located in Butte
County, and bought his ranch of
four hundred forty acres, upon which he has made splendid improvements.
In
1868, at St. Louis, Sierra County,
Mr. Turner was united in marriage with Miss Jane Lafferty, who was born in Canada,
but had been a resident of California
since the fall of 1866. She was a
daughter of James and Lillian (Eagleson)
Lafferty. Mr. Lafferty came from Canada
to California in 1861, and located in Sierra
County, where he followed
mining. He was joined by his wife in
1863; and in 1866 Mr. Lafferty went back after his two daughters, who had been
left in school in Ontario. Mr. and Mrs. Lafferty later returned to Canada,
where they both died. Mr. and Mrs.
Turner were blessed with six children:
Egbert J. is a railway mail clerk, and resides at Oakland;
Fred M. is the manager of the Los Verjeles olive
project in Yuba County;
Manley M. is on the home ranch; Wallace R. is manager of Hecker’s Shoe Store,
at Oroville; Harry C. was engaged in mining at Engles’
Mine, in Plumas County, and is now employed in shipbuilding in Oakland; and F.
Whittier resides with her parents.
Mr.
Turner is an ardent supporter of every good movement that has as its aim the upbuilding of the best interests of the community; and
especially is this true in educational matters, as he has served his district
for twenty-one years as a school trustee.
He is a member of W. T. Sherman Post, No. 96, G. A. R., at Oroville, and
is one of the oldest members of the Clampers in Butte
County. In politics, he is a Progressive, and
supported Hon. Hiram Johnson for governor of California. For his uprightness of character and
honorable dealings, he is highly esteemed by all who know him.
Transcribed by Barbara Gaffney.
Source: "History of Butte County, Cal.," by
George C. Mansfield, Pages 564-567, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA,
1918.
© 2007 Barbara Gaffney.
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