Sacramento County
Biographies
JABEZ TURNER
JABEZ TURNER.--A pioneer who could tell
many an interesting story about the stirring development of the great Golden State, was the late Jabez Turner, who was born in Northamptonshire, England, on October 25, 1828, and
died in Sacramento, Cal., on December 24, 1907. He arrived in America on September 20, 1852, and
located at Syracuse, N. Y., where he was
employed in the railroad shops. Two
years later, in September, he crossed the line into Ontario, and at Hamilton became foreman of the
railroad shops. In April, 1859, he moved
westward to Grand Rapids, Mich., later returning to Syracuse; and in October, 1862, we
find him at Sturgeon Bay, Wis.
In 1864,
considerably impressed by the repeated stories from California, he left for the Pacific Coast on the first of April;
coming via Panama, he arrived at San Francisco on September 25, 1864. Soon afterwards he made a trip to Honolulu. There he took charge of the building and
equipping of a sugar mill; but he later returned to San Francisco, and on April 1, 1866,
entered the employ of the San Francisco and Alameda Railroad, and
in Alameda he remained until the road became a part of the
Central Pacific, with which he continued until November 14, 1871. He was then transferred to the railroad shops
in Sacramento; and after spending years as foreman, he retired at
the age of seventy-one, and six years later breathed
his last.
He was
elected mayor of Sacramento in March, 1878, making his
campaign on the state workingmen’s ticket, and he served for three years as
mayor of the capital city. He was made a
director of the Sacramento Building and Loan Association, and
was library trustee for fourteen years.
His widow
survived him until February 4, 1923, passing away at the old family home at 819 Nineteenth Street, aged seventy-nine. She was formerly Miss Nancy Phelps, and was
born in Belleville, Ohio. She came
with her parents via Panama, in the sixties, to San Francisco. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Turner were born
six children, four of whom grew up, and three of whom are living: Amy resides
in the family home; Lucy J. is a teacher in the Sacramento public schools; Fred died
in 1908; and Sidney lives in McCloud, Cal.
Transcribed by Suzanne Wood.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches,
Pages 517-518.
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 Suzanne Wood.