A. J. TURNER
A. J. Turner, proprietor of the lumber yards at 734 Bryant street, was
born in Rockland, Maine, in 1828. His early days were passed on the home farm,
and at the age of fourteen years he engaged in a lumber yard near Boston for
several years. He then went to that city and learned the trade of carpenter,
and followed the same until 1851, when he took passage at New York for
California, via the Nicaragua route, and arrived in San Francisco January 1,
1852. He then followed the general trend of all new arrivals and went to the
mines at Placerville, but after a few months he became satiated with the life
and returned to Sacramento, and was at that place during the great fire and
flood of January, 1853. In the spring of 1853, Mr. Turner came to San Francisco
and worked at carpentering, and was also interested in ranching at Petaluma,
which he followed at intervals until 1856. In that year he began work at Meiggs
& Gawley, the largest lumber dealers in the city, and Mr. Turner became
superintendent of their yard and was in their employ for seventeen years. In
1871 he engaged in mining as president of the Gold Run Mining Company and
financier of the enterprise, and subsequently purchasing the property, of which
he is still in possession. In 1875 he organized a lumber company under the
co-partnership name of Turner, Kennedy & Shaw, with yards established on
Fourth street, between Berry and Channel. This interest continued until 1889,
when Mr. Turner retired from the business, and in January, 1890, established
his present year, which is amply supplied with pine, redwood and cedar, of
which he carries about 2,000,000 feet, also lath and shingles.
He was married in San Francisco in 1859, to Miss Anna M. Staibard, a
native of Eastport, Maine, and eight years after their marriage they took a
trip to the East to the scenes of their childhood. They have one child, Emma
Augusta, now Mrs. George L. Fish, of Oakland, where he is prominently connected
with the grocery business, both the wholesale and retail departments. With his
long connection and extended acquaintance Mr. Turner has conducted a very large
business to which he has been closely allied, not being a secret order man or a
seeker after political emoluments. He is temperate in his habits, and states
with pride that he has never drank a glass of whisky. He is an ardent lover of
fine horses, of which he has four of the finest truck horses in the State, with
an average weight of 1,600 pounds: also one road horse. He has a handsome
residence at 1220 McAllister street, where, after a long and busy life, he is
enjoying the peaceful surroundings and a happy home.
Transcribed
by Donna L. Becker
Source: "The
Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 1, page 497, Lewis Publishing Co., 1892.