San
Joaquin County
Biographies
GEORGE CLINTON TURNER
On his retirement from active work
in 1913, the late George C. Turner left behind him a record of more than thirty
years of faithful and efficient service with the water department of the city
of Stockton. Mr. Turner was born in St.
Lawrence County, New York, August 30, 1851, the son of David Clinton Turner,
who came to California in the fall of 1850.
In 1855 Mrs. Turner came to California to join her husband, bringing
with her George C., who was then four years old, and from that time until 1866
he made his home at Springfield, Tuolumne County. He then spent four years in Carson City,
Nevada, and was at White Pine when gold excitement ran high, coming to Stockton
in 1871, where he first worked for the Globe Iron Works and then spent two
years under Mr. Thresher for the water company and next in the flour mill of R.
B. Lane. In 1882 Mr. Turner re-entered
the employ of the Stockton Water Company, which was later taken over by the
Pacific Gas & Electric Company, and for many years was the chief engineer
of the water department of the company.
Entering the service in its earliest days, he superintended the digging
of many of the first water wells and from that time until he retired on February
12, 1913, he gave long years of conscientious constructive service and was
numbered among the company’s most trustworthy employees.
On February 12, 1872, Mr. Turner was
married to Miss Rebecca Bevan, a native of Pennsylvania, who came to California
in 1863. Four children were born to
them: Frank Clinton Turner is engineer
of the Stockton high school; Mrs. Luella May Wentzel
resides in San Francisco; Mrs. Cora Smith lives in Stockton; George Chester
passed away some years ago.
Public-spirited in his interest in local affairs, Mr. Turner served as a
member of the Stockton Board of Education for six years, and in his death on
September 23, 1921, the community lost a sterling citizen. Mr. Turner was prominent in Masonry, as were
his ancestors for generations before him, and was a member of Morning Star
Lodge No. 68, F. & A. M.; Lodge of Perfection Scottish Rite Masons, and was
a past patron of Homo Chapter, O. E. S., of Stockton. One of the family’s cherished heirlooms is a
Masonic apron, bearing the date of 1818, which belonged to Mr. Turner’s
grandfather.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
587-588. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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