San Joaquin County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm



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, N. Y., 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, Nev., 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.
 
History of San Joaquin County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 
1923
p     587
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.