"Spokane and The Spokane Country - Pictorial and Biographical - Deluxe 
Supplement." Vol. II.  The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1912. (No author 
listed.) pg. 5

TURNER, HON. GEORGE 

	Among Spokane's citizens who have figured in national affairs Hon. 
George Turner is prominent. His public service has rested upon the firm basis 
of a wide and thorough knowledge of the law and he has never regarded a public 
office as a personal asset to be used for the promotion of individual 
interests but rather as a trust to be sacredly guarded for the benefit of his 
country and his constituents. While in the courts he has been an important 
factor in the interpretation of the laws and in congress he has aided in 
formulating the legal principles which constitute the stable forces of the 
nation. It would be difficult to point out that period of his life which has 
been of greatest benefit to his fellow men, for as supreme court justice 
of Washington during territorial days, as a member of the constitutional 
convention of the state, as a member of the United States senate and in 
diplomatic service his work has all been fruitful of good results.
	Judge Turner was born in Edina, Knox county, Missouri, February 25, 
1850, a son of Grenville Davenport and Maria (Taylor) Turner. His parents in 
1825 had removed from Kentucky to Missouri and had cast in their lot with the 
pioneer settlers of the latter state, where they maintained their residence 
until called to their final rest. The father, who was a cabinetmaker by trade, 
came of English and Dutch ancestry, while his wife, a daughter of George and 
Maria Taylor, was representative of a family of Scotch-Irish origin that had 
settled at an early period in the part of Virginia which is now West Virginia.
	About 1859 Grenville D. Turner removed with his family to Lebanon, 
Lac1ede county, Missouri, and his son, George, then a lad of nine years, 
became a pupil in the public schools, but his education was interrupted 
owing to the fact that the schools were obliged to be closed when Missouri 
became the scene of conflict between contending armies in the Civil war. His 
father and all of his brothers promptly espoused the cause of the Union and 
served with the volunteer soldiers in the northern army. Judge Turner also 
proved his worth to his country in that trying hour for, although but thirteen 
years of age, he became a military telegraph operator in his home town of 
Lebanon, continuing at that work until the end of the war. He was in the south 
during the reconstruction period and passed the examination for admission to 
the bar at Mobile, Alabama, in 1868, although but eighteen years of age. The 
same year he entered upon the active practice of law in Mobile in connection 
with a friend, Charles E. Mayer, and displayed such ability in the conduct of 
cases that in 1874 the republican party of Alabama named him as its candidate 
for the office of attorney general of the state. Such was his personal 
popularity and the confidence reposed in his ability that he polled a very 
large vote, being defeated by only a small majority. Again and again at 
different periods in his life he has been called from private practice to 
public service. From 1876 until 1880 he filled the position of United States 
marshal for the southern and middle districts of Alabama and in the latter 
year and again in 1884 he was chairman of the Alabama delegation in the 
republican national convention, giving his support in 1880 to General Grant as 
the presidential nominee.
	Judge Turner's identification with Washington dates from 1884, in 
which year he was appointed associate justice of the supreme court of this 
territory. He was assigned to the fourth district, which included the greater  
part of eastern Washington, and had first made his home in Yakima but in 1885 
removed to Spokane, where he has since resided. He proved himself the peer of 
the ablest members who have sat upon the supreme court bench of this state, 
but in 1887 he resigned his judicial position to enter upon the private 
practice of law as a member of the firm of Turner, Foster & Turner.  That 
association continued until 1890, when he became senior member of the firm 
Turner, Graves & McKinstry, so continuing until his election to the United 
States senate in 1897. He is now practicing in the firm of Turner & Geraghty, 
a foremost one in the ranks of the legal profession in the state. His 
opinions while on the bench showed great research, industry and care and 
expressed a solidity and an exhaustiveness from which no members of the bar 
could take exception. While well grounded in the principles of common law when 
admitted to practice, he has continued through the whole of his professional 
life a diligent student of those elementary principles that constitute the 
basis of all legal science. He has been connected with few business interests 
outside the strict path of his profession, yet was one of the men largely 
interested in the celebrated Le Roi mine in British Columbia.
	The bent of Judge Turner's active mind has made him take a lively 
pleasure in the study of the science of government and because of this his 
labors have been particularly effective and beneficial in public offices to 
which he has been called. In 1889 he rendered valuable service as chairman of 
the judiciary committee in the convention which was called to form the state 
constitution of Washington and left the indelible impress of his individuality 
upon the organic law of the state. In his political relations he acted with 
the republican party until 1896, when he supported William Jennings Bryan on 
the silver issue. In the following year he was elected United States senator 
from Washington and in that office served for the full constitutional term, 
retiring in 1903. Presidential appointment made him a member of the Alaska 
boundary tribunal, which met in London in the summer of 1903 and settled the 
Alaskan boundary dispute between the United States and England. In 1910 he 
received from Secretary of State Root the appointment as leading counsel of 
the United States in the northeastern fisheries arbitration at the Hague. Upon 
his retirement from the state department Mr. Root became a participant in the 
case, whereupon Mr. Turner insisted upon withdrawing as leading counsel in 
favor of Mr. Root. The case was opened for the United States by Mr. Turner, 
following Sir Robert Finley, who opened for Great Britain, each occupying 
eight days.
	On the 4th of June, 1878, in Montgomery, Alabama, Mr. Turner was 
united in marriage to Miss Bertha C. Dreher, a daughter of George and 
Catherine (Scheiss) Dreher, the father a native of Saxony and the mother of 
Switzerland. They came to this country at an early day and were married in 
Bridgeport, Connecticut, and later removed to Alabama. His social and 
fraternal relations are with the Masons and the Elks, the Spokane Club, the 
Spokane Athletic Club, the Spokane Country Club, and the Metropolitan Club of 
Washington, D. C. Association with him means expansion and elevation.  He has 
throughout his life been a close student of men and affairs and his analytical 
power has brought him clear understanding of both. This same power has enabled 
him at all times to see below the surface of things in his consideration of 
vital state and national questions and to correctly determine the possible 
outcome of a critical situation. The judicial trend of his mind has kept him 
free from personal bias or prejudice in his public acts and his course has at 
all times sustained the honor of state and country without the sacrifice of 
the rights of other lands. A gracious presence, a charming personality and 
profound legal wisdom all combine to make him one of the most distinguished 
and honored residents of the state of Washington.

Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton

* * * * 

Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
Project.  Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the
individual featured in the biographies.