Charles Turner Biography


	This biography appears on pages 479-480 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				CHARLES TURNER. 

	Charles Turner, organizer and president of the Bank of Leola at 
Leola and also extensively engaged in farming and stock-raising, is a 
progressive citizen whose activities have been an clement in public 
prosperity as well as individual success. A native of Wisconsin, he was 
born in Janesville, December 13, 1853, a son of John and Margaret 
(Jehu) Turner, natives of England and Wales respectively. They came to 
America in 1838, establishing their home upon a Wisconsin farm, which 
state was then on the frontier, and there their remaining days were 
passed. The father built a hog cabin immediately after his arrival and 
occupied it for some years but at length the primitive home was 
replaced by a more modern and commodious residence. He made other 
excellent improvements upon his farm, divvied it into fields of 
convenient size by well kept fences and carried on his work according 
to the most modern methods. He died in the year 1885, while his wife 
survived until 1893. In their family were eight children, of whom five 
are living. 

	At the age of seventeen years Charles Turner left home and took 
up the profession of teaching, which he followed in the winter months, 
while the summer seasons were devoted to farming. He is a graduate of 
the State Normal School at Whitewater, Wisconsin, and is a well 
educated man who proved an efficient and capable teacher, doing much to 
advance the interests of the schools in the localities in which he 
taught. 

	The spring of 1881 witnessed his arrival in Lake county, South 
Dakota, and throughout the intervening period to the present time he 
has been identified with banking. He was assistant cashier of a bank in 
Lake county for three years and in June, 1884, went to Leola, where he 
organized the McPherson County Bank, now the Bank of Leola, of which he 
has continuously been the president, covering a period of thirty-one 
years. The bank has had a steady and healthful growth. Its policy 
commends it to the confidence and support of the public, for in the 
management of the bank progressiveness and conservatism are well 
balanced factors. Into other branches of business activity Mr. Turner 
has also extended his efforts and is now the owner of a ranch of six 
hundred and forty acres which is stocked with seven hundred head of 
cattle and one hundred and fifty head of horses. In addition he owns 
another tract of hand of five hundred acres and he is the owner of an 
excellent brick bank building in Leoha that he occupies, his town and 
country property being evidence of a life of well directed energy and 
thrift. 

	Mr. Turner has been twice married. In 1880 he wedded Miss Cedora 
Johnson, a native of Wisconsin and a daughter of Isaiah and Nancy Jane 
Johnson. The latter still survives and is now in the eighty-seventh 
year of her age. To Charles and Cedora (Johnson) Turner was born a son, 
Worth C., who is now vice president of the Bank of Leola and is married 
and has two children, Vernon and Delphy. Mrs. Cedora Turner passed away 
in February, 1887, and her remains were interred in the cemetery at 
Leola. In August, 1888, Mr. Turner was again married, his second union 
being with Miss Delphy Johnson, a sister of his first wife, and to them 
have been born five children, as follows: Leslie E., who acts as 
cashier of the Forbes State Bank; George H., the cashier of the Bank of 
Leola; Lyle J., who is a student in the State Normal School at 
Aberdeen; Madge E., who is attending high school; and Gerald A. 

	Mr. and Mrs. Turner are members of the Methodist Episcopal church 
and he is also a member of the Odd Fellows lodge and the Modern Woodmen 
camp, while in Masonry he has not only taken the degrees of the blue 
lodge but has also attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish 
Rite and is a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. In his political views he is 
an earnest republican and has served as register of deeds in McPherson 
county. He has also been a member of the school board of Leola and the 
cause of education finds in him a stalwart champion. He recognizes the 
duties and obligations as well as the privileges of citizenship and 
works earnestly to advance the public welfare. At the same time he is 
carefully managing his business interests. He is a man of resolute 
purpose and obstacles and difficulties give way before his perseverance 
and industry as snow melts before the summer sun. He applies himself 
closely to all work at hand and in the faithful performance of each 
day's tasks finds strength, courage and inspiration for the labors of 
the succeeding day. It has been along this path that his substantial 
success has been achieved.