Onésiphore Turgeon

Who was Onésiphore Turgeon?

Onésiphore Turgeon was a Canadian parliamentarian.

Born in Lévis, Canada East, the son of Simon Turgeon and Pélagie Paradis, he was educated at the Séminaire of Quebec and the Université Laval. Turgeon was a journalist in Bathurst, New Brunswick and was editor for Le Courrier des Provinces Maritimes. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons for the New Brunswick riding of Gloucester in the 1900 election. A Liberal, he would be re-elected in each following election up to and including the 1921 election. He was summoned to the Canadian Senate in 1922 representing the senatorial division of Gloucester, New Brunswick on the advice of William Lyon Mackenzie King. He served in Parliament for 44 years until his death in Bathurst at the age of 95 in 1944.

Turgeon was married twice: to Margaret Eulalia Baldwin in 1876 and to Mary Loretta Meahan in 1905.

His son James Gray Turgeon also served as Member of the House of Commons and the Canadian Senate for many years. His other son, William Ferdinand Alphonse Turgeon, was a Saskatchewan politician and judge.

He was author of Un tribut à la race acadienne. Mémoires, 1871-1927, published in Montreal in 1928.