Charles Turner, Jr.

Who was Charles Turner, Jr.?

Charles Turner, Jr. was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.

Born in Duxbury, Massachusetts, Turner received a common-school education at Duxbury and Scituate, Massachusetts. He was commissioned an adjutant in the Massachusetts State Militia in 1787. He was promoted to major in 1790, and held the rank of lieutenant colonel commandant 1798–1812.

He was appointed first postmaster of Scituate, Massachusetts, in 1800. He was in the Justice of the Peace. He served as member of the State house of representatives in 1803 and 1805–1808.

He successfully contested as a Democratic-Republican the election of William Baylies to the Eleventh Congress. He was reelected to the Twelfth Congress and served from June 28, 1809, to March 3, 1813. He served as chairman of the Committee on Accounts. "...Charles Turner, member for the Plymouth district, and Chief-Justice of the Court of Sessions for that county, was seized by a crowd on the evening of August 3, [1812] and kicked through the town."

He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Thirteenth Congress. He served in the State senate in 1816. He was again a member of the State house of representatives in 1817, 1819, and 1823. He was appointed steward of the Marine Hospital at Chelsea, Massachusetts. He served as delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1820.