George Turner

Who was George Turner?

George Turner was a United States Senator from Washington.

Born in Edina, Missouri, he attended the common schools and served as a military telegraph operator with the Union Army from 1861 to 1865. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1869, commencing practice in Mobile, Alabama. From 1876 to 1880, he was United States Marshal for the Southern District of Alabama and Middle District of Alabama, and was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Washington from 1885 to 1888.

He resumed the practice of law in Spokane, Washington in 1888 and was also interested in mining. He was a member of the Territorial Convention in 1889 that framed the first Washington Constitution, the state constitution of Washington, which had recently been admitted to the Union. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 1889 and 1893; he was elected on a fusion ticket with Silver Republicans, Democrats, and Populists support to the U.S. Senate and served from March 4, 1897, to March 4, 1903; he was not a candidate for reelection and resumed the practice of law in Spokane.