Oscar Turner (October 19, 1867 – July 17, 1902) was an American attorney and politician from Kentucky. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, he was most notable for his service in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

from 1899 to 1901.

Biography

Oscar Turner was born at Woodlands, his father's farm near Woodville, Kentucky, on October 19, 1867. He was the son of Caroline (Gardner) Turner and Oscar Turner, who served in Congress from 1879 to 1885. Turner's great-grandfather was

Winthrop Sargent Winthrop Sargent (May 1, 1753 – June 3, 1820) was a United States patriot, politician, and writer; and a member of the Federalist party. Early life Sargent was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts on May 1, 1753. He was one of eight children ...

, who served as

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Mississippi Territory The Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 7, 1798, until December 10, 1817, when the western half of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Mississippi. T ...

. Edward Turner, who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi, was his grand-uncle. Turner attended the public schools of

Ballard County Ballard County is a county located in the extreme west portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,728. Its county seat is Wickliffe. The county was created by the Kentucky State Legislature in 1842 and ...

and

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, as well as the Louisville Rugby School in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. He studied law at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

, then at the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...

, from which he graduated in 1886. Having graduated at nineteen, Turner did not meet the minimum age required to practice law (twenty-one), so he furthered his education with extensive travel before attaining

admission to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1891 and beginning to practice in Louisville. In addition to practicing law, Turner was active in several business ventures, to include mines in Mexico, a

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, book publishing firm, and real estate including farms and timberland. A

, in 1898, Turner was elected to the

. He served in the Fifty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1899, to March 3, 1901). He declined to run for a second term in 1900 and resumed the practice of law in 1901. In July 1902, Turner became ill while on board a train near Dallas, where he was traveling for business. Turner was hospitalized at St. Paul Sanitarium in Dallas, but refused heart surgery and asked to be taken home. He traveled to Louisville by train but did not recover. Turner died at "Melrose", his home in the Crescent Hill section of Louisville, on July 17, 1902. He was interred at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.

Family

In 1901, Turner married Mary Jane Caldwell, the daughter of

Ben F. Caldwell Ben Franklin Caldwell (August 2, 1848 – December 29, 1924) was an American politician who served two non-consecutive terms as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Illinois in from 1899 to 1905 and from 1907 to 19 ...

. They were the parents of a son, also named Oscar Turner, who was born on May 3, 1902, and died on June 13, 1975. In 1909, Turner's widow married William Norman Cottrell (1870–1916), a

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

attorney and judge.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Oscar 1867 births 1902 deaths Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery Politicians from Louisville, Kentucky Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky 19th-century American legislators University of Louisville School of Law alumni University of Virginia School of Law alumni 19th-century American lawyers 20th-century American lawyers Kentucky lawyers