Thomas Goodwin Turner (October 24, 1810 – January 3, 1875) was an American politician and businessman who was the 26th

Governor of Rhode Island The governor of Rhode Island is the head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, o ...

from 1859 to 1860.

Early life

Turner was born in

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...

Bristol County, Rhode Island Bristol County is a county located in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. As of the 2020 census, the population was 50,793, making it the least populous county in Rhode Island. In terms of land area, it is the third-smallest county in the United S ...

. He started work as a clerk in a dry goods store at the age of 14, in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

. He was self-educated, and returned to Warren to co-found a dry goods and tailoring business there. He was married to Mary Pierce Luther. They had seven children, four of whom died in very early life. During the years 1857-58, Turner became an active member of the Baptist Church in Warren. He was a trustee of

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

and a member of the Rhode Island Historical Society. RI Governor Thomas Turner engraving

Career

Turner served in the state militia during the Dorr Rebellion, and commanded the pro- Governor King forces at Acote's Hill. After the rebellion, Turner was elected to the State Assembly from Warren. He served as

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

from 1857 to 1859. Turner succeeded his fellow Republican Elisha Dyer as

, serving from May 31, 1859 to May 29, 1860.The Political Graveyard
as above. He was a supporter of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

, and failed to win renomination by the Republican Party in 1860. After leaving office, he was appointed by President Lincoln to the position of First Collector of Internal Revenue for the First District of Rhode Island.

Later years

Turner was President of the Equitable Insurance Company, of

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, in his later years. He died in his home in

Warren, Rhode Island Warren is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 11,147 at the 2020 census. History Warren was the site of the Pokanoket Indian settlement of Sowams located on a peninsula within the Pokanoket region. The reg ...

.Obituary.; Anthony Hoguet. Hon. Thomas G. Turner. Mrs. Vining.
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' January 4, 1875. He was buried at South Burial Ground, Warren,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Thomas G. 1810 births 1875 deaths Republican Party governors of Rhode Island Burials in Rhode Island People from Warren, Rhode Island American business executives Lieutenant Governors of Rhode Island Trustees of educational establishments 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American businesspeople