Charles Turner Jr. (June 20, 1760 – May 16, 1839) was a U.S. Representative from

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. Born in

Duxbury Duxbury (alternative older spelling: "Duxborough") is a historic seaside town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb located on the South Shore approximately to the southeast of Boston, the population was 16,090 at the 20 ...

in the

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of ...

, Turner received a common-school education at Duxbury and Scituate. 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 Scituate () is a seacoast town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on the South Shore, midway between Boston and Plymouth. The population was 19,063 at the 2020 census. History The Wampanoag and their neighbors have inhabited ...

, in 1800. He was in the

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or '' puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the s ...

. He served as member of the State house of representatives in 1803 and 1805–1808. He successfully contested as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

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 (Twelfth Congress). "...Charles Turner, member for the

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to ...

district, and Chief-Justice of the Court of Sessions for that county, was seized by a crowd on the evening of August 3, 812and kicked through the town." Adams, Henry, ''History of the United States of America during the Administrations of James Madison'', , p. 574. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the

Thirteenth In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octa ...

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 Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. As of the 2020 census, Chelsea had a population of 40,787. With a total area of just 2.46 square miles, Chelsea is the ...

. He served as delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1820. He also engaged in agricultural pursuits. Possibly the first non-Native American to climb

Mount Katahdin Mount Katahdin ( ) is the highest mountain in the U.S. state of Maine at . Named Katahdin, which means "Great Mountain", by the Penobscot Native Americans, it is within Northeast Piscataquis, Piscataquis County, and is the centerpiece of Bax ...

in Maine, Turner was the first to record his climb. About the ascent he wrote: On Monday, August 13, 1804, at 8 o’clock A.M. we left our canoes at the head of boat waters, in a small clear stream of spring water, which came in different rivulets from the mountain, the principal of which (as we afterwards found) issued from a large gully near the top of the mountain. At 5 o'clock, P.M. we reached the summit of the mountain. Katahdin is the southernmost and highest of a collection of eight or ten mountains, extending from it north east and north west. He died in

, May 16, 1839. He was interred in the burial ground of the First Parish of Norwell (formerly Scituate).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Charles Jr. 1760 births 1839 deaths Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives American militia officers Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts