Charles Murray Turpin (March 4, 1878 – June 4, 1946) was a Republican member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

Biography

Turpin was born in

Kingston, Pennsylvania Kingston is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on the western bank of the Susquehanna River opposite Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre. Kingston was first settled in the early 17 ...

on March 4, 1878, and attended the

Wyoming Seminary Wyoming Seminary, founded in 1844, is a Methodist college preparatory school located in the Wyoming Valley of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The "Lower School," which consists of preschool to eighth-grade students, is located in Forty Fort. The "Up ...

in Kingston. He served as a corporal in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

in Company F of the Ninth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and was a member of the

Pennsylvania National Guard The Pennsylvania National Guard is one of the oldest and largest National Guards in the United States Department of Defense. It traces its roots to 1747 when Benjamin Franklin established the Associators in Philadelphia. With more than 18,000 per ...

from 1896 to 1901, rising to the rank of captain. He was employed as a

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...

, grocery clerk, and a

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...

captain before graduating from the dental department of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 1904. After graduation, he commenced the practice of

dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the Human tooth, teeth, gums, and Human mouth, mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, dis ...

in Kingston in 1905. He served as a member of the board of education from 1916 to 1922, burgess of Kingston from 1922 to 1926, and

prothonotary A prothonotary is the "principal clerk of a court," from Late Latin, L.L. ''prothonotarius'' (Wiktionary:circa, c. 400), from Greek ''protonotarios'' "first scribe," originally the chief of the college of recorders of the court of the Byzantine E ...

Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Luzerne County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeaste ...

from 1926 to 1929. Turpin was elected as a Republican to the Seventy-first Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John J. Casey. He was reelected to the Seventy-second, Seventy-third, and Seventy-fourth Congresses. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

. He was appointed assistant chief clerk of the Luzerne County Assessor's Office in

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Wilkes-Barre ( , alternatively or ) is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It ...

Death and interment

Turpin died in Kingston and is buried in Forty Fort Cemetery,

Forty Fort, Pennsylvania Forty Fort is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,233 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Its neighbors are Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Wyoming (to the north), Plains Townsh ...

."Turpin, Charles Murray," ''The Political Graveyard''.

References

The Political Graveyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turpin, Charles Murray 1878 births 1946 deaths People from Kingston, Pennsylvania Republican Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine alumni Pennsylvania prothonotaries American dentists American military personnel of the Spanish–American War Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania School board members in Pennsylvania 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives