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INDIANA GENEALOGY EXPRESS
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Welcome to
ELKHART COUNTY,
INDIANA
HISTORY &
GENEALOGY |
BIOGRAPHIES
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#1 - Page 654
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PERRY L. TURNER,
who for over twenty years has held a secure position
among the principal lawyers of this county, who has
risen to a place of commanding influence and great
professional prestige among the members of the bar
and the general public, was born on a farm in Osolo
township, Elkhart county, Oct. 27, 1860. His
parents were Lyman Turner, now deceased, and
Tamar (Wilkinson) Turner, still living.
They took up their residence in this county in 1849.
They had five children, but the only two living are
Perry L. and Dr. Porter Turner, both
of Elkhart.
Like so many men who have risen to prominence in the
professions, Mr. Turner spent his youth on a
farm, where he assisted his father during the time
he was not in school. Supplementing his common
school training by attendance at the Elkhart city
high school, where he was graduated in the class of
1879, he taught in the country schools of the county
in the winters of 1879-80-81, and during the
corresponding summers took a select literary course
in the Northern Indiana Normal at Valparaiso,
receiving his diploma from that institution in 1881.
In May, 1882, he entered the law office of
Captain O. T. Chamberlain at Elkhart and took up
the study of law under that well known jurist.
Obtaining admission to the bar in 1884, he at once
became the law partner of his preceptor, and the law
firm of Chamberlain and Turner
continued with uninterrupted success until 1902, i
which year the senior member withdrew to make his
home in California. Since then Mr. Turner
has practiced alone and has maintained the high
reputation for legal skill and ability which has
always characterized the firm. In 1885 he was
elected city attorney of Elkhart, and the
satisfactory record he made in this office is shown
in the fact that he was retained in the office for
sixteen consecutive years. He has the ablest
qualifications as a lawyer, the keen perception, the
analytical mind, the knowledge of law, and as a
trial lawyer in particular he has made and well
sustained a reputation throughout this section of
the state.
Besides attending to a large practice, Mr. Turner
has connections with many other enterprises.
He is general counsellor for the Modern Samaritans
of the World, with which order he is affiliated.
He is vice-president of the Elkhart Gas Company and
is a director in the First State Bank of Elkhart.
He is a Master and Chapter Mason, and a member of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of
Pythias, and both he and his wife are members of the
Episcopal church. Mr. Turner is
proprietor of and caused the erection of the Law
Exchange building in Elkhart, in which he has his
own law offices. His law library is considered
one of the largest and best selected in the state,
and his private library at home indicates the
breadth and scope of his intellectual interests.
He has never interested himself to any extent in
practical politics, but in the public welfare of his
city and county he yields to no one in
public-spirited endeavor.
Mr. Turner was married in 1885 to Miss Mamie
E. Wright. Her father, the late H. C.
Wright, was the first mayor of the city of
Elkhart, and for many years a prominent lumber
dealer and leading citizen. Mrs. Turner,
who was born and reared at Elkhart, is a graduate of
St. Mary's Academy of South Bend and of Peekskill
Seminary in New York. For years she has been a
leading spirit in the social and club life of
Elkhart, and is recording secretary of the Indiana
State Federation of Women's Clubs. |
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