Wm. Turner, a prominent farmer and stock raiser of the Eighth District, was born in White County March 13, 1839, the third child of James and Ann (Lyda) Turner. The father was born about 1814, in Tennessee. He was a successful farmer of White County; he died in 1840. The mother is of Dutch descent, born about 1816. She is an earnest and respected member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. At the age of nineteen our subject began farming on his own resources. In July, 1861, he entered the Confederate Army, Company E, Twenty-fifth Tennessee Infantry, under command of Col. S. S. Stanton. He took active part in the battles of Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Drury Bluff and Knoxville. April 2, 1865, he was captured and imprisoned at Johnson Island, Ohio, and was retained till June 19. He returned home and resumed farming. In March, 1870, he was elected trustee of White County, and served two terms. In 1874 he again gave his attention to agriculture, stock and cattle raising, so continuing up to present date. He is a prosperous, energetic and universally respected man, and a stanch Democrat. March 26, 1872, he married Ann, daughter of W. B. and Jane (Simms) Cope, of White County. To this union three children have been born: James, born August 19, 1873, died August 4, 1880; Frank, born November 22, 1875; Mary, born December 31, 1877. Mr. Turner belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and his wife to the Cumberland Presbyterian.

Source:   Goodspeed Pub. Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present; Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of the Counties of White, Warren, Coffee, DeKalb, and Cannon, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Original Observations, Reminiscences, Etc., Etc. Nashville: Goodspeed Pub. Co, 1887.