Turner, George A.

George A. Turner was born on April 2, 1872, in Antioch, Contra Costa County, California. His father, John B. Turner, was a native of Missouri who crossed the plains in 1849 to become a well-known pioneer steamboat captain on the San Joaquin River alongside his Irish-born wife, Maria Flemming. After receiving his early education in Antioch, George managed the local Arlington Hotel before relocating to Fresno in 1889 to engage in the liquor business.

In Fresno, Mr. Turner maintained his commercial interests and acquired unimproved orange land at Terra Bella in Tulare County. He married Mae Doherty, a San Francisco native and daughter of an early Irish pioneer, with whom he had three daughters named Gwendolyn, Dorothy, and Patricia. Active in civic and social circles, he became a charter member of Fresno Lodge No. 39 of the Eagles, joined Fresno Parlor No. 9 of the Native Sons of the Golden West at age eighteen, and belonged to the Commercial Club, Temple Blue Rock Gun Club, and Temple Duck Club.