Joseph Turner

Background

Turner was born in 1701 in Hampshire, England.

Career

Early Philadelphia records identify him as a sea captain in 1724 and a businessman in 1726. Foreign many decades prior to the American Revolution, he was in business with Chief Justice William Allen. Their firm, Allen & Turner, was one of the most important in the colonies.

Turner entered into trade agreements and iron mining and manufacture ventures, including the Union Iron Works in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, at present-day High Bridge, New Jersey.

With Allen and others, Turner participated in the importation and trade of slaves, which was then legal. Turner was also involved in politics.

In 1745, Abram Taylor was elected mayor of Philadelphia, then a non-paying office, but declined to serve, for which he was fined thirty pounds. Council then elected Turner to the office but he likewise refused it, for which he was similarly fined.

During the American Revolution, Turner remained a staunch loyalist.

Achievements

• He was also a founder in 1749 of the Academy and Charitable School of Philadelphia, and then of the College (now the University of Pennsylvania). He served as a trustee of these institutions until his death in 1783.

Membership

He was elected as a Philadelphia city councilman in 1729, an alderman in 1741, and a member of Pennsylvania"s Provincial Council in 1747. Turner was a member of Benjamin Franklin"s Junto and of the Dancing Assembly of 1748.