Turner Mastin Marquette was born on July 9, 1829 on a farm in Clark County, Ohio, and was the son of John T. Marquette and Julia (Wright) Marquette, who had come as pioneers to Ohio from Virginia. His signature does not show the final e which was used by all other members of his family.
He conceived an early ambition to become a lawyer and with that end in view attended successively the Springfield (Ohio) high school, Wittenberg College, and Ohio University, at Athens. After his graduation from the last-named institution in 1855 he went almost immediately to Plattsmouth, Nebraska Territory, where, to piece out his insignificant earnings as a lawyer, he found it necessary for a time to work in a store.
At the outset of his career young Marquett obviously had strong political aspirations. Beginning in 1857, he served in seven successive sessions of the territorial legislature, first in the House, then for the last four years in the Council. He was an ardent opponent of slavery, and he urged as early as the session of 1859 its definite prohibition within the boundaries of Nebraska. He took a prominent part in the movement for statehood, and in June 1866 was elected to represent Nebraska in the lower House of Congress, should admission be granted. When, on Mar. 2, 1867, Nebraska actually became a state, he took office; but only two days of the term for which he had been chosen remained. During this time, however, he voted on important reconstruction acts. In 1868 he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Congress, but when this was denied him, his interest in a political career began to wane. Although he remained to the end of his life an ardent Republican, he never again held public office. As a lawyer, meantime, Marquett's services were increasingly in demand, and when the Burlington Railroad began to build west of the Missouri River it selected him as the principal legal adviser of its corporation in Nebraska. It was in this capacity more than in any other that he distinguished himself. He became an expert on railroad and corporation law when experts in these fields were few, and he smoothed the way legally for the remarkable progress that the Burlington was soon able to make. His counsel was often sought by corporations other than his own, but he made it a point not to take more cases than he could fully master. His part in two cases, one at the beginning and one at the end of his career, won him much distinction. He appeared as counsel for the defense in the impeachment trial of Governor David Butler, and he represented the plaintiff in a suit brought by John Fitzgerald, a railway contractor, against the Missouri Pacific Railroad, then dominated by Jay Gould. The impeachment case went against Butler, but in the Fitzgerald case Marquett won a notable victory for his client. He resumed his practice in Plattsmouth, moving to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1874. He was general attorney for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad from 1869 until December 22, 1894, when he died in Tampa, Florida.
Turner M. Marquette best known for being the US Congressman. He was elected to represent Nebraska as At-Large in the United States House of Representatives, serving in 1867. Also he served as a Member of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature from 1857 to 1859, and was a Member of the Nebraska Territorial Council from 1860 to 1861.
member of the Nebraska Territorial Council
For the last twenty years of his life he resided in Lincoln, Nebr. , an important western center of the Burlington. The high respect in which he was there held is attested by an unusual series of appreciations printed by court order in the introductory pages of the Nebraska Reports for 1894.
Marquett was twice married: first, in 1861, to Harriett Borders, who died in 1883, and by whom he had four children; second, in 1885, to Mrs. Aseneth Stetson, who survived him.
6 October 1879 - 16 October 1939
1876 - 10 January 1877
1875 - 1 June 1946
5 July 1868 - 23 May 1954
______ - 4 July 1874
1880 - 1 Jul 1880
8 February 1863 - 8 February 1907
23 December 1842 - 23 June 1883
