Francis S. "Frank" Turner Sr.
FRANCIS S. “FRANK” TURNER was appointed to the Camden Fire Department in May of 1874 to replace Edward S. Andrews as an extra man with the Hook and Ladder Company. He served until April of 1876, when he was not re-appointed due to a change in politics in the leadership of the Fire Department. He was re-appointed on April 1, 1879 and served for three years before being let go due to another regime change. Frank Turner was recalled to service on September 7, 1885 as Stoker with Engine Company 2. Frank Turner was still active as a firefighter when the Census was taken in 1910, well past his 60th birthday.
Frank Turner was born in Pennsylvania in August of 1846. He came to Camden as a small boy, living with his mother Louisa in Camden’s South Ward. His father was not with the family at the time of the 1850 Census. Frank Turner married Elizabeth Park Dermitt in 1864. Elizabeth was from Greenwich Township in Gloucester County where her father was a waterman, and after he died their mother moved the family to Camden where she supported the family as a seamstress.
At the time of the 1870 Census the Turners were living in Camden’s South Ward. Two sons had been born, Charles F. and George D. Turner. Frank Turner was then working as a glass blower. He was working as an iron moulder when appointed to the Fire Department in 1874. Fire Department records from 1875 give an address of 224 Line Street for the Turner family. The Turners had moved around the corner to 215 Pine Street when the 1878 City Directory was being compiled. By the following year they were living at 212 Senate Street. Through the 1870s three more children were born into the Turner family, Mattie, Francis Jr. and Florence.
When the Census was taken in June of 1880 the Francis Turner family had relocated to 208 Washington Street. Frank Turner was working as a stone cutter. Oldest son Charles Francis Turner was working in a shoe factory. He would go on and make a career in shoe making, as did younger brothers George D. Turner and Francis S. Turner Jr. The Turners were still at 208 Washington Street as late as 1883. City Directories for 1884–1885 and 1885–1886 have the Turners at 320 South 2nd Street. Another move had taken the family to 139 South 4th Street. The Turners had moved to 211 Benson Street when the 1888–1889 Directory was being put together.
On June 1, 1890 Frank Turner was promoted to Engineer and transferred to Engine Company 4 as it first went into service at 320 Vine Street in North Camden. The foreman was Amedee Middleton, the driver, Edward Hartman. Barney Harvey was the stoker and the hosemen were Walter Browning and Charles Berry.
City Directories show that during the next ten years the Turners remained in the 200 Block of Benson Street. They had moved to 219 Benson Street by 1891 and stayed at that address as late as 1894. By 1896 the family was at 221 Benson Street. The 1898 City Directory and the 1900 Census both list the family at 223 Benson Street. The Directory for 1906 has Frank Turner at 618 South 3rd Street. When the Census was taken in 1910 Frank Turner was still working for the Fire Department and was living at 424 South 3rd Street.
By 1913, Frank and Elizabeth Turner had moved to Atlantic City to live with their daughter Florence and her husband Alvin Schultz, who was a machinist for the railroad and later worked for the local electric utility. The 1913 Atlantic City Directory shows him living at 2405 Arctic Avenue, occupation, detective. By 1915 the Turners had moved to 21 North Georgia Avenue. His occupation was given for a couple of years as superintendent, i.e., one in charge of an apartment building’s maintenance. Directories through 1930 give his occupation as doorman. Frank Turner is listed in the 1920 census as working for wages as a detective. He may well have functioned as a hotel house detective as part of his duties as a doorman. By April of 1930, when the next Census was taken, he was completely retired.
Frank and Elizabeth Turner are listed in the 1935 Atlantic City Directory, still living with the Schultzes. Only Elizabeth appears on the 1940 census. Frank was 89 or older when he passed away.
Frank Turner’s granddaughter, Mrs. Evelyn M. Turner Stewart, taught at the Broadway Elementary School at Broadway and Clinton Streets in Camden for 37 years, retiring in June of 1956. Another granddaughter, Louise C. Turner, served in the United States Navy during and immediately after World War I.
Photos
Frank Turner wearing a top hat. Photograph dates from the 1870s, around the time he was a fireman. The other gent in the photo is possibly a fellow fireman.
Francis S. & Elizabeth Turner at Atlantic City – Late 1860s
Battery B Officers Commissioned
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Governor Parker yesterday, commissioned the following persons: For Battery B, of Camden, Geo. A. Tenner and James B. Foy, First Lieutenants; James H. Carey and Frank S. Turner, Second Lieutenants.
The First New Jersey District.
Philadelphia Inquirer —
The Election of Congressional Delegates in Robeson’s Old District.
The Republican primaries in Camden for the election of delegates to the Congressional Convention in the First New Jersey district passed off very quietly last evening, there being no trouble anywhere except in the Third ward, where Dudley delegates were elected and the two inspectors of the election boards, Frank Turner and William Parker, both Hires men, refused to sign the credentials and left the polls without doing so. It is said they will be arrested to-morrow.
The three candidates for the Congressional nomination are George Hires, of Salem, Thomas H. Dudley, of Camden, and John W. Newlin, of Millville. In Camden city Hires got 23 delegates; Dudley, 16; Newlin, 1.
Taken by wards the result is as follows:
First Ward.—All for Hires—Jacob Leon, Isaac C. Githens, J. Eugene Troth, Charles Woolverton, Joseph Baymore.
Second Ward.—All for Dudley—J. Willard Morgan, Frederick A. Rex, Joseph Wells, Daniel Johntra, John Bowyer.
Third Ward.—All for Dudley—Louis D. McDowell, Henry B. Twoes, William S. McCabe, Samuel R. Murray, William H. Chandler.
Fourth Ward.—Four for Hires and one (Fackler) for J. W. Newlin—Mifflin Long, R. H. Lee, Charles Fackler, William Holland, George Doughten.
Fifth.—All for Hires—Septimus Knight, John Stevens, William Lockman, Samuel W. Roach, Harry Moffett.
Sixth Ward.—All for Hires—Joseph B. Green, Richard Dease, Robert Gilmore, Jacob Woodside, John Corbitt.
Seventh Ward.—Four for Hires and one (Stone) for Dudley—Edward Martin, Henry Peters, Jeffrey Blanchard, John Stone, Jacob Derry.
Eighth Ward.—All for Dudley—Jesse Pratt, William J. Thompson, Thomas B. Wood, Richard J. Chandler, Lawrence Rhoades.
Other returns are incomplete, but it is known that the Second ward of Gloucester City gave five delegates to Dudley; Delaware township five to Dudley, and Merchantville two to Dudley and three to Hires, thus making totals, as far as returns are received, as follows: Hires, 26; Dudley, 23; Newlin, 1.
Camden Fire Commissioners Fill Two Vacancies
Philadelphia Inquirer —
The Camden Fire Commissioners last evening elected John Gray an extra fireman from the Second ward, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Amidee Middleton, and Francis S. Turner, of the Third ward, stoker of Engine No. 2, in place of William McKinley, removed. They decided to ask City Council to allow them to advertise for proposals for the erection of the fire tower on Engine House No 2 which was destroyed by the recent tornado
Four Firemen Hurt
Philadelphia Inquirer —
A False Alarm in Camden Results in a Serious Accident.
Four firemen, members of the Camden Fire Department, were nearly killed while answering an alarm of fire yesterday afternoon. The injured are: Frank Turner, driver of the hose car, breast bone broken and seriously hurt internally; Jacob Kellum, tillerman, legs crushed; Frederick Voight, hoseman, cuts of the head; Henry Grosscup, foreman, breast hurt.
The accident happened while turning the corner of Fourth and Cooper streets. The truck was about to turn the corner when the tiller for some unknown reason failed to work properly. The result was that the horses slipped on the asphalt pavement and were precipitated to the ground. The truck at the same time came in contact with a tree with terrific force.
The large ladder which is on the top of the truck flew off and cleared the three men who were riding on the hose cart off of their seats and knocked the big white horse attached to the same down in the street. As the ladder was leaving the truck Tillerman Kellum got his legs entangled in the rungs and was also knocked into the street.
Driver Turner was on his seat driving when he was struck in the breast with the end of the ladder, which broke one of the bones and otherwise injured him. Hoseman Voight was also on the box and the side of the ladder struck him in the head. Fireman Grosscup was riding on the cylinder of the hose cart when he was suddenly swept off by the ladder. His injuries are the slightest of any.
The four men were immediately picked up by their brother firemen and conveyed to No. 2 engine, when a physician was summoned. The latter attended to their needs and decided that all of the men would recover.
Bad boys were the cause of the accident. About two days ago the boys in the neighborhood of Front and Erie streets throwed bricks at the fire alarm box until they broke the door of the apparatus, which is known as No. 6 box. An old lady who lives near by, thinking that the boys might pull the alarm and call out the department, decided to make an effort to prevent it. Yesterday afternoon she got a piece of wood and was in the act of closing the door and using the wood to make the catch, when the latter caught in the wire and turned in an alarm.
EXCISE COMMISSIONERS MEET.
All of the members were present at the regular meeting of the Excise Commissioners last night. The following transfers were made: James Hughes, 600 Walnut street, to Albert Kemble; John Korn, Front and Kaighn avenue, to William Brosch; Josiah Jones, Haddon avenue and Sycamore street, to W. H. Stevens; William Brosch, Fifth and Federal streets, to James P. Dunn; S. H. Long, 837 Broadway, to Augusta Hostic; Henry Seums, 510 Jackson street, to Jacob Miller. A special license was granted the Camden Leidertafel for their ball next Monday night.
A LAWYER IN TROUBLE.
Timothy J. Middleton, a prominent member of the Camden bar, was arrested on a capias yesterday and held in $10,000 bail by Sheriff Baird. The complainant against Middleton is Miss Lizzie Frey, who claims that Middleton collected about $5,000 on an insurance policy for her and refused to pay it over. If the court should render a verdict against the lawyer his bondsmen would have to pay the amount.
CAMDEN NOTES.
William P. Bond, while at work in the Camden Iron Works, yesterday, had his arm crushed.
At a meeting of the Board of Freeholders yesterday Superintendent Adams, of the Almshouse, reported that he had 169 paupers in the institution, the largest number he has had any time since he has been in charge.
During the rush of the crowd to get into the court house to witness the Leconey trial yesterday one of the men in the crowd had his pockets picked of a valuable gold watch. The case was reported to the Prosecutor, who detailed a detective to work it up.
Mayor Pratt yesterday committed William Stockley and William Haines to jail on the charge of robbing the clothing store of John Davis on Fourth street, below Spruce.
Charles Berry’s Funeral.
Camden Daily Courier —
The funeral of Charles G. Berry, one of the bravest and most popular firemen in this city, took place at 2 o’clock this afternoon from his late residence at 226 Point street.
The firemen attended the funeral in a body, and the members of the First Ward Republican Club were represented in a large body, while Mayor Westcott, Councilman Robert Smith, George Barrett, and many other prominent men of this city viewed the body.
Rev. A. G. Lawson of the North Baptist Church preached the funeral sermon, after which the body was taken to Philadelphia where it was interred in Glenwood Cemetery. The body lay in a black cloth covered casket and was dressed in his fireman’s uniform with the cap lying on the breast.
A profusion of floral offerings lay around the coffin. Among these were a pillow with the words “Comrades of No. 4,” a fireman’s hat from No. 4 Company, cut flowers from Jesse Conley, a design of white roses from James Dunn and Joseph Love, two of his closest friends, a pillow from his family a handsome design from the Republican League and lilies from Councilman Smith.
The pall bearers were Chief Samuel Elfreth, of the Fire Department; Foreman Amadee Middleton, of No. 4; Engineer Frank Turner and Edward Hartman, Walter Browning, Robert Sheer, William Bogia and Charles Kay, all members of the Fire Department.
All the friends of the deceased accompanied the body to the ferry and there left the pall-bearers and family with his Philadelphia friends, who took the body to the cemetery.
Mr. Charles Berry was born in Philadelphia, in 1854. He graduated from the Friends’ Central School and attended the Chester Military Academy. When he left school he went with John Mundell, the shoe manufacturer of Philadelphia, and became foreman of Mr. Mundell’s extensive works. Ten years ago he came to Camden and was foreman of George Martin’s shoe factory, and from there he went to Deitrich’s place, on Market street, where he held a similar position, which he gave up to enter the fire department. He has been a fireman for three years, and was known as one of the bravest and best men in the department.
Family Photographs
Charles Turner – Frank Turner’s son Charles, who with all his brothers worked in shoe factories in Camden.
Yeoman First Class Louisa C. Turner – 1918 – The daughter of Charles F. Turner and granddaughter of Frank and Elizabeth Turner, she served at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Prior to her discharge in 1919, Louisa C. Turner had been promoted to the rank of Chief Yeoman. Sadly, she fell victim to the Spanish Influenza pandemic. She died in 1920.
Elizabeth Dermitt Turner – 1930s