Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/212

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188
TURNER
TURPIN

ship of the East India squadron, in 1838-'41, dur- ing which time he participated in the destruction of the Malay pirates' towns of Quallat Battoo and Mucke, on the island of Sumatra. 1 Jan., 1839. He commanded the store-ship " Fredonia," of the Gulf squadron, from June till October, 1847, was then transferred to the sloop "Al- bany," and com- manded the schoon- er " Reefer " in the attack on Tuspan in April, 1847. He was promoted to com- mander, 14 Sept., 1855, and had charge of the sloop "Sara- toga," on the Home squadron, in 1858- '60. On 6 March, 1860, he captured at Vera Cruz the steamers " Mira- mon" and "Mar-

ques de Habana,"

which had been purchased in Spain by Gen. Mira- mon, and had attempted to blockade the port of Vera Cruz in the interests of the revolutionary farty. He commanded the armored ship " New ronsides" in the South Atlantic squadron, and was highly commended for the skill and ability with which he handled this vessel in the attacks on the forts at Charleston, 7 April, 1863, and in other operations there until August, 1863. He was promoted to commodore, 13 Dec, 1862, and to rear- admiral, 24 June, 1868, and commanded the South Pacific squadron in 1868-'70 during the great earth- quake in Peru, where he rendered timely assistance to the sufferers. He was retired, 21 April, 1870, after forty-five years of active service.


TURNER, William Wadden, philologist, b. in London, England, 23 Oct., 1810; d. in Wash- ington, D. C, 29 Nov., 1859. He came to New York in 1818, and, after a public-school education, was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade, but sub- sequently became a printer. At the age of twen- ty-six he was master of French, Latin, German, and Hebrew. Afterward he studied Arabic with Prof. Isaac Nordheimer, and they proposed to write together an Arabic grammar, but, receiving no encouragement, they prepared instead " A Critical Grammar of the Hebrew Language " (2 vols., New York, 1838) ; and " Chrestomathy : or A Gram- matical Analysis of Selections from the Hebrew Scriptures, with an Exercise in Hebrew Compo- sition " (1838), also a " Hebrew and Chaldee Con- cordance to the Old Testament " (1842). In or- der to superintend the printing of these books, Mr. Turner removed to New Haven, as the only sufficient supply of oriental type was to be found there and at Andover. He was engaged in setting the type during the day, and spent his evenings in preparing the manuscript. On the completion of the works, Mr. Turner added to his linguistic at- tainments a knowledge of Sanskrit and most of the other chief Asiatic languages, and later he turned his attention to the languages of the North Amer- ican Indians. He edited a "Vocabulary of the Jargon or Trade Language of Oregon" (1853), and " Grammar and Dictionary of the Yoruba Lan- guage " (1858), which was issued by the Smithso- nian institution. In 1842 he was elected professor of oriental literature in Union theological semina- ry, New York city, and he continued in that office until 1852, when he was called to Washington by the commissioner of patents to take charge of the library of that department. He was a member of the American oriental society, and secretary of the National institute for the promotion of science. Mr. Turner was considered in his day the most skilful proof-reader in the United States. In addition to the literary labors that have been al- ready mentioned, he translated from the German Friedrich L. G. von Raumer's " America and the American People" (New York, 1845), and was as- sociated with Dr. P. J. Kaufmann in the transla- tion of the 12th German ed. of Ferdinand Mackel- dey's "Compendium of Modern Civil Law" (Lon- don, 1845). He also translated William Freund's " Latin-German Lexicon " for Ethan A. Andrews's " Latin-English Lexicon " (New York, 1851).


TURNEY, Hopkins Lacey, senator, b. in Smith county, Tenn., 3 Oct., 1797 ; d. in Winchester, Tenn., 1 Aug., 1857. He was apprenticed as a boy to the tailor's trade, and in 1818 served in the war against the Seminole Indians. When he became of age he was unable to write, but began the study of law, and, after admission to the bar, practised in Win- chester. In 1828 he was chosen to the legislature, and he was annually re-elected until 1838. He was then chosen as a Democrat to congress, and served from 4 Sept., 1837, till 3 March, 1843, after which he was U. S. senator from Tennessee from 1 Dec, 1845, till 3 March, 1851.


TURPIE, David, senator, b. in Hamilton coun- ty, Ohio, 8 July, 1829. He was graduated at Ken- yon in 1848, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1849, and began practice at Logansport. Ind. He was a member of the legislature in 1852, was appointed judge of the court of common pleas in 1854, and of the circuit court in 1856, which post he resigned. He was again a member of the state house of representatives in 1858, and was elected to the U. S. senate from Indiana as a Democrat in place of Jesse D. Bright, who had been expelled, serving from 22 Jan. till 3 March, 1863. He was chosen for the full term in the spring of 1887.


TURPIN, Louis Georges Francois, French naval officer, b. in Nantes, 20 July, 1790; d. in Toulon, 7 Oct., 1848. He entered the navy as a cabin-boy when ten years old, was promoted mid- shipman in 1808, lieutenant in 1812, and in 1820-'2 performed three remarkable voyages to the Wind- ward islands and Brazil, making valuable astro- nomical observations and preparing charts of the Gulf of Mexico and the South American coast, which are preserved in the archives of the navy de- partment at Paris. In 1822-3 he participated as 1st lieutenant in the expedition around the world under Bougainville, a grandson of the noted navi- gator, and he afterward commanded a sloop-of-war in the battle of Navarin. He became captain in 1831 and commodore in 1837, and was second com- mander in 1838 under Baudin of the expedition to Mexico, taking part in the capture of San Juan de Ulua, 28 Nov., 1838. He was promoted rear- admiral, 5 Feb., 1843, and was afterward naval prefect of Toulon.


TURPIN, Pierre Jean Francois, French botanist, b. in Vire, Calvados, France, 11 March, 1775 ; d. in Paris, 1 May, 1840. He enlisted when he was fourteen years old in the battalion of Calvados, and sailed with it for Santo Domingo in 1794. There he made the acquaintance of the botanist Poiteau, who gave him lessons in botany. After studying, with great care, the flora of the island, he returned to France, but received permission some time afterward to pay a second visit to Santo Domingo. He next explored the flora of