Born in Massachusetts, Amasa Turner (1800-1877) moved to Mobile, Alabama, where he joined the lumber business in 1825. The next year, Turner married Julia Morse, another Massachusetts native living in Texas. The couple had four children, including George Quincy, Marcellus Granville, and Julia Amanda. In 1835, the family moved to Texas to help Amasa recover from yellow fever. He enlisted in the Texas Revolutionary Army, fighting at Gonzales, San Antonio, and the Siege of Bexar. As a recruiting officer, he raised an infantry company, which fought at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, and the next May, he became colonel at Galveston. After resigning in August 1837, the Customs Collector Gail Borden, Jr., appointed Amasa as Boarding Officer. During his tenure, Amasa constructed a customs house, the Galveston Hotel, wharves, an icehouse, and several other buildings. In 1839, the family moved to a farm in Harris County to raise cattle and grow cotton, before moving to a plantation in Lavaca County in 1847. From 1851 to 1854, Amasa served in the Texas House of Representatives, and during the Civil War, he was provost marshal of Lavaca County. In 1865, he moved to Gonzales, where he became active in the construction business, served as a Ruling Elder of the Presbyterian Church, and participated in the local Masonic lodge.
Brothers George Quincy Turner (1828-1864) and Marcellus Granville Turner (1829-1864) traveled to California with their cousin Bushrod Wilkins and friend Benjamin Franklin “Frank” Batchelor during the Gold Rush of 1849. Upon their return to Texas, Marcellus invested in ranching in Aransas Bay and married Mary Reeves in 1853, while George wrote for local newspapers and took over his father’s plantation in Lavaca County. Both brothers enlisted in the Confederate Army. George served in Terry’s Texas Rangers before becoming ill and dying in March 1864. Marcellus served in the 3rd Battalion of Cavalry as captain and acting quartermaster until his death in April 1864.
Born May 24, 1838, Julia Amanda Turner (1838-1912) was reputedly the first white female born on Galveston Island. She married her brothers’ friend Benjamin Franklin “Frank” Batchelor (ca. 1831-1864) on July 23, 1859. While serving in the Confederate Army, Batchelor was killed near Rome, Georgia, in October 1864. Two years later, Julia married banker James F. Miller (d. 1902), who had served in Terry’s Texas Rangers during the Civil War. Miller and William Sayers started the Miller & Sayers Bank in Gonzales and served as the first president of the Texas Bankers Association. From 1883 to 1887, Miller served in the U. S. Congress and as the chairman of the Committee on Currency and Banking. Julia served as the first president of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Florence Cornelia, daughter of Julia and Frank Batchelor, married Thomas Franklin Harwood in 1884.
From the guide to the Turner, Amasa, papers 1927; 66-171; 98-230; 98-262; 99-028., 1827-1990, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)
