W. G. Turner, of Towanda, came to Butler county when a boy, just past thirteen years of age, and since attaining his majority has been a conspicious figure in the public life of his adopted county. His fellow citizens have given expression to their confidence in his ability and integrity by electing him twice to the office of sheiff[sic] of Butler county, and also electing him to the legislature.

Mr. Turner is a native of Illinois and was born in Shelby county in 1861. He is a son of John and Agnes (Elwood) Turner, both natives of England. They were the parents of seven children, one of whom died in infancy, and the others are as follows: Mrs. Elizabeth Noble, Wichita, Kans.; Mrs. Hanna Priest, deceased; Thomas E., Wichita; Mrs. Belle Miller, Wichita; Mrs. Jane Agnes Mooney, Towanda, and W. G., the subject of this sketch.

W. G. Turner was reared in Shelby county, Illinois, to the age of thirteen years, where he attended the public school. In 1875 the Turner family came to Kansas and located in Butler county, one mile west of Towanda, where the father followed farming until his death in 1883 and his wife died at Wichita while there on a visit, a few years later. They are both buried in the Towanda cemetery. When a young man W. G. Turner engaged in farming which he followed for a number of years, and still owns one of the productive and well kept farms of Towanda township which consists of 200 acres of valuable land.

In 1897 Mr. Turner was elected sheriff of Butler county and performed the duties of that office in such a satisfactory manner that at the expiration of his term of office of two years, he was reelected to succeed himself and on account of a change in the law he held the office of sher-

iff for an additional year, making five years in all. During Mr. Turner's administration of the office of sheriff the famous Jessie Morrison case was tried three times. This case not only attracted attention in Kansas but was given considerable notice by the press throughout the United States. In 1905, Mr. Turner was elected a member of the legislature on the Democratic ticket and won for himself a very creditable record as a member of the lower house of the Kansas legislature. His friends insisted that he be a candidate for re-election and he permitted his name to remain on the ticket but made no canvass nor effort for re-election, and succeeded in escaping the office by the narrow margin of twenty-seven votes. In 1914 he was the Democratic candidate for sheriff of Butler county but was defeated. He is now manager of a store at Towanda.

Mr. Turner was married in 1886 to Miss Amanda Vandebogart, of Towanda. She is a daughter of Michael and Lydia Vandebogart, early settlers of Butler county who came here from Michigan in 1871, settling in Towanda township about three miles northeast of town. They were natives of New York. To Mr. and Mrs. Turner have been born two children: Thomas A., who occupies the home place a half mile east of Towanda, married Blanche Gorman, and they have one child, Harriet Irene; and Lydia, married H. S. Wait, proprietor of the Towanda Drug Store. Mr. Turner is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of Pythias, all of Towanda. In the course of his career as a public official, Mr. Turner has acquired a large acquaintance and many friends throughout Butler county and perhaps is one of the best known men of the county.

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