St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-02-21
DEATH OF H. N.TURNER
St. JOhnsbury's Leading Citizen a
Victim Of Pneumonia
Funeral Monday.


st. Johnsbury people felt that
they had lost their first citizen
when late Friday afternoon the
word passed from lip to lip that
Hiram Newton Turner, president of
E. & T. Fairbanks & Co.. had pasesd
away. He had been i'll little over
week, at first with bronchitis and
since Saturday night with pneu-
monia. From the first the outcome
seemed. certain but his friends hoped
against hope that his strength would
hold out and he might survive. He
twas a public-spirited gentleman of
the old school, courteous, deferen-
tial, dearly loved by old and young,
for although his years of honored
service brought him into touch with
dignitaries, he was always the loyal
friend of youth and had taken deep
interest in the golf club and the
the SnoWshoe club, frequently enter
tanning them and encouraging them
with his presence and kind words.
| Since he came to st. Johnsbury in
1889 he had done everything in his
power to promote civic pride, and
was the organizer and first presi-
dent of the Board of Trade which
fourished for some time and did
much good in the community during
its life. 1t was at his suggestion
that the ST. Johnsbury Woman's club
was organized and its successful
growth and good work in town
is an evidence of his far-sighted
knowledge of the needs of country
town. He never lost a bit of his in
in ffof re iant y
left in 1889 for the scale business
and at the time of his death was
president of the Connecticut and |
Passumpsic Rivers r. R., vice pres
ident of the st. Johnsbury & Lake
Champlain R. R., president of the /
Lake Champlain and st. Lawrence
Junction r. R., director of the Mas
sawippi Valley Railway Co., director
of the Newport & Richford Railroad |
Co., and director of the Concord & |
Montreal r. R., besides being con-
nected with several small railroads /
in New Hampshire. He was a trus-
tee of the Passumpsic Savings bank
and a steward and trustee Of Grace
Methodist church of which he was a
strong and loyal member. Only two
weeks ago, on the 5th, he attended
meeting of the directors of the
Vermont Red Cross society at Bur-
lington and it was while on this
trip that he contracted the cold
which resulted in his death. His
philanthropies and interests were
so many and so varied that they
could not be enumerated, but among
them were the Kurn Hattin Homes,
Montpelier Seminary and the State
and local Woman's Christian Tenn
perance Union.
1t was through his connection with
the Fairbanks Co., that Mr.. Tur-
ner's influence was most felt in st.
Coming here in 1889 as
assistant manager of the company,
later becoming manager, which po-
sition he held until last April when
his health made it necessary for him
to give up active work, and for some
years as president of the company, a
position which he held at the time
of his death, the steady and mater
iaI growth of the company during
these years may justly be credited
to his wide and conservative man
agement He was so years old when
be changed from managing railroads
to the manufacture of scales, but the :
results prove that man is not too
Did at middle age to take up a new
line of work.
Those who knew Mr.. Turner, and
nearly everybody knew him, will not
soon forget his genial personality.
above all a man of busi-
ness, he was delightfully."- social by
nature and until weakened by a
serious illness in May 1910, with
mastoid abscess was an attendant at
all social functions and entertain
nents.
Mr.. Turner was born in Bethle-
lem, N. H., December 20, 1889, the
son of Timothy Parker and Priscilla
Bullock, and was the last of his
family. He was educated in White
field and Northampton Institute and
n 1873 went into the railroad bus
ness at Worcester, Mass. His broth
er was president of the Worcester
md Nashua r. r. and Mr.. Turner
vas at first in the passenger depart
nent of that road. He originated the /
excursion idea and conducted many
parties from Portland to Philadel-
0hia. Later he worked up the
freight business of the road as well |
Is the passenger business and re-
NAMED there until 1880 when he
vas called to Boston as agent of the
Quebec, Ottawa and New England /
.oad with an Office on Washington i
street. He afterwards became gem
.ral freight agent of the Boston and
lowell, then general traffic manager
If the same system. He is survived /
~ his wife who was Miss Ellen
Brewster, daughter of Rev. Benja-
min Brewster, Methodist minister
md descended from a Revolution
Try chaplain. They had three
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