admin NEWTON ERNEST TURGEON, Major of the Seventy-Fourth Regiment, is among the best-known of the younger business men of Buffalo, and has to his credit a long record of capable and frequently distinguished service in the National Guard of the State.
Maj. Turgeon is of French and New England descent. His grandfather, Jean Francis Turgeon, came from France early in the nineteenth century, settling in the province of Quebec. He was a farmer by occupation. His son, Joseph Turgeon, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Quebec in 1839, and when thirteen years old came to Vermont, where he married Harriet Atwood Johnson, August 16, 1868. The Johnsons were one of the oldest families of Vermont. Members of the family served in the Revolutionary army.
Newton Ernest Turgeon was born at Shrewsbury, Vermont, July 3, 1869. Young Turgeon was educated in the public schools of his native place. Black River Academy, at Ludlow, Vt., and Bryant & Stratton’s Business College in Boston, Mass.
He then entered the employ of the Pope Manufacturing Company of Boston January 1, 1889, by whom he was sent to Chicago, where he proved himself so efficient that for five years he was continued in that field, when he came to Buffalo to take charge of its business here for four years longer. He then resigned to represent the interests of the George N. Pierce Company, whose business he managed for two years, then severing the connection in order to engage in insurance. July 1, 1899, he formed a copartnership with Augustus H. Knoll, under the firm style of Knoll & Turgeon, an association which still exists, the concern having the agency in the territory of Western New York for the accident and liability department of the Aetna Life Insurance Company.
December 30, 1889, Maj. Turgeon joined Company F of the First Infantry, Illinois National Guard, as a private. He remained with Company F three years, during which time he attained the rank of Corporal and Acting Quartermaster Sergeant. He then went into the regimental Signal Corps of the First Infantry, serving two years as Corporal.
Coming to Buffalo he joined the Seventy-Fourth Regiment, N. G. N. Y., and on the 20th of December, 1896, was elected Second Lieutenant of Company H. A year later he was commissioned, in 1897, First Lieutenant, and in 1898 Captain, serving until July 13, 1904, being in command of Company H for five years and a half. At that time Maj. Robert M. Harding, of the Second Battalion, resigned his commission, and Captain Turgeon was chosen Major to succeed him.
When Governor Odell officially attended the opening of the World’s Fair at St. Louis, Maj. Turgeon, then Captain of Company H, was chosen to selact a body of 103 picked men to form a part of the provisional regiment detailed from the National Guard of the State of New York to act as escort to the Governor on that occasion. Out of the many bodies of troops available, the same regiment was selacted as escort for the President of the United States.
Another notable military affair in which Maj. Turgeon participated was the mobilization of the National and State forces at Manassas, Va., in September, 1904. On this occasion the Major accompanied the 74th Regiment, and during the ensuing maneuvers and other events of field service, was in personal command of his battalion.
Maj. Turgeon has little leisure, but he nevertheless finds time to attend to social obligations and has a large circle of acquaintances. He attends the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church.
October 19, 1892, Maj. Turgeon married Gertrude M. Chapman, a daughter of David and Hannah Whitcomb Chapman of Ludlow, Vermont. They have one child. Ford Wesley Turgeon, born September 5, 1900.
SOURCE: Memorial and Family History of Erie County New York; Volume I