Turner Maine

Turner is a town in Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,817 at the 2020 census. The town includes the villages of Turner, Turner Center and North Turner. The township was granted by the Massachusetts General Court on June 20, 1768, to survivors of Captain Joseph Sylvester's company for their services in the 1690 Battle of Quebec. It replaced a 1735 grant of the same name located at what is now Richmond, New Hampshire, but which was ruled invalid in 1741 because of prior claims from the heirs of John Mason. Reverend Charles Turner of Scituate, Massachusetts, acted as an agent for the dispossessed grantees, and would become the first minister of their new town. It was settled in 1772 by Daniel Staples, Thomas Record, Elisha Record, Joseph Leavitt and Abner Phillips. In 1775, Samuel Blake built in 1775 the first mill, both a sawmill and gristmill, although it was destroyed by the great freshet of 1785. There were 5 sawmills and 3 gristmills in the community when a fire destroyed those at Turner Village in 1856.