Wilfred Dent Turner was born on January 30, 1855, in Turnersburg, North Carolina. A lawyer by training, Turner served as a legislator (sessions starting 1887, 1889, 1891, and 1917) and lieutenant governor (1901-1905). In 1917, he led a joint legislative committee charged with investigating the condition of the state's prison system. He died in Statesville (Iredell County) on November 8, 1933.