Nathaniel A. Turner was born in Waycross, Georgia. He earned his A.B. from the University of Tennessee and his LL.B. from the University of South Carolina in 1925. He was admitted to the Bar in 1925 and practiced in Columbia from 1930 until his death. He served from 1925 until 1930 as Director of the Motor Vehicle Division of the South Carolina Highway Department.
He married Mrs. Lucille Graham in 1933.
He was a successful lawyer, a man of his word and active in many Bar associations and other legal groups. He was an expert of widespread renown in the fields of insurance, public utilities and administrative law. His services to the community and to his country were many, and his interests were numerous. He was a man with countless friends drawn to him by his warmth, generosity, loyalty and public devotion.