Jonathan Baldwin Turner was an American classical scholar, an ordained minister, a professor, a campaigner for the abolition of slavery, and political activist. He also campaigned in favor of land grant universities. In 1835, Turner married Rhodolphia Kibbe and they had seven children.

A land-grant university is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890, or a beneficiary under the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994. There are 57 institutions which fall under the 1862 Act, 19 under the 1890 Act, and 35 under the 1994 Act.