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Biographies
Source:
History of Preble County, Ohio
H. Z.
Williams & Bro, Publishers
1881
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ok - THE QUINN FAMILY.
John Quinn, who was the ancestor of the family of that
name in Preble county, emigrated from the North of Ireland,
about the year 1750, and settled in the State of New Jersey.
Some time after his arrival in America he married in Miss
Crooks, by whom he had ten children, seven sons and three
daughters, five of whom, four sons and one daughter, ultimately
coming in Ohio. The sons who came to Ohio were:
John, Robert, James, and Joseph C.; the daughter was
Elizabeth, she married a man by the name of Bennett;
they moved to Indiana at an early day. John Quinn,
the original immigrant, died in Maryland during the
Revolutionary war. His sons, with the exception of John
C., were all born in New Jersey, but it is only necessary to
speak of those who came to Preble county.
Of these, John Quinn, the oldest was born about
the year 1757; he removed from Maryland, or Virginia, to
Georgia, where he married, and thence to Ohio; he entered the
northwest quarter of section thirty-one, town six, range three
east, and also the quarter north adjoining the same. He
settled on the first named tract and remained there until he
sold it and moved to Delaware county, Indiana, about the year
1834. While in Preble county he was for many years a
justice of the peace of Twin township, and married quite a
number of persons, as is shown by the old records. He died
about the year 1839.
Robert Quinn, the second in age, who came to
Ohio, was born February 24, 1761. He removed, while a boy,
with his father's family to Maryland, where he remained, with
the exception of a short time that he lived in Virginia, until
he removed to Georgia in the year 1789. He served for a
short period in the Federal army, during the Revolutionary war,
and was married about the year 1787 to Elizabeth Lacey, a
sister of General John Lacey, a provincial officer of
that rank, holding his commission from the State of
Pennsylvania, and captain in the Continental army during the
struggle for independence. The Lacey's were of
Quaker stock, having emigrated from the Isle of Wight, in the
year 1699, and settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania.
Elizabeth, the wife of Robert Quinn, was born on the
fourth day of December, 1760. She was a woman of more than
ordinary ability and information for the times in which she
lived, being well read in Homer (in translations, of course) and
in the works of many of the best authors of her time.
Robert Quinn and his young wife, after the birth of their
oldest daughter, Jane, removed from Maryland to Georgia
in the year 1789. They settled near Wrightsborough, in
Columbia county, and here the remainder of their children were
born. From Georgia they removed to Ohio in the year 1805,
settling first near Germantown, in Montgomery county. From
there the following year they came into what is now Lanier
township, Preble county, although it was then all Hardin
township, Montgomery county, and rented a farm about one and a
half miles south of where West Alexandria now is. The same
year he entered the southeast quarter of section thirty-one,
town six, range three east, and shortly after the northeast
quarter of section eighteen, in the same township and range.
This latter he sold to a friend of his, William York, who
emigrated from the same neighborhood in Georgia to Ohio, a few
years later. To the first named quarter he removed with
his family in February, 1807, and the day known among the early
settlers as "cold Friday," was passed in an open camp.
This farm he, with his son, opened up and it still remains the
property of his descendants. Many hardships were endured,
but game was plenty (as were Indians also, though not at that
time hostile), and the family larder, which was often scantily
filled from the newly enclosed fields, was bountifully
supplemented from the surrounding forests. He was a
natural mechanic, a wheelwright by trade; he could make, and did
make, almost every article used on the farm, from a wagon to a
pair of shoes. He and his wife continued to reside here
until his death, April 10, 1844, in the eighty-fourth year of
his age. His wife survived him a little over five
years, dying in August, 1849.
Of his family, Jane, the oldest was born at or
near Georgetown, in the present District of Columbia, in 1788.
She was married about the holidays of the year 1813 and 1814, to
Finney Hart, and settled in Dixon township, Preble
county. In 1849 she, with her husband and such of her
family as were not then married, moved to Peoria county,
Illinois, when she died about the year 1863. John Quinn,
the oldest son, commonly known as General Quinn, was born
near Wrightsborough, Columbia county, Georgia, Jan. 26, 1790,
and was in his sixteenth year when the family came to Ohio.
Like his mother, he had a great fondness for reading, and
although his early education was limited, by the poor facilities
that there were for acquiring knowledge in those days, yet by
improving all that came in his reach he became finally a man of
very good general information. On him in the beginning
devolved a good part of the work of the farm, as he was the
oldest son; and as yeasr went by his younger brothers, James
and Robert, grew up and married, leaving him still there.
He served for six months as a solicitor in the War of 1812, in
Captain J. C. Hawkins' company of Ohio militia, and about
the year 1824 he was elected general of the militia of Preble
county, from which he obtained the title by which he was ever
afterwards known. He served for one term as a member of
the State board of equalization of real estate, and i nthe year
1830 was elected sheriff of Preble county, which office he held
for two terms, retiring about Jan. 1, 1835. In the fall of
the year 1837 he was elected a member fo the State house of
representatives, holding this office for one term only, after
which he held no public office. A whig and a Republican in
politics, although very decided in his convictions he seldom
entered, at least during the latter part of his life, into
political arguments with his opponents, and never into heated
controversies. A member during the latter part of his life
of the Disciples or Church of Christ, and for many years an
elder in that organization, he was with his religious as with
his political convictions, always firm, but always ready to
concede to others every right which he demanded for himself.
He was married July 19, 1831, to Mary Ann Pottenger, a
daughter of Thomas Pottenger, one of the pioneers of
Butler county, in which county Mrs. Quinn was born, Jan.
2, 1804. To John and Mary Ann Quinn five sons were
born, all of whom reached manhood, and three are still living.
During the time he was sheriff, General Quinn lived in
Eaton. After the expiration of his term of office he
returned with his wife and one son to the farm, where his
father lived, and there his other four children were born.
On this farm he continued to reside until March, 1872, when his
age and infirmities compelled him to quit all labor; and as all
of his living children has chosen other professions than farming
he returned to Eaton to reside with his older living son,
Robert W. Quinn, a lawyer of that place, with whom he and
his wife continued to live until his death, which took place
Feb. 12, 1873. His wife survived him only two weeks, and
the funeral discourse of each was delivered by Elder Levi
Purviance, an aged minister who had united them in marriage
nearly forty-two years before. He himself, who was nearly
of the same age of General Quinn, survived them only
about two months, dying in the following April. Thomas
Pottenger Quinn, the oldest son of General Quinn, was
born in Eaton, Ohio, July 6, 1832. He graduated at
Farmer's college in 1853, and was stydying law in Eaton in the
summer of 1854, when the cholera broke out in the hotel at which
he was boarding. He returned to his father's residence in
Twin township on Saturday, but was taken ill with the disease on
Sunday evening July 23d, and died the following day.
Robert Wilson Quinn, the second and oldest
surviving son of General Quinn was born Sept. 28, 1835.
He is a lawyer, resides in Eaton, and his biography is given
more at large in the sketches of the Preble county bar.
John Willett Quinn, the third son, was
born near Eaton, July 25, 1838, and died at Monterey, Virginia,
April 28, 1862. He was raised on a farm, and was following
that business when the war of the Rebellion broke out. In
the fall of 1861 he enlisted for three years in Camp
Harris, company C, Seventy-fifth regiment Ohio volunteer
infantry. The regiment remained in camp during the winter
of 1861-62, and in March of the latter year was ordered into the
field. After only about one months active service he was
taken with typhoid fever, and died in a few days.
James Lacey Quinn, the fourth son, born Sept.
21, 1841, is a physician of Eaton, and a sketch of him will be
found in the history of the medical profession of the county.
Samuel Milton Quinn, the fifth and youngest son,
born Feb. 5, 1844, is an attorney of the Cincinnati bar.
He was educated at the common schools and at Farmer's college;
and served four months in the army during the Rebellion.
He studied law with his brother, R. W. Quinn, in Eaton,
and was admitted to practice in the year 18__. He
afterwards took one course at the law school of Cincinnati
college, where he graduated in the class of 187_. He has
since practiced in Cincinnati.
James Quinn, the second son of
Robert Quinn, sr., was born near Wrightsborough, Georgia, in
the year 1792. He came with his father and mother to Ohio,
and served for about nine months as a soldier in the War of
1812. He was married to Sarah Glims about the year 1817, and died on his farm in the Dayton
pike two miles west of West Alexandria, in the year 1839.
He following farming all of his life. By his wife he had
five sons and two daughters, all of whom, except one son, are
now living. John Lacey Quinn, the oldest, was born
Feb. 29, 1820, resides in Eaton, and was for many years engaged,
in connection with the son, N. J. Quinn, in the grain and
tobacco trade. Robert Marion Quinn, the second son
of James Quinn also resides in Eaton, as also does
William D. Quinn, the fourth son. The latter has
served for two terms as clerk of the courts of Preble county.
James H. Quinn, the third son, moved to the State of
Illinois about the year 1855, where he still resides.
Joseph H., the youngest, died in 1852. The two
daughters, Eliza Ann and Sarah Jane, married two
brothers, George and Sylvester Irwin, of Randolph county,
Indiana, where they, with their families, still reside.
All of the children of James Quinn married except
William D. and Joseph H. The former is a bachelor, and
the latter died when a young man.
Robert Quinn, jr., or as he is
better known as Colonel Quinn, a title he derives from
holding that rank in the militia, the third son of Robert
Quinn, sr., was born near Wrightsborough, Georgia, Feb. 2,
1795. He also came with his parents to Preble county,
where his life was spent on the farm until he grew to manhood.
He served for about three months in Captain Black's
company in the War of 1812, as a substitute for his brother
James. About the year 18__ he married Sarah Warson,
by whom he had several children, only of whom, however, survive:
Joseph W. Quinn, born March, 1823, and Nancy Jane,
married George W. Christman, now residing in Indiana.
Colonel Quinn was a man of powerful constitution, and
although well advanced in his eighty-sixth year, he still enjoys
reasonable heath and resides with his son, Joseph W.,
about one mile northeast of Eaton. Margaret, the
second daughter of Robert Quinn, sr., was born near
Wrightsborough, Georgia, about the year 1798, and was married
about 1830 to Peter Aten, who died in 1843. She has
since remained a widow, moving with her family to Illinois in
1849, and with her sons to Texas in 1877, where she still
resides.
Elizabeth, the third daughter of
Robert Quinn, sr., born about the year 1801, married
Samuel P. Wilson, and after spending many years in Eaton,
removed with her husband first to Cambridge city, and afterwards
to Peter Aten, who died in 1843. She has since
remained a widow, moving with her family to Illinois in 1849,
and with her sons to Texas in 1877, where she still resides.
James Quinn, sr., the third
brother, who came to Preble county, were born in New Jersey in
the year 1763. With his brothers he emigrated from
Maryland to Georgia, and from the latter State to Ohio in 1805.
He entered the southeastern quarter of section seven, town six,
range three east, and resided on it until about the year 1838,
when he started with his family to move to the then territory of
Iowa, but was taken sick on the road, and died somewhere in the
State of Illinois, His family, with the exception of two
daughters, removed to Iowa where most of them still reside.
Joseph C. Quinn, the youngest of
the four brothers who came from Georgia, entered the east half
of section six in town five, range three east. He was a
bachelor, and spent his time between Georgia, where he had one
brother and two sisters still living, Ohio and Missouri.
He died at the residence of his nephew, James Quinn, jr.,
in September 1837.
The four brothers were equally
divided politically, John and Joseph C. being
Democrats while Robert and James were Whigs, and
many and hot were the debates especially between James
and Joseph, and laughable stories are told of their
political quarrels.
Source: History of Preble County, Ohio - H. Z. Williams &
Bro., Publishers - 1881 - Page 156 |
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