GEORGE BAIRD QUIGLEY, a prominent resident of Bowling Green, has won the distinction of having spent more years in the oil business than any other man in his region, if not in the entire State of Ohio.  Fortune has not always smiled upon his ventures, and he has lost as well as made money; but his pluck and persistence have in later years brought him rich rewards, and he is counted among the leading operators in the State.  He was born Mar. 25, 1841, in Warren, Penn., the only child of W. B. and Mary Ann (Williams) Quigley, both of whom were natives of the Keystone State.  His father went to California in 1849, and soon decided to return, but died on his way back, in 1852, in t. Louis, Missouri.
     Our subject spent his youth with his mother's parents at Warren, Penn., where he received his education in the district school.  His mother died there in 1863 at the age of fifty-five.  Her father, Isaac Newton Williams, was born Apr. 6, 1796, and was a soldier in the war of 1812, afterward moving to Canada, where he conducted a hotel for some years.  Coming back to the United States, he lived for a time at Black Rock, N. Y., finally returning to Pennsylvania, where he engaged in carpentering.  He married Miss Susan Guyon, who was born Dec. 5, 1799, and died in 1859, at Warren, Penn., where Mr. Williams was also living at the time of his death, May 6, 1856.
     In 1851 the subject of this sketch started in business as a clerk at $50 a year, without board, but he made himself so useful that the following year another firm offered him a salary of $300, which he, of course, accepted.  In 1860 he went to Titusville, Penn., and established the first livery stable ever opened there, owned by the firm of Struthers & Whitmore.  He managed this for a time, but becoming interested prospecting for oil, he devoted his attention to drilling wells, putting down four, all of which proved to be dry holes in the ground.  He then entered the army, enlisting Apr. 28, 1861, in Company D, 42nd P. V. I., known as the "Buck Tail" regiment.  He served over two years, and was in many engagements, among them the battles of Malvern Hill, Gaines' Mills, Mechanicsville, and the second battle of Bull Run.  He was also in the Peninsula campaign, including the Seven-days retreat.  His last fighting was a Stony Ridge, where he was taken sick, and sent to the hospital at Mt. Pleasant, Washington.
     Returning home at the close of the war, Mr. Quigley began clerking again, at a salary of $900 a year, in Warren, Penn.  In 1866 he became a partner in the store, but he sold his interest two years later, and engaged in the lumber business at Balltown, Penn., making a specialty of square timber.  In 1869 he disposed of this business, and went west, visiting Chicago, St. Louis, Cairo, Kansas City and other places.  On returning to his native State he drilled the famous "Buck Tail" oil well, after which he furnished the money to conduct the suit of the Fulmer Brothers against Judge Keating for the Gas Flats oil property.  This was decided adversely in1876, and Mr. Quigley, being then out of funds, accepted a position with the Standard Oil Company at St. Petersburg, Penn., refusing the assistance offered by friends.  He continued in their employ eighteen years, meanwhile operating on his own account in various places, notably Duke Center and LaFayette.  In 1888 he came to Bowling Green, and bought out a company which had been operating there, and since that time he has been exclusively engaged in developing this field.  He is now a large shareholder in the leading producing companies in Wood county, and has several wells of his own.
     Mr. Quigley was married July 13, 1879, at Duke Center, Penn., to Mrs. Livia Aldrich Giles, who was born in New York State in 1853.  They had one child, Edna G., who died Sept. 29, 1889, aged four years.  A step-daughter of Mr. Quigley, Miss Hettie Giles, is a successful teacher in the public schools of Bowling Green.  Politically, Mr. Quigley is a Republican; socially, he is a member of the A. O. U. W.
Source:  Commemorative Historical & Biographical Record of Wood County, Ohio, Past & Present - Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1897 - Page 864