Quay, Colonel Matthew S. 1833-1904

QUAY, MCCAIN, BARCLAY

Posted By: Paul Van Dyke-volunteer
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:32

Source: Ireton Ledger (6-3-1904)

Born: September 30, 1833
Died: May 28, 1904

Colonel Matthew Stanley Quay, senior senator from Pennsylvania, slept peacefully into death at 2:48 Saturday afternoon at his home in Beaver, Pennsylvania. After an illness which had been more or less persistent for the last year, which took a turn for the worse ten days ago, and which the doctors diagnosed as chronic gastritis.

Senator Quay’s illness began about a year ago. It was a recurrence of the trouble that beset him during the latter part of 1900 and the early days of January. In 1901, when he was undergoing the strain of a desperate fight for re-election to the senate.

For a time he seemed improved, and gave much of his time to outdoor exercise. Never a strong man, physically, Senator Quay prided himself on his endurance and believed that outdoor life restore him to health and give him some years longer lease of life. It was this thought that took him to Maine woods for several successive summers.

Colonel Quay in health was a great eater and his troubles of later dated from over droughts of his vital system, due to heavy eating, smoking and the great nervous strains which he underwent. When he returned last fall from Maine he complained of weakness and continued loss of strength. The malady which brought him to his bed and death was then taking firm hold.

His stomach refused to assimilate the food it got, and nutrition failing weakness followed. He celebrated his 70th birthday at Beaver last fall, and at the time seemed in excellent health.

Matthew Stanley Quay was born in Dillsburg, York County, Pennsylvania, September 30, 1833: was prepared for college at Beaver and Indiana Academies; was graduated from Jefferson College in 1850; was admitted to the bar in 1854; was elected prothonotary of Beaver County in 1856 and re-elected in 1859.

A Harrisburg special says: Owing to the death of Senator Quay, Gov. Pennypacker has recalled the invitations of the state dinner to the justices of the state supreme court at the executive mansion on Tuesday evening. The governor was shocked by the news of the senator’s death and will attend the funeral if it does not interfere with his plans to preside at the Memorial Day exercises at Gettysburg, at which President Roosevelt will be the orator.

Source: Find a Grave

U.S. Senator, American Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient. A member of the Republican Party, he represented the state of Pennsylvania in the US Senate from March 1887 until March 1899 and again from January 1901 until his death three years later. The son of a Presbyterian minister, he attended Jefferson College (now Washington and Jefferson College) in Washington, Pennsylvania and graduated in 1850. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar four years later and entered politics, being elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

When the American Civil War broke out in April 1861, he was made a colonel of the 134th Pennsylvania Volunteers and at the Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia and was awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry on December 13, 1862. He then became a personal secretary to Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin and in 1864 he was elected again to the Pennsylvania legislature, serving until 1867. Following the war, he became a newspaper editor, defending the spoils system and championing African-American civil rights in the South. From 1873 until 1887 he served in various state offices, as well as County Recorder of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1887 he was elected by the Pennsylvania legislature to the US Senate. The following year, he was elected chairman of the Republican National Committee and served as Benjamin Harrison's campaign manager during the 1888 presidential election. He finished third on the Republican National Convention's presidential ballot in 1896 and in 1900 he helped to make Theodore Roosevelt the Republican vice-presidential nominee. In 1898 he was charged with misappropriating state funds but was acquitted the following year. In late 1899 he was appointed to the US Senate by Pennsylvania Governor William Stone to fill a vacancy but the Senate refused to seat him and following a special election, he was re-elected.

He died in office at the age of 70. His Medal of Honor was awarded to him on July 9, 1888 and its citation reads: "Although out of service, he voluntarily resumed duty on the eve of battle and took a conspicuous part in the charge on the heights." The fictional character 'Senator Mark Simpson' in Theodore Dreiser's novel "The Financier" (1912) was supposedly based on him.

Note: His parents were Anderson and Catherine (McCain) Quay and he was married to Agnes Barclay.