Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 814
WILLIAM QUINLAN

It is hard to believe that the highly-civilized and progressive common-wealth of Iowa was a wilderness not so very long ago, and that Indians and buffalo roamed over the fair fields which today are well cultivated and which bear crops of almost incredible size. William QUINLAN witnessed this change from frontier conditions to those of today, and his father was among those who were largely instrumental in bringing it about.

It was in Omaha, Nebraska, that William QUINLAN was born, on August 31, 1866, the son of Patrick and Hannah (Murphy) QUINLAN, who were natives of Tipperary and Cork, Ireland, respectively, and were the parents of eight children, whose names, in order of birth follow: William, Mary, Johannah (deceased), Thomas, John, Maggie, Lizzie and Edna. Thomas, who now is assistant general manager of the Brandeis store in Omaha, for nineteen years was manager of Hayden Brothers.

The paternal grandfather of William QUINLAN died in Ireland, and his widow immigrated to America with her four children. She died two weeks after her arrival and the children came west, locating in DeWitt, Clinton county, Iowa. Of these children, Patrick went to St. Louis and secured employment on the river steamboats, often coming up the Missouri river to Harrison county to secure ties for railroad construction. Afterward he worked for the Creighton brothers in the building of telegraph lines across the continent. After his marriage Patrick QUINLAN moved to Omaha and went to work for the Union Pacific Railway Company. Still later he went to Blair, Nebraska, where he lived on a homestead until he proved up his title. After working in Blair two years as a blacksmith, he went to work on the old Sioux City & Pacific Railroad, and was section foreman of that road at Blair for twenty-seven years. After his wife's death, he retired and took up his residence with his unmarried children.

William QUINLAN was educated in the public schools of Blair, Nebraska, and lived at home until his marriage. In the fall of 1903 he sold the farm which he owned near Blair and moved to his present home of one hundred and twenty acres in section 9 of Cincinnati township, Harrison county. Although Mr. QUINLAN does general farming, he specializes in the breeding and raising of blooded Poland-China hogs.

On December 26, 1900, Mr. QUINLAN married Ellen Egan, who was born on October 11, 1878, in Fremont county, Iowa, the daughter of William and Esther (Hubbard) Egan. To the marriage of Mr. QUINLAN and his wife have been born three children: Johannah, born on March 18, 1902, died at the age of two years; Ruth Ellen, born on February 21, 1909, and William E., born on April 5, 1914.

The parents of Ellen Egan were natives of County Westmeath, Ireland, and Scott county, Iowa, respectively. William Egan came to Harrison county in 1882, when he was forty-two years of age, and took up his occupation as farmer.

Although Mr. QUINLAN is no politician or office seeker, he is interested in public questions and votes the Republican ticket. He and his family are faithful and devoted members of the Catholic church, and to Mr. QUINLAN is granted that pleasant distinction which comes as a result of a life of good deeds and earnest endeavor. Mr. QUINLAN is endowed with those social graces which render him welcome at all times, while he is widely esteemed for his genuine worth.

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