In 1855 25-year-old William Knight Quinn moved to Ringgold County with his parents and siblings and bought 100 acres in Section 15 of Jefferson Township from the Chariton Land office. His father Joseph Quinn also bought 40 acres in the same section in 1858. The land was virgin and untamed. With perseverance and hard work, they converted their land into well-cultivated farms with stock. This area became known as Quinn Grove with a post office located in Quinn's Store, and Joseph Quinn was appointed postmaster on May 8, 1876.

When Joseph's daughter and William's sister Mary R. Quinn died in 1857, the family set aside land for a cemetery near the top of a wooded hill. Mary R. Quinn, 29, became the first burial in the Quinn Cemetery.

William married neighbor Sarah Jane Hunter in 1862. Eight children were born to their union, but only three survived to adulthood: William A., Clarinda B., and Minta. The other five children were buried in the Quinn Cemetery. With germs not yet discovered and vaccinations not yet developed, illness took may lives, especially those of children. Nearby neighbors burying loved ones in the Quinn Cemetery were Williams, Smiths, Kellers, Casners, Hays, Holts, Knights, McHarry, Andrews and Watt.

In 1855, 47-year-old Sarah Quinn died. Now a widower, William lived out his elder years with William A. Quinn's family. Dying January 2, 1902, William Knight Quinn was the last burial in the cemetery. The Quinn Cemetery had become the resting place of the first pioneers from the 1860's who were lured to Jefferson Township with dreams of homesteading and farming their own ground. They built log cabins where they birthed their babies, many dying of diseases. They chopped wood and chinked their cabins to keep warm. They hunted for meat, ground available for flour in their coffee mill, including acorns, and prayed for a bountiful garden.

When the Civil War came, the men answered the Iowa 29th Infantry call and left their children and crops in the hands of their wives. Sarah and William's daughter, Clarinda Bell (Quinn) Baker had the foresight to record what she remembered of the interments in the Quinn Cemetery before her death in 1941. Burials number between 30 and 40 with only a few gravestones remaining.

Quinn Cemetery is located in Jefferson Township in the S.E. 1/4 of Section 15 (Latitude: 405130N, Longitude: 0941655). Over the years, many have worked to preserve the cemetery. Bonnie Fletcher of Diagonal and her 4-H group cleaned up the cemetery with Zane Kilgore making wooden information signs many years ago. Betty Ruby and Ruth Haley recorded the cemetery in 1978, and Bryan Cook and Raymond Banner recorded it again in 2002. Rick Wiley cleaned up the cemetery and flagged possible graves in 2007. In 2014, the Ringgold County Pioneer Cemetery Commission installed Quinn name gates and signs. It is a constant battle to keep the cemetery from reverting back to the wild.

The torch is now held by current land owner, Daniel Origer from MaCallsburg. On Saturday, May 30, with the help of Quinn's Pioneer commissioners Tony Mercer and Brad Smith, Dan Origer's son Wyatt led his Boy Scout BSA Troop 101, who had traveled from Story City to clean up the over grown cemetery and install a cement bench, earning his Eagle Scout badge. Armed with shovels and loopers, the eight Boy Scouts, two leaders and two commissioners worked until the neglected cemetery is once again a pretty wooded historic resting place.

Go to www.iagenweb.org/Ringgold/Cemeteries/QUinn for more information.

Wyatt Origer, who completed the cleanup as his Eagle Scout project, is the son of Dan and Kathy Origer