William Quinlan
William Quinlan, son of Jeremiah Quinlan and of a Bridget who is likely to have been Bridget Ryan, was born in 1849 in Ireland and died on 26 Aug 1895 in St. Marys, Kansas at age 46.
His name: William Quinlan
His birth-place: His son Edward’s 1910 federal census entry gives his father’s place of birth as "Can - English." Edward’s 1920 federal census entry gives his father’s place of birth as Ireland. Edward’s entry in the 1930 federal census gives his father’s birth-place as Northern Ireland.
His birth-year: Barbara Harvey’s book on the Guyettes gives as the source of his birth-year (about 1849) "1880 and 1900 Kansas census records." (Sic; he would not appear in the latter census.) Affirmation of this birth year comes from his Mt. Calvary Cemetery grave-stone, which reads: "William Quinlan / Died 1895, aged 46 yrs".
1876:
William married Margaret Isabelle (Belle/Bell) Guyette on 28 Feb 1876 in Shawnee County, Kansas.
Children from this marriage were:
George Quinlan (b. 1877) was born in 1877 in Kansas.
Elinor Quinlan was born in Jan 1880 in Kansas.
1880: The 1880 census entry, found through searching for "Wm Quinlan", reads as follows:
Wm. QUINLAN Household Male Birth Year <1850> Birthplace IRE Age 30 Occupation Farmer Marital Status M <Married> Race W <White> Head of Household Wm. QUINLAN Relation Self Father’s Birthplace IRE Mother’s Birthplace IRE Source Information: Census Place Washington, Jackson, Kansas Family History Library Film1254383 NA Film NumberT9-0383 Page Number88D
According to this entry, William and his wife lived in Washington Township, Jackson County, Kansas, where he was a farmer. (Jackson County borders Jefferson County.) His wife’s name is given as M. Belle. Here their children George and Elinor appear. The other five, including Giovanni Ruffini's ancestor Edward, are not born yet.
This 1880 census entry is underneath three other Quinlans: Jeremiah Quinlan, Bridget age 63 (or perhaps 65), and a Mary aged 23.
For years, this census entry was the only suggestion that Jeremiah was William’s father. More definitive proof came with Terri Vance's discovery of a letter from an ancestor describing the Quinlan ancestry.
1895: According to the St. Mary’s Journal, Saturday, August 24, 1895: "William Quinlan living east of town fell into his cellar Thursday morning, and at last report was still unconscious." On Wednesday, August 28, 1895, the front page of the same paper reported, "William Quinlan who fell into his cellar last Thursday morning, died at his home Monday afternoon, not having regained consciousness since his fall." Burial was at Mt. Calvary Cemetery, St. Marys, Kansas.
