William Quinlan

William Quinlan, son of Jeremiah Quinlan and Bridget, 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 [284]⁴ [MRIN: 180] on 28 Feb 1876 in Shawnee County, Kansas.

Children from this marriage were:

12	i.	Edward William Quinlan [7]
	ii.	George Quinlan (b. 1877) [545] was born in 1877 in Kansas.
	iii.	Elinor Quinlan [544] was born in Jan 1880 in Kansas.
	iv.	Isabelle Quinlan
	v.	Margarette Quinlan
	vi.	James Quinlan
	vii.	Thomas Quinlan

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.

Crucial is how to read Jeremiah’s age. Ancestry.com’s index reads his age as 72 (b. c. 1808), Bridget’s as 65, and says that these three are a husband, wife, and daughter, although the entry does not so specify. An easier reading is 92 (b. c. 1788). The author of the entries is capable of making crisp, open 7s, nothing like 9s. But the digit admittedly does not look like his 9s either. If Jeremiah was Bridget’s husband, ancestry.com’s reading of his age in 1880 is probably correct, which means that the online index to his gravestone cannot be. The entry specifies Ireland as the birth-places of Jeremiah, Bridget and their parents. Mary, aged 23, was born in Canada. Jeremiah and Bridget should therefore have been in Canada circa 1857.

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.