Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 910 - 912

WILLIAM QUINELL. This gentleman ranks among the retired farmers and capitalists who are living at their ease in the city of Wichita, and who know right well how to take care of the property they accumulated in their younger years by untiring industry and the closest economy. The subject of this sketch has had an interesting experience with the world, the main points of which will well repay perusal.

            Born on the other side of the Atlantic, in the city of London, on the 31st day of April, 1833, he spent the first twelve months of his life within the confines of the great English metropolis, whence he emigrated with his parents to the United States the following year. Upon nearing the American shore, they sailed down the St. Lawrence to the city of Quebec, where they located and lived until our subject was a youth of fifteen years. The next residence of the latter was in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., where he started out for himself, and was occupied as a farm laborer for eight years following. From St. Lawrence he emigrated to Lewis County, and while there attended the common schools during the winter season, thus supplementing the limited education which he had received.

            Upon leaving the Empire State, Mr. Quinell made his way to Portage County, Wis., where he remained two years, and in the meantime purchased pine lands at sixty cents per acre. He lost by forest fire $10,000 worth of timber, which tended to make him disgusted with that section of country, and he soon afterward left for Doniphan County, in this State, reaching here in 1860. He invested the little money he had remaining in forty acres of land, upon which he labored with indifferent success, and which he disposed of in 1872 upon his removal to this county.

            The first venture of our subject in Sedgwick County was the pre-emption of 160 acres in Rockford Township, and later the purchase of another 160 acres adjoining. Upon this he labored with might and main for several years, with the most satisfactory results. While engaged in the cultivation of the soil he put up the requisite farm buildings, and planted a number of fruit trees, 1,156 apple and 3,000 peach, and added from time to time the various other embellishments of the modern country estate. This farm is now estimated to be worth $15,000. The fields are beautifully laid out with four and one-half miles of hedge, and the later years of Mr. Quinell upon this place were largely devoted to stock-growing, including cattle and swine, which he shipped by the carload to Kansas City. In all his labors and plans he has been foremost in putting his own shoulder to the wheel, bearing in mind the maxim of Ben Franklin, "If you wish a thing well done, do it yourself."

            The lady who has been the faithful companion and helpmate to our subject for a period of twenty-seven years was in her girlhood Miss Amanda J. McCullough, and became his wife on the 15th of January, 1861, the wedding being celebrated at the home of the bride, in Burr Oak Township, Doniphan Co., Kan. Mrs. Quinell was born in the city of St. Louis, Mo., Dec. 1, 1843, and came to Kansas with her parents in 1855. The latter were Thomas H. and Rebecca (Craft) McCullough, the former a native of North Carolina, the latter of Virginia, the father being cousin to the Confederate General of the same name. Thomas H. McCullough was of Scotch ancestry, while the mother of Mrs. Q. was the descendant of an honorable old Welsh family who crossed the Atlantic during the Colonial days. The parents of Mrs. Quinell had nine children, viz.: Clarissa A., William, John A., Nathan C., Amanda J., Rufus L., Julia A., Dulcina M. and Jay.

            Mr. Quinell after the outbreak of the Rebellion enlisted in Company A, 13th Kansas Infantry, in which he served three years, and met the enemy in several important battles, including the engagements at Prairie Grove, Ark., Cane Hill, Camden, and various skirmishes. At the expiration of his term of enlistment he was honorably discharged, and returned to his farming interests. Previous to entering the army Mr. Q. had accumulated about $1,400, which he invested in logging on the Missouri River; it was all swept away by the ravages of the rebel army. He had a full experience of the terrors of border warfare, which will never be effaced from his memory. In these his worthy wife fully shared, but proved herself equal to the emergency. Mr. Quinell was a good marksman, and entered the army to share the fortunes of his friends and comrades. He was under command of Col. Thomas M. Bowen, of Kansas, now United States Senator from Colorado, who was his especial friend, and whose money was given to the safekeeping of our subject, who carried it around with him in a belt for two years.

            In 1866 Mr. Quinell rented his farm in Rockford Township, which he still owns, and coming to Wichita, erected one of the finest dwellings on South Mead avenue, where he subsequently took up his abode. A view of this elegant city residence is presented in this ALBUM. His property embraces fourteen and one-half acres, which has been laid out into eighty lots; he has fifteen acres elsewhere in the city, besides eight lots on College Hill and five on South Market street. There is no reason for him to worry about the future, as far at least as financial matters are concerned.

            The six children born to our subject and his wife were named respectively: Loretta, Martin, Leonard, Milo C., Sylvia P. and Ormy. The latter died Oct. 17, 1880, when an interesting boy of eight years. The eldest child is twenty-one years of age, and the youngest living seven. Mr. Quinell is a Republican at all times, and uniformly supports the principles of his party.

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