J. H. Quinn

J. H. Quinn, to whom so many references are made in the general and township history, was born in Preble county, Ohio, in 1826. When about ten years old his father died, and soon after he went to live with a neighbor farmer, with whom he lived until eighteen years of age, when he learned the shoemakers trade and worked at that trade lor some years. In the year 1849 he, in company with another young man, opened a boot, shoe, hat and cap store in his native town of Eaton, Ohio. In July, 1851, he married Miss Mary, daughter of Jacob Fall, of Preble county, Ohio, to whom seven children were born, of whom six are living, namely: Ann Eliza, Ida Belle, William D., Frank F., Horace G. and James A. In the year 1858 he sold his interest in the store and took a trip to the then far west and bought 240 acres of unimproved prairie land in Goshen township. On his return home he engaged as a salesman in a mercantile house, in which position he remained until the beginning of the year 1855, when he again went west, driving through with a team, during which year he built a house on his previously bought land, and in March, 1850, he moved his family from Eaton, Ohio, into it, where he still resides. Mr. Quinn has taken all the parts attributed to him as member of the County Board, of the Agricultural Society, of the Township Board, of the I. O. O. F. at Toulon, of the Christian church at Lafayette, and of other local organizations. His farm of 480 acres is considered one of the most productive and best improved in this section of Illinois. His Durham or shorthorn herd of forty cattle, his Poland China hogs, and large herds of other graded stock have, for some years, been celebrated throughout the country. The beginnings of the Quinn family date back to Ireland. Robert Quinn, a native of Maryland, married Elizabeth Lacey. and they were the parents of James Quinn, who settled with them in treble county, Ohio, in 1805, and there married Sarah, daughter of John and Ann Glines, of Massachusetts, early settlers of Ohio, who were the parents of J. H. Quinn.