Samuel Quinby
Samuel Quinby was born in Washington county, Pa., in 1794, and died February 4, 1874, at Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio. His father, Judge Ephraim Quinby, removed with his family to the site of Warren as early as 1798, two years before the county og Trumbull was organized, and five years before the State was admitted into the Union. Upon his arrival, or soon thereafter, in Trumbull county, he bought 400 acres of land, lying on both sides of the Mahoning river. After his emigration, and for several years, he lived on the tract lying on the east side of the river, and during his residence there, and in 1801,he laid out the town of Warren, and named it in honor of Moses Warren, of Lyme. Here he engaged in mercantile business, his store room being located upon the banks of the river. In 1808-9 he removed to the west side, although he had as early as 1807-8, erected a grist mill and carding machine on the west side, directly opposite to the present town of Warren. In 1812 he also built a grist mill and carding machine, on the Mahoning, in Liberty township, 12 miles south of Warren. Carding machines in those days were concomitants of grist mills.
Howe, in his Historical Collections of Ohio, says
The plat of Warren, in September, 1800, contained but two log cabins, one of which was occupied by Capt. Ephraim Quinby, who was proprietor of the town, and afterwards Judge of the court. He built his cabin in 1799. The other was occupied by Wm. Fenton, who built his in 1798. On the 27th of this month Cornelius Feather and Davison Fenton arrived from Washington county, Pa. At this time, Quinby's cabin consisted of three apartments, a kitchen, bed-room and jail, although but one prisoner was ever confined in it, viz: Perger Shehigh, for threatening the life of Judge Young, of Youngstown.
He was a member of the first Legislature of the State of Ohio in 1803, and was afterwards chosen Associate Judge, which position he ably filled for ten years. He was one of the prominent, enterprising and influential citizens of his county, and one of the founders of the Baptist Church in Warren. The Indians of that section entertained for him a great regard, and treated him as a friend. He inclined to cover the fierce nature, savage habits and untutored ways of the Red Man with the broad mantle of a generous and sympathetic charity.
He was Captain of a military company, and in his history of Ohio John S. C. Abbott speaks of him: "There was at Warren an excellent man, mild and judicious, by the name of Captain Quinby. He was familiarly acquainted with the Indians, for they had often stopped at his house, which was a great resort. His honorable treatment of them had won their confidence and affection."
But if he was distinguished for his genial, glowing hospitality, he was equally conspicuous for his placid determination and calm but unquailing courage. We may be allowed to introduce a single incident recorded by Howe to illustrate this, a serious difficulty having occurred with the Indians in the summer of 1800, and which cast a shadow over the peaceful prospects of the new and scattered settlements of the whites:
Joseph McMahon, who lived near the Indian settlement at the Salt Springs, and whose family had suffered considerable abuse at different times from the Indians in his absence, was at work with one Richard Story on an old Indian plantation near Warren. On Friday of this week, during his absence, the Indians coming down the creek to have a drunken frolic, called in at McMahon's and abused the family, and finally Captain George, their chief, struck one of the children a severe blow with the tomahawk, and the Indians threatened to kill the whole family. Mrs. McMahon, although alarmed, was unable to get word to her husband before noon the next day.
McMahon and Story at first resolved to go immediately to the Indian camp and kill the whole tribe, but, on a little reflection, they desisted from this rash purpose, and concluded to go to Warren, and consult with Captain Ephraim Quinby, as he was a mild, judicious man.
By the advice of Quinby, all the persons capable of bearing arms were mustered on Sunday morning, consisting of fourteen men and two boys, under the command of Lieutenant John Lane, who proceeded towards the Indian camp, determined to make war or peace, as circumstances dictated.
When within half a mile of the camp, Quinby proposed a halt, and as he was well acquainted with most of the Indians, they having dealt frequently with him, it was resolved that he should proceed alone to the camp, and inquire into the cause of their outrageous conduct, and ascertain whether they were for peace or war. Quinby started alone, leaving the rest behind, and giving direction to Lane that if he did not return in half an hour, he might expect that the savages had killed him, and that he should then march his company and engage in battle. Quinby not returning at the appointed time, they rapidly marched to camp. On emerging from the woods, they discovered Quinby in close conversation with Captain George. He informed his party that they had threatened to kill McMahon and his family, and Story and his family, for it seems the latter had inflicted chastisement on the Indians for stealing his liquor, particularly on one ugly-looking, ill-tempered fellow, named Spotted John, from having his face spotted all over with hair moles. Captain George had also declared, if the whites had come the Indians were ready to fight them.
The whites marchfed directly up to the camp, McMahon first and Story next to him. The chief, Captain George, snatched his tomahawk, which was sticking in a tree, and flourishing it in the air, walked up to McMahon, saying: "If you kill me, I will lie here—if I kill you, you shall lie there!" and then ordered his men to prime and tree. Instantly, as the tomahawk was about to give the deadly blow, McMahon sprang back, raised his gun, already cocked, pulled the trigger, and Captain George fell dead. Story took for his mark the ugly savage. Spotted John, who was at that moment placing his family behind a tree, and shot him dead, the same ball passing through his squaw's neck, and the shoulders of his oldest papoose, a girl of about thirteen.
Hereupon the Indians fled, with horrid yells; the whites hotly pursued for some distance, firing as fast as possible, yet without effect, while the women and children screamed and screeched piteously. The party then gave up the pursuit, returned and buried the dead Indians,_and proceeded to Warren to consult for their safety.
Judge Quinby died in June, 1850.
Samuel Quinby, son of Judge Quinby, throughout a long, active and honorable public career, continued to maintain the enviable name and reputation established by his father. He was, at an early age, appointed Assistant Postmaster at Warren, by General Simon Perkins, the first Postmaster of the territory. He was clerk in his father's store from 1814 to 1817, aud during the last named year he became one of the proprietors of the Western Reserve Chronicle, one of the oldest journals on the Reserve, and which position he held till 1819.
Upon the election of the late John Sloane to Congress from the Sixth District of Ohio, he was appointed, by President Monroe, to succeed Mr. Sloane in the office of Receiver of Public Moneys of the United States Land Office, for the district of lands subject to sale at Wooster, Ohio, removing hither in May, 1819.
During his residence in Wooster he was nominated by the Whig party for Congress, and although it was a hopeless contest, he ran far in advance of his ticket. He held the office of Receiver of Public Moneys until the year 1835, and that of Treasurer of Wayne county from the year 1822 to 1838.
In 1840 he returned to Warren, where he lived until his death. During most of his life political discussions were unusually stormy and turbulent. In the election of 1828 he supported John Quincy Adams for President, and when the political tempest which overwhelmed his administration for its alleged extravagance and corruption broke upon the country and defeated his re-election, and elected General Jackson in his stead, the triumphant party did not succeed in displacing Mr. Quinby, as was the case generally of others, though great efforts were made for that purpose. During the administration of General Jackson he continued to hold the office of Receiver of Public Moneys at Wooster, his ability, integrity and purity of character, and the high esteem in which he was held as a faithful public officer, at home and at Washington, having insured him against removal from office. His well known hostility to slavery transferred his allegiance from the Whig to the Republican party, of which he continued an esteemed and influential member to the close of his life. He was twice elected to the Senate from Trumbull county, serving full terms—the first in 1844 and the second in 1861. He was for many years a director of the Western Reserve Bank, and the associate of Perkins, Parsons, Freeman, and others, who gave the institution its good name and reputation.
The twenty years, principally of official life, spent by Samuel Quinby in Wayne county defines an era in its history. Having but few predecessors, he inaugurated the Augustan age of public and private virtue. He left an example of official purity and personal integrity worthy of emulation for all time. He was not a politician, according to the construction of that term in these days of corruption, misrule and mal-administration. When elevated to positions of honor and public trust he was chosen because of his signal fitness for the place, and he discharged its duties with punctilious fidelity and scrupulous regard to his conscientious as well as his official obligations. No temptation or illicit motive swayed or swerved the inflexible bent and purpose of his aim. His official reputation is without a stain. His public records are models of methodical system, aptness and exactness. His penmanship is in the perfection of the art, each word a lithograph, and as symmetrical as the scrivener's of old, who, after a long life of devotion to his art, died with the King's syllables upon his pen. A promise with him was equivalent to its fulfillment. Honesty was inscribed upon his shield; it was the rule of his life, and the assurance of that possession by the humblest citizen entitled him to Mr. Quinby's consideration.
The surviving pioneers of the county bring united testimony to his noble impulses and generous disposition. He appeared at a crisis in their midst when they sorely needed a counselor and when substantial assistance became one of the unforgotten boons. As Treasurer of the county for many years he had opportunity of knowing the financial distresses of the toiling, moneyless settlers. They had entered, or purchased their lands, had brought on their families and were bravely fighting the battle of life amid untold hardship and suffering. They could produce corn and wheat, oats, &c., it is true, but they brought little or no money. The home market was a fable; its moral was disappointment. The inevitable tax-day came around, and many a struggling, industrious, frugal land-owner was found penniless. Some could sell the one or two hogs they had fattened for the winter's meat; some, more fortunate, could meet the collector's demand; others could send to friends in the East and procure the scant remittance, and others again beheld the grim tax-gatherer coming with sick and aching hearts.
With this latter class is where Mr. Quinby rose to the dignity of the pioneer's true friend. We have it from the lips of old men yet living in Wayne county that upon a candid and truthful representation of their financial condition, he voluntarily paid their taxes for years, never exacting a cent of interest, and only asking back what he paid, and affording any reasonable time to pay it in. To those who spoke regretfully of leaving comfortable homes in other States, and talked of selling out and returning, he addressed words of encouragement, saying, "This is a great country, let us make it ours and our children's." A decided affirmative answer to the question, "Will you stay with us and help fight our battles?" relieved the heavy heart of many a penniless tax-payer.
His name is to-day laden with a fragrance in the memory of the pioneers, and they revert to his manifold kindnesses with sighs and sadness.
Such a man, in such times of trial rises to the majesty of a benefactor, and such a life leaves more than a transient impression upon the age and period where its activities are displayed.
He was a prominent and respected member of the Baptist church in Warren, and in his daily life and conversation illustrated the virtues of the Christian gentleman. He was twice married—first, to Lucy Potter, daughter of Rev. Lyman Potter, of Steubenville, Ohio, who died in 1833. He was married a second time, in 1847, to Mrs. Emma Brown, of Hartford, Trumbull county, Ohio, who survived him.
Of the six children by the first marriage, two only, and of the five by the second, one only, survived him. He was an older brother of Ephraim Quinby, Jr., a biographical sketch of whom appears in this work.
It is emphatically evident that the Quinby family was an enviably prominent one. In their successful operations for the development of the resources of the country, they have demonstrated a high order of business ability and commercial integrity. Their personal example and laudable endeavors to elevate the moral and religious tone of the communities in which they moved, celebrate their virtues and the excellencies of their lives. The unstained and unimpeachable characters they maintained in the various positions of responsibility and honor entrusted to them by the people constitute an enduring monument.
From History of Wayne County, Ohio, From the Days of the Pioneers and First Settlers to the Present Time, by Robert Douglass, 1878