History of Michigan, / by Charles Moore. [Vol. 3]

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

1627

regiment, and was under the command of Generals Banks and Phil
Sheridan; William, for many years a merchant at Albany, New York,
is deceased; John, who lived near Rutland, Vermont, served throughout
the war with the First Vermont Sharpshooters; Martin, is now a prominent farmer in western Wisconsin; and the youngest is Thomas, head
of the Thomas Quinlan & Sons Company of Petoskey. By the second
marriage there were three sons and three daughters, and those still living are Joseph, a livestock man in Venmont; Nellie, Mary, Frank and
Kate.
Thomas Quinlan, son of John and Elizabeth (Flood) Quin!an, was
born at Charlotte, Chittenden county, Vermont, December 22, 1848. His
early schooling was obtained in a school house located on his father's
farm, and at the age of fourteen he went to work as clerk in a general
store at Ferrisburg, Vermont. Three years later he was clerk with the
McWilliams Bros. firm at Burlington, Vermont, and two years later on
account of failing health returned to his father's home to recuperate.
In October, 187I, at the age of twenty-three, a son of Judge Meech, who
had given the emigrant John Quinlan his first work on coming to Vermont, sent young Thomas Quinlan out to Michigan to take charge of
a business at Norwood, and he superintended the Fred Meech store there
for three years. He then went into business for himself, first as a wholesale buyer of potatoes, which he shipped to Chicago markets, making his
purchases in Charlevoix, Norwood and Torch Lake. In this way he
b'ecame acquainted with the firm of Fox, Rose & Butters, Charlevoix
merchants, and in November, I874, was made manager of their branch
store at Petoskey, being connected with this firm for five and a half
years.
In the spring of 1878, with Philip B. Wachtel, Mr. Quinlan established
the first banking house in Petoskey, known as Wachtel & Quinlan, bankers. His interests were later sold to W. L. Curtis of Kalamazoo. Mr.
Quinlan then engaged in the real estate and insurance business until
I9o8, when the firm of Thomas Quinlan & Sons Company, Ltd., was organized to take over the large interests acquired by his individual activities. Thomas Quinlan is chairman of the Board of Managers of this
company, and others on the board are C. C. Quinlan, M. M. Burnham
William T. Quinlan, John F. Quinlan. The company handle mortgage
securities, with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars, and all
the officers therein are directors or officers in various improvement and
development associations in Michigan.
Thomas Quinlan has from his early years of residence in Petoskey
been one of the chief factors in the upbuilding of that city and vicinity,
and has been the means of introducing to Emmett county many farmers
who have succeeded and are men of substantial means today. Mr. Quinlan is a Democrat, and in I880 was elected registrar of deeds for Emmett county and served two terms of four years. He has also served as
township treasurer or village treasurer of Petoskev. He and his family are members of the Catholic church and fraternally he is affiliated
with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. A large and important branch of his business, which is also his chief recreation and
hobby, is the ownership and cultivation of over six hundred acres of land
in this part of Michigan, and he is noted as a breeder of registered Durham cattle, 0. I. C. hogs and Shropshire sheep. Incidentally it should
be noted that Mr. Quinlan was the first boarder taken into the Cushman Hotel at Petoskey. He now spends most of his winters in the
South.
Thomas Quinlan was married September 23, I879, to Miss M. Bar