Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/19

 QCINBY

QUINCY

and vice-president of that institution. 1879-86. He was married to Elizabeth G., daughter of Gen. John L. Gardner, U.S.A. He revised the books of the Robinson course of niatheiuatics, and wrote the treatise on the calculus. He died in Rochester, N.Y., Sept. 18, 1891.

QUINBY, Watson Fell, author, was born in Brandy wine Springs, Del., Dec. 15, 18i35 ; son of Dr. John and Elizabeth Starr (Phillips) Quinby ; grandson of Moses and Jane (Fell) Quinby, and of William D. and Phebe (Starr) Phillips, and a de- scendant of John Quinby of Westchester county, N.Y., member of the first New York assembly. He matriculated at Haverford college for the junior class of 1843 and left in 1843 without graduating, to enter Jefferson Medical college, Philadelphia, where he was graduated in 1847. He crossed the plains in 1849 with a party of California pioneers and lived for some years in mining camps in the mountains. He was mar- ried, Feb. 23, 1855, to Annie, daughter of James and Mary (Foote) Giffen of New Castle Co., Del., and afterward practiced medicine in Wilming- ton, Del. He is the author of : Mongrelism (1876) ; The Coming Kingdom (1878); Solomon's Seal (1880): A Solution of the Circle (1885); Weights and Measures (1885); Silver (1885); Greek Names in America (1888); The Yard or the Metre, Which Will Ye Choose? (1891).

QUINBY, William Emory, diplomatist and journalist, was born at Brewer, Maine, Dec. 14, 1835 ; son of Daniel Franklin andArazina (Reed) Quinby ; grandson of Benjamin Franklin and Phoebe (Larrabee) Quinby, and of Samuel Webb and Sarah (Kidder) Reed, and a descend- ant of William Quinby, who settled in Connecti- cut in 1650. He removed with his father to Detroit, Mich., in 1850; attended the literary department of Gregory's Commercial college, Detroit ; was graduated from the University of Michigan, A.B., 1858, A.M., 1861, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1859. He was married, in April, 1860, to Adeline Frazier. As a boy he assisted his father in publishing the Literary Miscellany, and in 1861 obtained employment with the Detroit Free Press, becoming manag- ing-editor in 1863, and general manager, editor- in-chief, and principal owner in 1873. He was U.S. minister to The Netherlands, 1893-97. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by tlie University of Michigan in 1896.

QUINCY, Josiah, patriot, was born in Boston, Mass., Feb. 23, 1744; son of Josiah and Hannah (Sturgis) Quincy ; grandson of Edmund and Dorothy (Flynt) Quincy ; great-grandson of Ed- mund and Elizabeth (Gookin) Eliot Quincy, and greats-grandson of Edmund and Judith (Pares) Quincy, the immigrants. He was graduated from Harvard, A.B., 1763, A.M., 1766, when he de-

livered his master's oration "Patriotism," his first oration in English, in which he demonstra- ted unusual power as an orator. He studied law under Oxenbridge Thacher in Boston, and prac- tised in Boston, 1766-73. His political views rendering him obnoxious to the supreme court of the province, his name was omitted in the distribution of the honors of the gown. He was mar- ried in October, 1779, to Abigail, daughter of William PhiUips. On March 5, 1770, the difiiculties between citizens of Boston and the British soldiers, known as the Boston massacre, occurred, and the citizens were clamorous for ven- geance against Cap- tain Preston and the though sympathizing

'i^cJv XMU4*<y

accused soldiers. A!- with the citizens, Mr. Quincy was selected by Captain Preston to de- fend his cause and that of the soldiers in the courts, against the earnest remonstrance of his father. This difficult task he shared with John Adams, who joined him as elder counsel. The trial began, Oct. 24, 1770, and concluded with the acquittal of Captain Preston, Oct. 30, 1770. Two of his men, however, were found guilty of manslaughter and branded in the hand. The popular resentment against Quincy and Adams was intense and publicly manifested whenever they appeared in the streets of Boston. In 1773 illness necessitated a change of climate, and he took passage by sea to Charleston. S.C., Feb. 8, 1773. On his return he journeyed through North Carolina, Virginia, Marj'land, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New Y'ork, being much benefited in health. In November, 1773, the British tea ships arrived in Boston Harbor, and the committee of correspondence held a meeting at the Old South Meeting house, Dec. 16, 17.73, where Quincy and Samuel Adams spoke against the obnoxious measures of the British government. While the speaking proceeded, forty or fifty men, disguised as Indians, marched past the Meeting house to take possession of the tea ships and cast three hundred and forty chests of tea into the bay. As they were passing. Mr. Quincy paused a moment and then said : "' I see the clouds which now rise thick and fast upon our horizon, the thunders roll, the liglitnings play, and to that God who rides on the whirlwind and directs the storm, I commit my country." On Sept. 28, 1774, he em- barked on board the Boston Packet on a confi-