Post to IASCOTT & IA-IRISH Bert Quinn Biography >From "History of Davenport and Scott County" Vol. II by Harry E. Downer-S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1910 Chicago. Surnames: Quinn, Steffe, Harrison, Neckley, Clapp. Bert Quinn, who cultivates a farm of eighty acres in Sheridan township. His place adjoining the corporation limits of Eldridge, in which village he was born May 10, 1873, is a representative of one of the oldest families of this county. His grandfather, W. I. Quinn, was one of the first settlers of Scott county, arriving in the fall of 1838, when he settled on the Wapsie in Winfield township. Iowa was then still under territorial rule and the work of progress ad development seemed scarcely begun He was born in Preble county, Ohio, November 12, 1831, a son of Joseph C. and Julia Quinn, who came originally from New Jersey but removed from that state to Georgia and thence to Ohio, coming from the Buckeye state to Iowa. They were of Irish descent and were farming people. When they first came to Scott county Joseph C. Quinn entered land of the Wapsie, securing one hundred and sixty acres. There were four brothers and all entered land in this vicinity, making choice of their clai! ms because of the timber and water. Joseph C. Quinn and his wife afterward removed to Sheridan township, where he purchased a tract of land on which the town of Eldridge now stands, while another portion constitutes the farm upon which Bert Quinn is now living. Later he removed with his family to Hickory Grove township, where he bought a farm, and while living thereon his wife died. Subsequently Joseph C. Quinn removed to Jasper county, Iowa, where his last days were spent. W. I. Quinn, the grandfather of our subject, has spent the greater part of his life in this county, his education being acquired at Long Grove. The Indians were still here at the time of his arrival and for years afterward there were many traces of Indian occupancy to be seen in the arrowheads and in the remnants of tepees which showed that the Indians had been former occupants of the soil. W. I. Quinn pursued his education in a log school building, which was also used as a church. His entire life was devoted to farming in Sheridan township until 1902, when he retired from business cares and removed to Long Grove. His wife died in 1908, at the age of seventy-three years. W. I. Quinn is a member of the Christian church and served as deacon for a number of years but put aside the duties of the office because of his advanced age. Bert Quinn was reared by his grandparents and has spent his entire life in this county with the exception of a few years in college. He attended the schools of the district until he had mastered the elementary branches of learning and later he became a pupil in Eureka College at Eureka, Illinois, being graduated from the business department in the class of 1891. He then returned home and has since engaged in farming with the exception of a year spent in California. On the 25th of January, 1900, Mr. Quinn was united in marriage to Miss Carried Steffe, a daughter of George and Mary Steffe, of Lincoln township, who were early settlers here. The father was of German nativity, his birth having occurred in Freiburg, Baden, Germany, October 28, 1823, while his wife was born in Switzerland, November 6, 1834. They were married in Hickory Grove township, this county, the father having come to Scott county when a young man. He had served in the German army and was also a soldier of the civil war enlisting at Davenport and participating in many important military movements, including the celebrated march of Sherman to the sea. After the war he resumed the pursuits of civil life and always devoted his time and energies to farming in Lincoln township, where he made his home up to the he time of his death on the 6th of November, 1900. For more than a year he had survived his wife, who died January 2, 1899. She had come to the United States when nine! years of age with her parents, who made their way direct to Davenport, and here she lived all her life. She was married in 1859 to Mr. Steffe and became the mother of nine children: Mary, the wife of George Harrison; Rosie, the deceased wife of Brice Neckley; Joe, of Luverne, Minnesota; Jacob, deceased; Louisa, the wife of B. F. Quinn, of Cedar Rapids; Carrie, the wife of Bert Quinn; Hiram, of Sheridan township; Julia, deceased; and Adie, the deceased wife of William Clapp. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Quinn has been born one son, Forest L., whose birth occurred November 6, 1904. Mr. Quinn is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, affiliated with the camp at Long Grove, and the Odd Fellows lodge and has held most of the offices in the former. He likewise belongs to the he Christian church of Long Grove. In community affairs he takes a deep and helpful interest and yet he does not neglect his business, for he is known as a representative farmer of the community, carrying on general agricultural pursuits and also making a specialty of the cultivation of potatoes. In this he is meeting with good success and his farm product find a ready sale on the market. ~~~~~~*~~~~~~ Elaine Rathmann Assist. CC: Scott Co, IA USGenWeb Project List Adm. for: *IA-CIVIL-WAR *IA-DANES