Los Angeles County CA Archives Biographies.....Quinn, Bernard 1837 - 
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Author: Luther A. Ingersoll (1908)

    BERNARD QUINN   There are few cities on the Pacific Coast that have attached
to their citizenship a larger percentage of well-to-do and the wealthy men of
the country than has Santa Monica. Bernard Quinn is one of the recent
acquisitions to this most thrifty colony. Mr. Quinn is a native of Ireland,
having been born in County Armagh in 1837. His father, Michael Quinn, died in
Ireland and the widow, with seven children came to America, locating in
Allegheny County, Pa., about twenty-one miles above the city of Pitts-burg. Here
the mother died at the age of about fifty years. Young Quinn grew to manhood in
Allegheny County and when ten years of age learned the business of operating a
stationary engine, pursuing that calling for several years. In the year 1856, at
the age of nineteen, he came west to the territory of Nebraska. Here he did a
freighting business with teams and wagons for the United States Government,
transporting supplies to the troops garrisoned at Fort Benton.

    In  1864 he, with a brother, Charles, came still further westward to
Montana. The transportation was made with a train of twenty-five emigrant
wagons, each drawn by five yokes of oxen, young Quinn driving the lead team. The
Quinn brothers owned six of these outfits. They located about one hundred miles
north of what is now the city of Helena and engaged in mining with very
indifferent success. In 1867 they went to Salt Lake City, where they purchased
of the Mormons one hundred and sixty cows and calves. This stock they drove
north into Montana and for about fifteen years engaged in stock raising in that
state. Their range covered a stretch of country nine miles square, one of the
richest and best watered in the region and they made the business profitable. In
1888 they disposed of all their stock interests and went to Butte City where
they invested heavily in city property. The brother died in Butte City in May,
1897, at 78 years of age.

    Mr. Quinn prospered in business and acquired some of the best realty
holdings in the city of Butte. By reason of physical disabilities, the results
of exposure in the vigorous climate of Montana, Mr. Quinn, after extensive
traveling, came to California and in 1908 purchased a delightful home, retiring
from active business life. In 1894 Mr. Quinn married Miss Bell Durnan, a native
of Philadelphia, Pa., and a daughter of Charles Durnan, a boatman on the Erie
Canal. Mr. and Mrs. Quinn have one son, Victor John Quinn, born in Butte City,
Montana, January 23rd, 1897. The family home is at Ninth and Arizona Avenue.

    While residents of Nebraska the Quinn brothers took a prominent part in the
warfare against the Indians of the Platte River Valley. They were typical and
enterprising pioneers and brought the first harvesting machine into that
country. When they finally went to Montana they took with them two Champion
mowing and harvesting machines, the first ever seen in that country. These
machines were an innovation, and the enterprising Quinns had more work than they
could do cutting hay at $35.00 per day. Mr. Quinn is a member of the Society of
Montana Pioneers and a devout member of the Catholic Church.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Ingersoll's century history, Santa Monica Bay cities: prefaced with a brief
history of the state of California, a condensed history of Los Angeles County,
1542 to 1908: supplemented with an encyclopedia of local biography and
embellished with views of historic landmarks and portraits of representative
people.

Los Angeles: Luther A. Ingersoll (1908)


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