Bio of QUEAL, John Henry (b.1851), Hennepin Co., MN ========================================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find the submitter information or other files for this county. FileFormat by Terri--MNArchives Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Laura Pruden Submitted: June 2003 ========================================================================= Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ======================================================== EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical ======================================================== Vol II, pg 150-153 JOHN HENRY QUEAL In lumber circles the name of John Henry Queal was widely known and was recognized as a synonym for progressive and thoroughly reliable business methods. For fifteen years he was the president of the McCloud River Lumber Company and at different periods was identified with other important lumber interests, the extent and importance of his operations placing him in a point of leadership among the lumbermen of the Northwest. John Henry Queal was born at Exeter, New York, August 24, 1851, and was a son of Atchison and Lucy (French) Queal, both of whom were natives of New York. The father was a minister, who on leaving the Empire state removed with his family to Ames, Iowa. The son, John Henry Queal, was then but a small boy and at that place he acquired his early education, while later he attended the Iowa State College of Agriculture at Ames. When a young lad he started out to provide for his own support and worked with an uncle who was engaged in the lumber business in Chicago. His father died during the childhood of John Henry Queal and before becoming identified with the lumber trade he had worked on a farm for two years. He early recognized the value of untiring industry and of inflexible integrity and those qualities characterized his entire career. He remained in the employ of his uncle, Robert F. Queal, for several years and also traveled for two different lumber firms for a time. Subsequently he became identified with the C. Lamb & Sons Lumber Company of Clinton, Iowa, and remained with them until 1879, when he purchased a small lumberyard at Sheldahl, Iowa. This he operated for several years and it constituted the nucleus and the foundation of the extensive lumber jnterests which he controlled in his later career. He operated there under the firm style of J. H. Queal & Company and from time to time he added other yards and thus extended the scope of his business. Eventually he bought the lumberyards of C. Lamb & Sons Company at Ames, Iowa. At this time he gave up travel on the road to devote his attention to the management of his own yards and thereafter he concentrated his time and energies upon the successful control and development of his business. In 1883 he removed to Des Moines, where he opened and conducted his largest lumberyard. In 1889 he came to Minneapolis, where he established the main office of the J. H. Queal Lumber Company. This firm then purchased and controlled a Line of yards in Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota and were also interested in timber lands in Oregon and California. Mr. Queal afterward became identified with the McCloud River Lumber Company, which was incorporated in Minneapolis and of which he was president for about fifteen years prior to his death. This was one of the largest companies operating on the coast and their timber lands were situated in the Mount Shasta region, where they had great timber holdings. They had completed one of the largest and most modern mills on the Pacific coast just before the demise of Mr. Queal. He was also president of the McCloud Railroad Company and of the McCloud National Bank and was one of the directors of the First National Bank of Minneapolis. He possessed a dynamic force in control of business affairs and his alertness and enterprise carried to successful completion whatever he undertook. In 1908 Mr. Queal was married to Miss Alice Nigh, a daughter of Elias and Alice (Henshaw) Nigh of Ohio. They traveled life's journey happily together until the 13th of June, 1921, when Mr. Queal passed to the home beyond. He was a member of all the leading clubs of Minneapolis and also On the Pacific coast and was as widely and favorably known in that section of the country as in the upper Mississippi valley. Only a short time before his demise he and his wife had returned from a long trip through the Orient. The success of his earlier years had made such a vacation possible and in the evening of his days he enjoyed travel and the opportunities which it brings. He spent several months each year in northern California and he had a winter home in Pasadena. The name of Mr. Queal was known in insurance circles as that of the president of the Lumbermen's Mutual Insurance Association. He enjoyed the warm friendship and kindly regard of his fellow members of the Minneapolis, Minneapolis Athletic, Minikahda and Lafayette clubs, also of the Town and Country Club of St. Paul, the Midwick Club of Pasadena and the Bohemian Club of San Francisco. Those who became associated with him through business or social relations entertained for him the warmest regard and the entire course of his life was such as to command for him the respect, confidence and goodwill of all who knew him. His life record should serve as a source of inspiration and encouragement to others, showing what may be accomplished through individual effort, and there was no man who more worthily won or wore the proud American title of a self-made man.