Comrade Quigley Rests From Labor

Wednesday night William A. Quigley and wife attended a picture show in his usual good health and genial spirits and were at home before 11 o’clock and after eating an apple and taking his bath retired. Soon after he called his wife and she found him to weak to talk and called in their neighbors Captain and Mrs. Geo. L. Banks and Attorney and Mrs. P. L. Courtright. A physician was called but before one could arrive Comrade William A. Quigley had answered roll call for eternity and entered into rest, without pain, having went to sleep in a stupor.

In recent months the influenza weakened him, but he recovered and Thursday of last week attended Woman’s Relief Corps meeting at which quite a number of Grand Army were present, and Comrade Quigley with others. When it was known that State Commander Theodore Gardner was in the city he was the volunteer to find and report his presence, and that he would address the G. A. R. and Relief Corps Friday.

Comrade Quigley was born in Madison, Ind., in 1842, enlisted in Co. __ Indiana Regiment, and was with the “Boys at Shreveport, La.,” where he was wounded and detailed later from the hospital for duty at Washington, D. C., serving ten years altogether.

In 1870 Mr. Quigley was united in marriage with Miss Virginia Hurlburt. Twenty years later they moved to Topeka and for a time was a very popular clerk in the Capital Hotel, Topeka, later for years in the Santa Fe offices, and with the coming of the Kansas Natural Gas company to our city in 1905 he came as cashier and served unit its sale, and continued with its successor, the Independence Gas Co., until death.

Mr. Quigley was an honored, active member of the Christian church, and was one of the most helpful and cheerful workers, and his friends were all with whom he did business. He is survived by his devoted wife and daughters Mrs. F. C. Palmer of New York City and Mrs. S. J. Harland of Highland Park, Ill.

The funeral was largely attended by G. A. R., W. R. C., and S. of V., and the public at the Christian church, and Rev. F. L. Pettit paid a beautiful testimony to the veteran’s character and life.

In the death of the lamented W. A. Quigley Kansas loses and ex-Union soldier who had the unique distinction of having been present at Ford’s Theater in Washington when John Wilkes Booth found his way to the private box of President Lincoln and slew him. That shot was fired fifty-five years ago. Mr. Quigley in speaking of the immediate incidents of the awful tragedy would emphasize the extreme excitement and rage of the audience, one it was fully understood that the President was murdered, and that his murderer had escaped. Mr. Quigley, it seems, had been in service at the front, before Richmond, and had but recently been detailed for some duty at Washington, and with others of his command had found his way for a an evening’s entertainment to Ford’s theater, principally because he had learned that President Lincoln would be there. He could not recount the incidents of the assassination that he saw without much emotion. A better soldier, a finer gentleman or a truer American or a better citizen that W. A. Quigley never lived.

O. P. ERGENBRIGHT

Independence Daily Reporter, Thursday, April 15, 1920, Pg. 1:

DEATH CALLED W. A. QUIGLEY LAST NIGHT

Veteran of Civil War Passed Away Very Suddenly

LIVED HERE 15 YEARS

Was One of This City’s Most Popular Men

Greatly Admired by General Public

The entire community was shocked this morning to learn of the sudden death of W. A. Quigley, for years the cashier of the Kansas Natural Gas Co., which occurred last night at 11:30 at the home, 414 North Fifth street. After his usual day’s work at his desk, Mr. Quigley had accompanied his wife downtown last evening and after attending a picture show, had returned home about 10 o’clock. He seemed in his usual good health and after bathing and eating an apple had gone to bed. He called Mrs. Quigley to his side within a few minutes, and Mrs. Quigley called in two neighbors, Capt. and Mrs. G. L. Banks and Mr. and Mrs. P. L. Courtwright.

Mr. Quigley suffered no pain, seeming to lie in a slight stupor. The family physician was hurriedly summoned, but by the time he had arrived Mr. Quigley was dead. Last fall Mr. Quigley had suffered a slight attack of the flu, and it had left him in a weakened condition, affecting his heart.

Was 77 Years Old.

The deceased was born in July 1842 at Madison, Ind., and was 77 years, 9 months of age. He answered the call of his country in the Civil war and served for ten years. He was wounded near Shreveport, La., and was later detailed for duty at Washington, after being discharged from the hospital. He attended the Ford Theater the night Lincoln was assassinated.

In 1870 he was united in marriage with Miss Virginia Hurlburt. In 1890 he moved to Topeka and was employed in the Santa Fe offices. About fifteen years ago he moved to Independence, being in the employ of the Kansas Natural and its successor, the Independence Gas Co. until his death.

Mr. Quigley was an active member of the Christian church and participated in its work to a great extent. He was also a prominent member of the local post of the G. A. R. and had been post commander.

Surviving are the widow, and two daughters, Mrs. F. C. Palmer of New York City and Mrs. S. J. Harland, of Highland Park, Ill. Mrs. Palmer is expected here tomorrow. The funeral arrangements have not been made.

Had Hosts of Friends.

Mr. Quigley was certainly one of the most beloved old men in this city. He had the heart of a boy and was noted for his cheerfulness and activity. He attended every commercial club dinner when he could do so and was always the center of conversation because every one delighted to meet him, and talk with him. He grew old gracefully, and had he been permitted to select the manner of his passing into the Great Beyond, he would undoubtedly have asked for just such a quiet, peaceful death as came to him. He was deeply religious and made the tenets of his religion stand out in his every thought and act. He had a kind work for every one and friends came to him naturally and in great numbers. Always kind and accommodatius, with a happy, cheery smile for everyone, he will be missed by patrons of the Gas company as well as by all who knew him. The city has truly suffered a real loss in his death.

A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, copyright 1918; transcribed 1997.

William A. Quigley

WILLIAM A. QUIGLEY. A varied and eventful career has been that of Mr. Quigley, the efficient and popular cashier of the Kansas National Gas Company in the offices of this corporation at Independence, Montgomery County. Mr. Quigley claims the old Hoosier State as the place of his nativity, was there reared and educated and it was given him to represent that commonwealth as one of the valiant soldiers of the Union during the major portion of the Civil war. His activities in the business world have been diversified and he has been a resident of Kansas for the past thirty years. His paternal grandfather was born in Pennsylvania and passed the closing years of his life near Cincinnati, Ohio, where he settled in 1816 in the pioneer days. The original American progenitors of the Quigley family came from Ireland and settled in Pennsylvania prior to the war of the Revolution.

William A. Quigley was born in Jefferson County, Indiana, on the 19th of July, 1842, and is a son of Hiram and Melvina (White) Quigley, the former of whom was born near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1812, and the latter of whom was born in Jefferson County, Indiana, in 1823.

Hiram Quigley was about four years old when his parents removed from Pennsylvania and settled near the present Village of North Bend, Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1816. There he was reared to adult age, and there, in the City of Cincinnati, he served a thorough apprenticeship to the trade of carpenter and steamboat joiner. He became a specially skilled artisan as a woodworker and he continued to follow his trade in Ohio until 1835, when he removed to Jefferson County, Indiana, and became one of the pioneer settlers of that section of the Hoosier State, where he passed the remainder of his long and useful life, his death having occurred in 1880. He was originally a whig and later a republican in politics, and both he and his wife were earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Quigley continued to maintain her home in Jefferson County after the death of her honored husband, but she died while making a visit in Southern Illinois in 1887. Of the children the subject of this review is the first born; Mary Frances died in childhood.

Samuel White, who during his active career was a successful carpenter and builder, is now living retired at Kansas City, Missouri; Martha died at the age of two years; and Miss Fannie resides at Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.

William A. Quigley acquired his early education in the common schools of his native county, where he became a student in the high school at Madison, but he left school at the age of fifteen years and at Madison turned his attention to learning the jewelry and watchmaking business, with which he continued to be identified for a period of seven years--both before and after the Civil war. In August, 1862, at the age of twenty years, he tendered his services in defense of the Union by enlisting as a private in Company C Sixty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, his having been the company that bore the colors of the regiment. In September, 1862, Mr. Quigley was captured while on duty in Kentucky, and shortly afterward he was parolled, his exchange having been effected in the following December, after which he rejoined his command, with which he continued in active service, mostly in detached duty, until the close of the war. He was with his regiment on the Red River campaign and at the battle of Sabine Crossroads, Louisiana, in the spring of 1864, he was wounded. His injury did not long incapacitate him and he continued in service for several months after the surrender of General Lee, he having been mustered out September 4, 1865, and having duly received his honorable discharge. Mr. Quigley not only made in the Civil war a record that shall reflect lasting honor upon his name, but that he has also retained deep interest in his former comrades is shown by the active and influential part he has played in connection with the Grand Army of the Republic. He has the distinction of being affiliated with McPherson Post No. 4, Grand Army of the Republic, one of the oldest in the State of Kansas, and is past commander of the same.

For a short period after the close of the war Mr. Quigley continued his association with the jewelry business, and after passing one year in the City of Louisville, Kentucky, he returned, in 1867, to Madison, Indiana, the ensuing nine years having found him continuously identified with railway service, mostly in a clerical capacity. After his retirement from this line of occupation he followed various vocations at Madison, including the insurance business, until 1886, when he came with his family to Kansas and engaged in the real estate and insurance business at Ottawa. Fifteen months later he removed to Topeka, where for the ensuing six years he was employed in the general offices of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. He then resumed his activities in the real estate and insurance business, with which he continued to be associated at Topeka until April, 1904, when he removed to Independence, where he has since given most effective service in the office of cashier for the Kansas Natural Gas Company. In politics Mr. Quigley has never faltered in his allegiance to the republican party and both he and his wife are active members of the Christian Church.

At Madison, Indiana, the year 1870 recorded the marriage of Mr. Quigley to Miss Helen Virginia Hurlbut, daughter of Hiram and Eliza Hurlbut. Mr. and Mrs. Quigley became the parents of three children, of whom two are living: Alice is the wife of Frank C. Palmer, chief stereotyper in the offices of the Jersey City Journal, one of the leading newspapers of New Jersey, and they maintain their home at Ridgefield Park, a suburb of Jersey City; Howard H. died at the age of five years; and Mabel is the wife of Sydney I. Holland, who has been for the past thirty years a contracting agent for the R. G. Dun Commercial Agency, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Holland being at Highland Park, one of the attractive suburbs of the City of Chicago, Illinois.

Contributed by Mrs. Maryann Johnson a Civil war researcher and a volunteer in the Kansas Room of the Independence Public Library, Independence, Kansas