[from Ellan Vannin vol 1 #1 p11/16 Dec 1923]

WILLIAM EDWARD QUINE—1847 TO 1922

.

THE subject of this biographical sketch was born at Glentraugh, in the Parish of Santon, Isle of Man, on 9th February, 1847.

His father was William Quine, the second son of John Quine, Glentraugh, whose family owned the above estate as early as 1511 , according to the Manorial Rolls of that date.

His mother was Margaret Kinley, only daughter of Edward Kinley, of the Black Hill estate, Malew; and upon the death of her father and the remarriage of her mother she inherited this estate, which they farmed for a number of years before going to take over Glentraugh, which was a much larger farm.

His father and his uncle, James Quine, a well-known chemist in Douglas, were both educated at King William’s College.

It is not commonly known that the doctor’s mother’s family, the Kinleys of the Black Hill, Malew, are of equal antiquity with the Quines. We find, on reference to the Abbey Lands Rent Roll of 1540, that one "J. McFinloo was the owner of " Knock Dhoo "(the Gaelic equivalent of Black Hill); in 1666 the owner was John Kinley (the name is derived from McFinloo); and in the year 1703 Thomas Kinley was the holder, so that both the doctor’s parents came from original Manx Celtic stock.

Owing to the agricultural depression the family emigrated to Chicago in 1853, when William Edward Quine was six years old, and, with the exception of two years, he spent the rest of his life in that city.

It may be gathered from his correspondence that the family had a very hard struggle. His father died in 1868, and his mother was left to face the future with a young family and narrow means.

She appears to have been a woman of exceptional character—in the words of a friend of the family, "She showed the strong personal traits of the Manx character—vigour of mind and body, a forceful personality, and strong religious feeling." Her son writes of her to a relative in Douglas, "She never showed the white feather for a minute."

She died in 1911—aged 86 years—having spent the last thirty-five years of her life with her son, and— to quote him again—" during this period, and for some years before, did not have a care."

W. E. Quine graduated in 1863 in the Old Central High School in Chicago, and, after three years as a drug clerk, began the study of medicine at the Chicago Medical College, and graduated with high honours in 186p.

In the following year he was appointed to the staff at the County Hospital, and served on it for many years.

His ability was quickly recognized, and he was appointed a Professor at the Chicago Medical College at the early age of twenty-three. He was Secretary of the-Chicago Medical Society from 1870 to 1873, and President 1873-4—the youngest President ever elected by that Society.

For a continuous period of forty-three years he carried on the arduous work of a lecturer at the Chicago Medical College. For many years he lectured eight hours a week, and this, while he was engaged in a very large private practice. His friend, Dr. W. Allen Pusey, writes:

" His zeal for teaching was unbounded. As a didactic lecturer, few men have been his equal. I know of no one who has left so strong an impression on so many students."

From 1883 to 1913 he held the post of Professor of Medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and from 1893 to his resignation, in 1913, he was "the dominant influence in that institution."

From 1892 to 1896 he was President of the State Board of Health, and it is worthy of note that, though he was a Republican in politics, he was, without any solicitation on his part, appointed by a Democratic Governor.

In 1904 he received the Degree of L.L.D. from the University of Illinois, was President of the Illinois Medical Society in 1905, and was for many years Dean of the College of Medicine of Illinois University. The library of the College, containing 14,000 volumes, is named after him. In 1915 and 1916 he was President of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago.

He wrote a considerable number of articles on medical subjects, but it would appear that his lectures were his chief interest. To quote again Dr. W. A. Pusey, "Ambition and industry and capacity for work and honesty are all essential, but mediocrity cannot travel the road as Dr. Quine travelled it. He had ideals and sentiment, he had a mind that grasped facts and held them, that saw far, that, to use one of his words— " sensed—situations, that reasoned, and could draw straight conclusions, and he disciplined it by labour to produce a useful life. He choose to make his forte the didactic lecture, and he probably succeeded in doing that as well as anyone has done. . . . He did not write, as he might have done so well. . . . but that he could have led a more useful life, let us ask the thousands of doctors who, for more than forty years, got inspiration and knowledge from his teaching."

The late Professor Asler states that "he was the greatest medical lecturer in the United States." Nor were his interests limited to his profession. The official Bulletin of the Chicago Medical Society, dated 20th January, 1923, is dedicated—" To that most distinguished Physician and Teacher, Dr. William Edward Quine," and contains articles and poems in appreciation of the many sides of his distinguished career.

He was a man of great affection, and his domestic life had in it much that was tragic.

About 1874 he made the acquaintance of Miss Letitia A. Mason, an Illinois girl, who was a medical missionary at Kiti Kiong, China, under the auspices of the North Western Branch of the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society, with 40,000 members, representing the Methodist women of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. They were betrothed, and intended to be married on the completion of her five years of missionary work, but she developed tubercular trouble soon after, and was ordered home, and the marriage took place in 1876, and then followed, to quote her husband’s own words, "An "awful struggle for her life for three years." She regained a considerable measure of health until 1901, when the old trouble recurred, and she died in 1902.

There were three children, two of whom—William and Allen-Mason—died in infancy, and a daughter, Ruth, who lived to the age of six years.

A friend writes : "Dr. Quine’s domestic life had two elements of tragedy in it. One was the battle which he fought for the health and life of his wife; the other was the unutterable sorrow for the loss of all his children is whole career was dictated by his devotion to her, and to the memory of their children.’’

After his wife’s death he devoted much of his available effort to the support of foreign Christian missions, in which she had been so much interested.

In Kiu Kiang, China, is located the Letitia Mason-Quine Hospital for Women, which has 125 beds. This he built in memory of his wife.

In four Chinese cities there is a Letitia Mason Quine School for Girls, permanently endowed by him.

In Normal, Illinois, where he was married, there is the Mason Deaconess’s Home, the gift of his wife’s people. It has a permanently endowed Deaconess named, in honour of his little daughter, "The Ruth Quine Deaconess." This institution was also endowed by him. With his characteristic modesty, he says : " That is all. The only thing worth mentioning that I have done is to stand by the woman of my heart. She honoured my life for over twenty-six years and blessed my soul for ever and for evermore."

He never lost his interest in his country or his parish.

In 1915 he writes : —" I have never lost a grain of interest or of pride in the land of my birth, and the names of Glentraugh and the Black Hill come to me with all the warmth and tenderness of old loves."

He was the last survivor of his name, but he left nine nephews and nieces—the children of second sisters—and they had—in 1915— total of twenty-four children. It is interesting, as showing the ever-increasing number of Manx names in distant lands, that four of these children have "Quine " as a Christian name.

For the benefit of his numerous relatives, he proposed to publish a family history, and, for that purpose, obtained photographs of the various Manx properties which had, at some time or another, been in the possession of his family.

The following extract from one of his letters is characteristic, as showing his sense of humour and his love :— " Your citation of the remark made by a quaint old lady, concerning the characteristics of some of my forbears, to the effect that ‘ these Quine’s wan’s was always proud,’ found instant appreciation here. My sister and I have laughed over that remark—the very same words— "hundreds of times, in years past, but the laughing now is tempered a little with pathos—the pathos connected with the memory of the old pioneer days, the days of grinding poverty and of the desperate struggles of a man’s mother for her brood; for it was then that the pride of ‘ the Quine’s wan’s ‘ was at its best, and I thank God for the memory of it."

All who have testified to his memory have emphasized his charitable disposition, which, in spite of a large income for more than forty years, left him, in old age, a man, not indeed poor, but of small means.

He was devoted to duty. One friend writes :—" He dedicated his life to his duties, as God gave him the light to see them. He was manly, straightforward and honourable in all his dealings. . . . He believed that death was but a transition from this life to life in another and a better world."

He died, of heart disease, at his home at Chicago, on 7th December, 1922, in his seventy-sixth year—a man of whom we Manxmen should indeed be proud.

July, 1923. G. FRED CLUCAS.

Fred Clucas is mistaken in mother's parentage - she was fist daughter of Mathias Kinley and Cath Kermode (m Marown 18230621) baptised Malew 18240704 - the sale of Knock Doo is noted in Lib Mon

Malew April 1868 p74/5 - Abbey Farmers

Knock Doo 42
Mathias Kinley 1s John Waterson 1s / William Hy Ward 2s
The mortgage under which the sd John Watterson stood is concelled on the death of Mathias Kinley the mortgagor the whole 2s rent became vested in Margaret Kinley his daughter and heiress at law who with William Quine her husband sold the same to Joseph Longe by deed dated 14th December 1850 who with Eliza his wife sold same by deed dated the 25th August 1858 to William Henry Ward now entered