William Quigley and Jane Jolly

DRAFT

William Quigley (1753 – c.1815) and Jane Jolly (c.1752 – c.1825)
(3rd great-grandparents of GJF)

George J. Farris – April, 2025

The first record of William Quigley that I have found is his enlistment in the 6th Pennsylvania Battalion in January 1776 as a resident of Chanceford Township in southern York County, Pennsylvania in which his age was listed as 23. Since there were no other Quigleys in that area and there is no indication of any interaction with any of the other Quigley families in Pennsylvania during his lifetime it appears likely that he had immigrated, probably from Northern Ireland, by himself shortly before 1776. He was a private in Captain David Greir’s company of the 6th Pennsylvania. On March 14, 1776, the 6th Pennsylvania Battalion was sent to New York City. It then marched with the army under Col. Arthur St. Clair and was involved in the battle at Three Rivers on June 9. The whole force retreated to Isle Aux Noix and then to Crown Point. The 6th Pennsylvania remained there for the next three months and was involved in several skirmishes with the British. On October 14 it rejoined the main force at Ticonderoga. They remained there until the 6th Pennsylvania returned to Pennsylvania and was mustered out on March 15, 1777. At that time the 6th Battalion was reorganized as the 7th Battalion and most of the members re-enlisted. Quigley may have then served in the Pennsylvania 7th although I’ve not been able to confirm that. The continental line soldiers were paid in continental currency which rapidly depreciated in value. To compensate for that Pennsylvania later issued “Depreciation Certificates” that were interest bearing bonds. William Quigley of Washington County was issued a depreciation certificate in 1787 for his service in the Revolutionary War.

William Quigley was back in Chanceford Township in York County in 1779 where he was listed as a single man in the tax and exoneration list. However he did not remain single for very long. Also in that same 1779 tax list in Chanceford Township was the family of James Jolly and William Quigley married Jane Jolly in about 1779 or 1780 probably in York County. They were my 3rd great grandparents. The soil of Chanceford Township was very poor making subsistence farming challenging and in about 1780 numerous families migrated from there to Washington County, Pennsylvania where they began to show up in tax lists at the time the county was formed from Westmoreland in 1781. These included the James Jolly and William Quigley families. William and Jane show up in records in Washington County over the next 40 years. By the time of the 1790 census they had five children – all girls. After 1790 they had two additional children, Eleanor born in 1793 and John born in 1795.

The 1780s were difficult years for settlers on what was then the western frontier. There were constant raids and confrontations between the settlers and the native American tribes with only the Ohio River separating them. The Ohio became known as the Dark and Bloody River and the adjoining lands, especially in Kentucky, the Dark and Bloody Land. All of the able bodied men were members of local militias organized primarily for action against the Indians. William Quigley was a member of his neighbor Captain James Munn’s militia company which in 1786 was involved in two separate attacks on Indian villages in Ohio.

In 1785 William bought 150 acres in Nottingham Township from Elizabeth McNaughton. Apparently he had earlier applied for a warrant for this same land and had it surveyed in 1785. A Pennsylvania patent was issued to him in 1802 for about 150 acres in Nottingham Township at the head of Mingo Creek close to the Strabane Township line. The grant was named “Ayers Acres” and adjoined William Kinney and several Munns and Devours, including Adam Devour (later spelled DeVore) who married Jane Jewell Quigley, one of the older daughters of William and Jane Quigley. There are a few later deeds in Washington County involving William and Jane Quigley. In 1811 William and Jane sold 109 acres of their land and continued to live on the remaining 40 acres.

James and Jane (or Jean) Jolly, my 4th great-grandparents, were probably originally from New Jersey but lived for many years in Chanceford Township of York County, Pennsylvania, before moving to Washington County in about 1780. They were both born about 1730. James died in 1803 in Nottingham Township and Jane in 1806. They both had wills recorded in Washington County which named all of their living children. In particular, Jane’s will named her daughter Jane and listed her as being intermarried with William Quigley. There are also probate records for both James and Jane Jolly from which quite a bit can be discerned regarding their family and neighbors. William Kinney was their son-in-law and the administrator of James’s estate and much involved with Jane’s estate. Kinney owned several parcels of land and the Jollys lived on one of them and adjacent to the Quigleys. Jane Jolly was living with the Kinneys during her last illness and death. Ann Quigley was one of the daughters of William and Jane Quigley who was unmarried as of 1807 was asked by her grandmother to collect a debt for her in 1805, which she did as recorded in the estate records. John and Margaret Hill were neighbors and Margaret was probably one of the Quigley daughters. John Hill dug the grave for Jane Jolly. In various records Jane is referenced as Jean or Jane interchangeably and also as Jeney.

William Quigley is listed in the 1790, 1800, and 1810 census in Washington County and Jane is listed in the 1820 census after William died. In 1790 they were listed with 5 daughters and in 1800 with 6 daughters and one son. The son and one daughter were age 10 or under in 1800 and we know that they were Eleanor and John. In 1810 there were still 4 unmarried daughters and one son. In the 1820 census Jane is listed as the head of the family. However, in addition to Jane, listed as over 45, the listing of one male under 26 and two females under 26 in the household is consistent with John Quigley being married to Mary Ogden by that time and Eleanor still being at home before her marriage the next year. The last record that I’ve found of William Quigley was somewhat surprising to me. On June 10, 1813 the first version of the Washington County Medical Society was formed with 17 members. One of them was Dr. William Quigley. I had not seen any other indication that he was a physician. He died sometime between then and the 1820 census. Jane apparently died before 1830 – but there are no wills or probate records for either. They were the only Quigley family in Washington County prior to 1817 when a John Quigley from Fayette County moved into the far southern part of Washington County.

We know from a newspaper announcement that Eleanor Quigley married Hugh McIlravy on 18 January 1821 in Washington County. They were my great-great grandparents. Eleanor and Hugh McIlravy moved to Archer Township in Harrison County, Ohio in 1823. John Quigley married Mary Ogden, daughter of Samuel Ogden who was a neighbor of the Quigleys in the 1820 census. By 1830 John and Mary Quigley had five children and were still living in Nottingham Township of Washington County. Interestingly they were listed adjacent to the William Quigley Hill family. William Q. Hill had married Nancy McIlravy, sister of Hugh McIlravy. In a later Coshocton County, Ohio land grant his middle name was listed as Quigley. Because of his name I suspect that William Quigley Hill’s mother was one of the older daughters of William and Jane Quigley and may have been Margaret, wife of John Hill, close neighbors of the Quigley family. The Quigley and William Q. Hill families were listed adjacent to Adam and Jane Quigley Devour. In 1830 I believe they were still living on part of the land originally granted to William Quigley where John and Eleanor Quigley were born and raised. The family of John and Mary (Ogden) Quigley also later moved to Archer Township, Harrison County, Ohio, in about 1837 where they were neighbors of Hugh and Eleanor (Quigley) McIlravy in the 1840 census. Also, William Quigley Hill obtained a land grant in Ohio in 1837 and Nancy (McIlravy) and William Q. Hill moved to Coshocton County, Ohio.

Adam and Jane Quigley DeVore sold their land in Nottingham Township in 1839 and ended up in Marion County, West Virginia, where Jane died in 1863. Her death record there lists her parents as William and Jane Quigley. She was born about 1782 and was apparently the oldest child since she was named after her mother and grandmother.

My great-great grandmother Eleanor (Ellen) Quigley McIlravy died in 1857 in Harrison County, Ohio. Her brother, John Quigley, had moved to the town of Cadiz in Harrison County where the family is listed in the 1850 and 1860 census. He died there in 1867.

I have not yet been able to identify the other four daughters of William and Jane Quigley except that I know that one was named Ann and that one of them may have been Margaret, the wife of John Hill, and may have been the mother of William Quigley Hill, born in 1801. The John Hill family was listed adjacent to the William Quigley family in the 1810 census and they were involved in the probates of the estates of James and Jane Jolly in 1803 and 1806.