Los Angeles
County
Biographies
JOHN ROBERTSON QUINN
One of the representative men of the state of California who has risen to his present prominent place in the ranks of the leaders for the betterment of every condition confronting the people of today by his own individual efforts is John Robertson Quinn, a member of the board of supervisors of Los Angeles county and its chairman in 1933-35. He is a native son and was born on the Quinn ranch in Tulare county on July 17, 1889, a son of Harry and Katherine Quinn. Harry Quinn was born in Ireland of Scotch and Irish parents on December 25, 1843, and came to California in 1868 by way of Australia. In 1871 he homesteaded a ranch in Rag Gulch and began digging a well thereon. At the depth of two hundred eighty-four feet he struck water and for the next quarter of a century the Quinn well was a factor in that little settlement for forty miles around. In the course of time Mr. Quinn accumulated some twelve thousand acres and was a large stock raiser in that locality. When his children were old enough to go to school and to make some advancement Harry Quinn bought four hundred acres of land six miles from Porterville and settled on it. Mrs. Quinn was born on December 31, 1856 and was of Scotch parentage.
John R. Quinn attended the Quinn school district, named in honor of his father and which stood near the home ranch, and the Porterville high school, and completed his education in 1912 when he received the B.S. degree from the College of Agriculture of the University of California. He then returned to the home ranch and assisted his father with its operation, later becoming its manager. In 1917 John R. Quinn was taking a band of cattle to their summer pasture when war was declared with Germany and it was about a month before news reached the Quinn ranch. Upon its receipt he went to San Francisco and entered the second officers training camp at the Presidio. He was sent to France and served as captain of Battery F, 348th Field Artillery, 91st Division and fought in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, and then served with the Army of Occupation until 1919, when he returned to the United States. He then took up the management of the home ranch. He also became active in the organization of the American legion and in 1921 was elected commander of the American legion of the State of California. Because of his satisfactory work with the state body he went to the convention of the National body and was elected National Commander in 1923. In 1922 he had been placed in charge of the state Veterans Welfare Board in the San Francisco branch office and from 1923 to 1930 was chairman of the board with headquarters in Los Angeles. This board administered all loans to veterans for the purchase of farms and homes. In 1925 Mr. Quinn became a director and vice president of the Seaboard National Bank of Los Angeles. In 1930 Governor C. C. Young appointed him to the board of supervisors of Los Angeles county to fill a vacancy in the Fourth district caused by the death of R. F. McClellan. In the following August he was elected to fill the unexpired term, and in 1932 was reelected for a full term of four years. In July of 1933 he was unanimously chosen to be chairman of that governing body of Los Angeles county.
On October 16, 1917, in Los Angeles, Mr. Quinn was united in marriage with Maude Vern Bristol, who was born in Bakersfield, California, October 16, 1891. She is a descendant of Miriam Pruitt, who came across the plains in a covered wagon train under the leadership of Captain Pruitt, in 1850 and settled near Sacramento. Her parents were Louis Elmer and Frances Matilda (Chitwood) Bristol. The former born in Dayton, Ohio and the latter near Sutter’s Fort, California, and is still living. The father is dead. Their children are: Robert Vern, born July 7, 1911, a child by a former marriage of Mrs. Quinn; and Jane Robertson, born September 1, 1918, and Charlotte Ann, born June 12, 1921. Mr. Quinn is a republican [sic] and in 1928 was a delegate at large to the National Republican Convention. He was chairman of the State Veteran’s Welfare Bureau; a member of the board of Department of Military & Veteran’s affairs [sic] 1925-1930; member of the board of supervisors of Los Angeles county from 1930 to date. He is a Mason and a Shriner, a member of the Breakfast, the Jonathan and Uplifters Clubs. [He] Holds membership in the Wilshire Presbyterian Church. That Mr. Quinn is the right man for the place is demonstrated in the manner he conducts the duties of his office. He is human and expresses in every word and act his delight to help those in distress. He lives up to the highest standards in all his activities and has a host of friends in this, his home state.
Transcribed
by K.V. Bunker 9 Feb 2013.
Source: California
of the South Vol. V,
by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 528-530,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2013 K.V. Bunker.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPHIES