History Sheet for Paul Bryan Quillin

 

History Sheet Revision 2013

Paul Bryan Quillin

Compiled by Nancy Quillin Long

Source:  based on interview with Truman B. Quillin, Sr., census records, WWI draft card

 

Unfortunately, I did not know this grandfather (Paul Bryan), so I do not have any personal recollections of him.  I can only go on the brief information that my father, Truman Bryan Quillin, Sr., gave me concerning his father.  I do know that my mother (who was Paul’s daughter-in-law) liked him and had fond memories of him.  He was described on his draft card as having blonde hair and blue eyes, of medium height and a slender build.  Upon reflection and knowing now that Paul came of age during the Great Depression, I believe that he faced real adversity.

 

Here is his story:

 

Paul Bryan Quillin was born in Leonard, Texas, to the parents of Beverly Johnson Quillin and Polly Ann Sprouls (sp?).  Leonard was incorporated as a township in 1889 with a population of 400 people.  There were 9 stores, 3 blacksmith shops, a church, a gin, 2 hotels, 2 doctors and 2 lawyers.  I found Paul in the 1900 census still living in Leonard with his father, mother, 2 sisters, and 1 brother.  They are in order: Maggie, Kathleen, Horace Cleveland, and Paul Bryan.  His father was farming.  Sister Opal had not been born.

 

B.J. and Polly had moved to Haskell, Texas, in the 1910 census where B.J. was the proprietor of a hotel.  Paul was 13 years old and all of his brothers and sisters were living with them, including his oldest sister, Margaret, who was now married to Joel Moses.  Joel was the cook for the hotel and there were 4 Moses children.  There were 6 boarders living at the hotel.  One male boarder (age 53) was born in France and was also a cook.

 

Paul completed his first year in high school, and I’m thinking that he dropped out at that time.  He would have been about 14 years old in 1911.  Of course, there is no way to know what he did during this time, but WWI had erupted, and Paul was drafted into the Army at age 21 on June 5, 1918.  This would have been at the close of the war, and I do not know how he participated.  The only thing I have found is his draft card.

 

By the next year, he was living in Seymour, Texas, where he met and married Emma Merphia Ewing on 12 April 1919.  Paul and Merphia were found in the 1920 census living in Seymour.  Merphia’s sister, Ludie, and her 2 children were living with them. 

 

Three children were born to this union: Truman Bryan, Francelle, and Billye Merle.  They were all found living in Seymour in the 1930 census.  They attended the First Baptist Church.  For a time, Paul worked for Mr. Brown at the grain elevator.  When it burned down, he found construction work building the Brazos River Bridge.  At this job site, a crane carrying a bucket of cement broke and fell on Paul.  He suffered severe injuries, including a broken back.  He spent nearly a year in the hospital.

 

Another unfortunate turn of events occurred probably around 1935.  Merphia left Paul, and eventually married Oscar Hart.  She took the 2 daughters with her.  Their son, Truman, who would have been about 11, came home from school one day to find an empty house.  Paul and Truman went to live with Paul’s sister, Opal, who also lived in Seymour in the old family home where B.J. and Polly had lived.

 

At this time, our nation was in the grips of the Great Depression that affected all world markets.  For someone like Paul who was dependent on others for employment, the Depression was a travesty.   Paul moved around to find any kind of work available.  In the summer, Truman would travel and work with him.  Paul would earn $.75 cents an hour, while Truman would earn $.50 cents an hour.  Paul lived in such places as Pampa and Plainview and often would work thrashing oats.  (The combine was yet to be invented.) 

 

In the 1940 census, Paul and Truman were living with his sister, Margaret, and her husband Joel Moses in Pampa, Texas. (540 S. Gillespie St.)  Paul was working as a clerk in a grocery store and made $255 dollars in the previous year.  Truman was an attendant at a filling station and made $85 dollars the previous year.  Hearing the stories of this time with the Moses family, the time was not all bad.  The Moses clan loved music and would spend many evenings on the porch “pickin’ & grinnin’”.  It was said that the infamous Bob Wills would join them on occasion.

 

Once again Paul was drafted into the Army for WWII.  The year was 1944, and he was 47 years old.  He went to training at Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas.  Because of his severe injuries suffered at the construction site, the military soon realized that he was unable to benefit the service, and they released him within 6 months.

 

Paul eventually moved to Vernon, Texas, where he married for a second time to Johnnie Moye.   He lived on Bacon Street until his death in 1957.

 

His death certificate states that he died of uremia at the Veteran’s Hospital in McKinney.  It reads that he was an officer, but I have not found any documentation of that.  Paul was buried in the Old Seymour Cemetery.