Back to Robert Quillin…his efforts to prove Ira D’s service
during the Civil War fell short. See Robert’s letter and the xerox copy of the
article for the Gate City Herald written by Joel Shelley on 14 July 1904. Robert and his cousin contacted a Civil War
writer in Roanoke, VA, who said he would investigate. To my knowledge they
never heard anything back from him; therefore, leaving us with the unknown
about Ira D Quillin’s Civil War service. Only spoken words.
Possible source: The Virginia Regimental Histories Series
Robert never really researched family lines. He lived so
close to the Quillin heritage in the area that I’m sure the Quillin name was
taken for granted. In fact, in one of
Robert’s letters he said that we had conflicting parents for Edna Vineyard
Quillin. It has been substantiated that
her parents were George and Hannah Vineyard, though he stated they were Elisha
Vineyard and Polly Agner.
I very much appreciated that Robert quickly ‘hit the
streets’ for me and visited the courthouse and the Public library uncovering
the newspaper article and a few census sheets, even though we came up a bit
short. I still have the article and the words that Robert remembers his
grandfather saying about Ira D Quillin and Beverly Johnson Quillin
I continued to have contact with Robert off and on for
several years. He begged me to come to Bristol so that he could show me all the
Quillin places, which included the place where Beverly Johnson and Edna
lived. He even went to the old homestead
and found an old stove front from Edna’s stove and mounted it on wood for
me. Robert and his wife Barbara signed
up for a tour of the Hill Country and came to the Austin area. I went out to
visit with them and it was then that he presented the ‘gift’ to me. He was a kind, gentle hearted man….my kind of
people and I do regret, as he told me I would, that I never made it to VA to
visit him in his home and see for myself the Quillin homestead.
Now many years later, I found that his sister Audrey Faye
Quillen Doran and her son, Willie Troy Doran must have taken up the
responsibility and pridefully took care of the Quillin cemetery. As of 25 Jan 2019, the Ira Quillin Cemetery is
listed on Find A Grave.
Sadly, as I began to finalize my documentation of this line,
I learned that Robert Haskell Quillen passed away on 15 Jan 2010 Scott County
Virginia.
