Josiah Quincy (1793 - 1875)
Born at Lenox (MA); died at Rumney (NH).
Lawyer, state legislator.
Portrait by A. Tenney, 1871.

Quincy (1793 - 1875) was born at Lenox (MA), one of four children in a poor family. The father died when the children were young, and while their mother had a small annuity the two boys and two girls had to work. Quincy's brother went to sea, became a ship's captain and did well; but Quincy contracted scarlet fever as a boy and was unable to perform manual labor. He was the one child of the four to be schooled until age sixteen, at the Lenox (MA) academy, but he could not afford college. He taught the Winter 1809 term at a school in Lee (MA), and had no prospects when school ended.

Unexpectedly a letter arrived, from a distant namesake, Josiah Quincy, of Boston (MA). He offered the young teacher fifty dollars per year if he would study law, and Quincy accepted. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar at age twenty-two (1815).

Quincy set up a law practice at Stockbridge, and then at Sheffield (both MA). He failed at both places, when fate again intervened. Oliver Weld, of Rumney (NH), had married Quincy's aunt. Weld was a wealthy businessman and store owner at Rumney, and he offered Quincy free room and board for six months if Quincy would set up a law practice at Rumney. Quincy made the move, and was successful. He paid off his debts and netted two thousand dollars after his first year in New Hampshire.

A year later (1818) Oliver Weld died, and Quincy as his executor planned to liquidate the Weld store. Widow Weld came to live in Quincy's house, which was expanded, and in 1819 Quincy married (Mary Grace Weld, of Plymouth, NH).

Quincy sold half the Weld store inventory outright, and then partnered the buyer of the first half, a Mr. Ramsey, to sell the second half. Quincy and Ramsey did well in their partnership, however, and they determined to continue in business together. New stock was ordered, but within a few days of its arrival the store burned, and Quincy and Ramsey were wiped out.

Quincy did not give up, however. He formed a new store partnership with a family relation, and Ward & Quincy was a part of the Rumney business community for many years. Quincy was twice elected to the State House of Representatives (1824, 1825), and he continued his law practice, riding from one court term to another. In this way Quincy became known around the state, and he was twice elected President of the State Senate (1841, 1842).

In 1841 Quincy was asked to become president of the new state-chartered railroad, the Boston, Concord & Montreal. As president of the railroad 1844 - 1860, Quincy made the line the greatest railroad in northern New England.

Reference: Jonathan Everett Sargent, "Hon. Josiah Quincy", Granite Monthly vol. VIII nos. XI-XII (Nov. - Dec. 1885); Charles H. Bell, The Bench and Bar of New Hampshire (1894).