Timothy Joseph Quillinan
City of Troy

This biography is from Troy and Rensselaer County, New York, Volume III, by Rutherford Hayner, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., New York and Chicago, 1925. It was submitted by Debby Masterson.

TIMOTHY JOSEPH QUILLINAN—Beginning life in a modest way, Mr. Quillinan has by serious study and native ability won for himself a place of honor in the public affairs of Rensselaer County, New York, where he is ably fulfilling the duties of district attorney, with offices in the Court House, Troy, New York.

Timothy Joseph Quillinan is the son of Michael D. (deceased) and Johanna (Crough) Quillinan, of Troy, New York, where he was born September 19, 1870. He attended the public school in the Thirteenth Ward of his native city until reaching the age of thirteen, when he essayed to support himself. At the age of fifteen he started to learn the trade of stove pattern making and drafting in the Troy foundries, and for six years thereafter worked at this trade in several sections of New York State. While employed at Rochester, New York, he attended night school and succeeded in winning a law school certificate, so that he began to study law when twenty-four years of age. In November, 1897, he was admitted to the bar and immediately began to practice his profession independently.

Mr. Quillinan has held various public offices as a member of the Republican party, and among them may be mentioned the following: Attorney for the board of supervisors for several years; elected judge of the City Court of Troy in 1905 or 1906, from which he resigned to accept the post of assistant district attorney January 1, 1909, and retained that office until December 31, 1911; practiced law in the meantime. On January 1, 1921, he was again appointed assistant district attorney and held that office until February 6, 1922, when he was appointed district attorney in place of Abbott H. Jones, resigned; was elected district attorney in November, 1922, for the term 1923 to 1927. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, Fourth Degree, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is also a member of the Troy Club; the Laureate Boat Club for the past twenty-eight years, and many times its president, now a trustee; and the Rensselaer County Society, of the City of New York. He seeks recreation in boating, tennis and baseball. In his religious faith he is Roman Catholic, a member of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, of Troy.

Mr. Quillinan was married to Sarah E. Kirwin, of Troy, April 17, 1901, a daughter of William H. and Margaret (Sands) Kirwin, and are the parents of three children: Francis Joseph, born December 10, 1902, who was educated in the Troy public schools and is now (1923) seeking the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws at Cornell University, in the class of 1925; George Edgar, born January 15, 1906, a sophomore in Lansingburg High School; and Walter Kirwin, born February 11, 1912, a student in St. Patrick's Academy.



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