Ephraim Quinby, Jr. was one of 19th-century Wooster’s movers and shakers. He made his fortune in real estate, held the original charter for the Wayne County National Bank, and was instrumental in bringing both the railroad and the University (now College) of Wooster to town – donating $10,000 and 20 acres that became the core of the campus. Quinby Avenue and several buildings on the public square all bear his name.
On Friday, July 1, his granddaughter, Amelia Quinby Wilson, who grew up in Wooster but moved away decades ago, returned with her two grown daughters and three granddaughters, to share with them some of that early family history. They came to the Wayne County Historical Society, where Mrs. Wilson presented President Ray Leisy with a collection of original deeds for properties owned by her grandfather in Wayne and Ashland counties and other parts of Ohio. One of those deeds, dated Oct. 30, 1841, conveyed the lot on the west side of the public square from Reasin Beall to Ephraim Quinby, Jr., for the sum of $6,000. That lot became home to the Wayne County National Bank and the William Annat department store.
That was not the day’s only presentation however. On behalf of Mayor Bob Breneman, John Scavelli, director of the law for the City of Wooster, presented Mrs. Wilson with the key to the city, before Leisy led the family off on a tour of the historical society’s campus.
