Husband Hon. Martin Luther McQuown 1 2
Born: 18 Jan 1853 - Indiana Co, PA 2
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Father: William McQuown (Abt 1826-1906) 3 4
Mother: Margaret Shields ( -Bef 1911) 3 4
Marriage: 25 Dec 1878 5
Wife Virginia Flegal 1 5
Born:
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Father: J. L. Flegal ( - ) 5
Mother:
Children
General Notes: Husband - Hon. Martin Luther McQuown
His father and eldest brother having enlisted, at the breaking out of the Civil War, his mother was left with a young family and very little with which to support them. After both had returned cripples by the results of the war, the family became separated, each one striving to earn a livelihood in some honest employment. Martin Luther came to New Washington, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, in 1868, and began to be self-supporting by working on the farms, in the woods, and wherever he could find an opportunity to earn an honest dollar. In the intervals of his labors he found time to go to school, and was able to acquire the rudiments of a good education, During the summers of 1870 and 1871 an academy was opened in the little town of New Washington, and the young man diligently attended its sessions. He was then old enough to appreciate the power of knowledge, and determined that he himself should acquire it. He soon qualified as a teacher, and taught in the public schools of the county from 1871 to 1878. In the vacations he attended the Curwensville Normal School, and in every way sought to enlarge his knowledge and to fit himself for business. Although Clearfield County was then strongly Democratic in politics, he was elected superintendent of public schools on the 8th of May, 1878, and re-elected in 1881.
In the six years he served as county superintendent, he found time, moreover, to study law in the office of Murray & Gordon, and was admitted to the Clearfield Bar in 1884. He practiced for some years; but soon abandoned the law for more congenial occupations. During his constant tours of the county as superintendent of schools he had naturally formed a large acquaintance among all sorts and conditions of men. Having the useful faculty of remembering names and faces of individuals, he was led to take an interest in politics, and soon made himself useful in that field. In 1888, he was elected chairman of the Republican County Committee, and re-elected for four successsive years.
He became, in 1890, editor and proprietor of the Raftsman' s Journal, the leading Republican newspaper of the county, and ably conducted it, making it the organ of the party, and, financially, the best paying newspaper in central Pennsylvania.
He early attached himself to the political fortunes of Senator Quay, and was known as one of the ablest of the Senator's lieutenants. In days gone by, when Clearfield County was known as anti-Quay, he alone upheld the Quay standard and fought a brave fight against overwhelming odds. In 1893 he conducted the campaign which resulted in the election to the Bench, by a majority of 350, of the Hon. Cyrus Gordon, the first Republican judge who ever sat in Clearfield County. In 1894 Mr. McQuown retired from the county chairmanship, and was tendered the Republican nomination for State Senator in the 34th Senatorial District. He made an active campaign, and, the Democrats having divided their vote between two candidates, was successful by the unprecedented majority of 4,586.
In the State Senate, in his first session, he was a leading member of the Committee on Education and chairman of the Committee on Public Printing, and was instrumental in securing the passage of many important measures. He was appointed chairman of the Committee on Education at the opening of the session of 1897, and exerted himself in behalf of needed improvements in school laws. His eloquent advocacy of the bill abolishing children's insurance under the age of sixteen years, won him much praise, as did also the passage of a new road law which he fathered.
He and his wife were the parents of three children\emdash two daughters and one son.