A One-Name Study for the BARNUM/BARNHAM Surname
George S. Queal (of Ireland) married Jane Balb (of England) and had two sons, John (b. 1801) and William B. (b. 1803). John's death certificate states that his father was George S. Queal. Census records of 1810 in Worcester, Otsego County, New York show G. S. Quail in a household with two males under 10 and no females, suggesting that Jane died between 1803 and 1810, and that George had not yet remarried. The sons were both listed as born in New York State, which suggests that George must have arrived in the US prior to 1801.
An 1811 newspaper announcement to the creditors of George S. Queal states that he was an "insolvent debtor."
George Quail, age 45+ appears in the 1820 US Census for New York State. He is the only Quail/Quale enumerated in that census in Schoharie County (where his daughter Sylvia was born in 1815). In the three subsequent census years (1820, 1830 and 1840) he appears in full as George S. Quail (middle initial included), helping to confirm that all three entries were for the same person. He has not been found in the 1850 Census when he would have been between 70 and 80 years old, and it is possible that he died before that date.
In the 1820 US Census for Summit, Schoharie County, New York the family of George S. Quail was enumerated as follows:
1 free white male under 10 years; 1 free white male between 16 and 18; 2 free white males of 16 and under 26 [John and William]; 1 free white male of 45 and upwards [George]; 2 free white females under 10 years [Sylvia and Phebe]; 1 free white female of 16 and under 26 [Mahalie or Matilda]; 1 person engaged in agriculture
In the 1830 US Census for Summit, Schoharie County, New York the family of George S. Quail was enumerated as follows:
1 free white male of 5 and under 10; 2 free white males of 10 and under 15; 1 free white male of 50 and under 60 [George]; 2 free white females under 5 years of age; 1 free white female of 15 and under 20 [Sylvia]; 1 free white female of 30 and under 40 [Mahalie or Matilda]
In the 1840 US Census for Virgil, Cortland County, New York the family of George S. Quail was enumerated as follows:
1 free white male of 18 and under 20; 1 free white male of 50 and under 60; 1 free white female under 5; 2 free white females of 5 and under 10 [Clarinda]; 1 free white female of 10 and under 15; 1 free white female of 40 and under 50 [probably Matilda]. N.B., Sylvia was no longer in the family group in 1840, having married Burgess Barnum in 1837.
U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865. Name: George Quail; Side: Union; Regiment State/Origin: New York; Regiment Name: 7 N.Y. State Militia. (30 Days, 1863); Regiment Name Expanded: 7th Regiment, New York State Militia (30 days, 1863); Company: E; Rank In: Private; Rank In Expanded: Private; Rank Out: Private; Rank Out Expanded: Private; Film Number: M551 roll 114. NOTE: This is a different George Quail, not our relative, as is shown by his application for a pension in 1903 when our George would have been between 128 and 133 year old.
A family letter of 1938 shows Mahalie as the mother of George's daughter Phebe. She would have been George's second wife. Matilda is assumed to be his third and last wife.
Schoharie County records show that George S. Queal purchased property in that county and then and sold it a few years later. The sale lists his wife as Matilda, indicating the possibility of a marriage during that period. The 1850 census has Matilda Quaile (age 50), without George, in Lapeer, Cortland County, New York, which supports the opinion that George died prior to 1850 and that Matilda was his last wife.
George S. Queal's father supposedly was a Quayle. Another source states that some Quayle surnames were changed to Quail or Quaile upon arrival at Ellis Island.
The surname Quail (or Quale) has two possible origins: 1) Irish and Scottish - an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Phà il (Scottish) and Mac Phóil (Irish), patronymics from Gaelic forms of the personal name Paul and, 2) Irish, Scottish, and Manx - a reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cuill ‘descendant of Coll’, or of Mac Cuill ‘son of Coll’, a personal name probably based on coll ‘hazel tree’. In Ireland this is the name of a Munster family that is sometimes translated as Woods.
A Research Guide to the Genealogy of the Barnum/Barnam/Barnham Family Worldwide
AncientFaces - Family History Photos
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