George L. Quayle

George L. Quayle

George L. Quayle, who has been associated with the ship-building industry since his boyhood, was born in Cleveland in 1842, and received his education in the public schools of that city. He learned the carpenter's trade, also shipbuilding, and spent much time in studying ship architecture and construction, perfecting himself in these capacities until he attained a high degree of proficiency.

During the progress of the Civil War Mr. Quayle was a private in the Eighty-fourth O. V. I., and in the Seventh. After his return to Cleveland (in 1873) he entered into partnership with his father (who had been a shipbuilder since 1840) and elder brother, Thomas E. Quayle, the company being known as Thomas Quayle & Sons. After the retirement of his father from the firm, William H. Quayle was admitted to partnership in the company under the firm name of Thomas Quayle's Sons. He remained in the shipbuilding interest until the discontinuance of business, which occurred in 1890, the last vessel built at the yards being the steamer C. B. Lockwood. The firm discontinued business on account of the tendency of owners toward metal vessels, the wooden ships being relegated to the past. His long experience and successful career, together with his mechanical genius designates him as one among the many able shipbuilders of the country. He was tendered and accepted the appointment as manager of the Shipowners Dry Dock Company, in which he is largely interested. It was during his administration that the Shipowners Dry Dock Company was so successful in a financial way, and became famous on all the Great Lakes for its high- class work and moderate charges.

George L. Quayle is highly respected in his native city for sterling worth and business integrity, and it is owing to these essential qualities, and the expert knowledge he possesses of the business in which he has been engaged for so many years, that he has reached a good degree of the prosperity and influence with which he surrounds his charming wife and children in their beautiful home on Euclid avenue, Cleveland. He is a director in the Wilson Transit Company; has been president of the Dry Dock Association of the Great Lakes since 1895; is a director of the Garfield Savings Bank; President of the Board of Trustees of the village of East Cleveland; and a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Quayle is a Scottish Rite Mason, and a member of the Mystic Shrine. In 1870 he was united in marriage to Miss Winnifred Johnson, of Pittsburg, Penn., and they have three children: George H., Winnifred and Eleanore. [Since the above was written Mr. Quayle has retired from active participation in business, and is enjoying in a modest way his well-earned competence.]

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.