Quantrill Information

Quantrell[e] is of Gallic derivation from mercenary soldiers who fought with William the Conqueror in the Norman conquest of England 1066. Apparently they eventually settled in England. There is a town called Quintrell Downs near Newquay Cornwall where Mum and Dad visited on a trip to the UK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintrell_Downs_railway_station  

Our other claim to fame is that there was an infamous guerilla soldier during the American Civil War called William Quantrill:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Quantrill  

My Dad [Glen Richard] grew up in Hamilton, Victoria where my Grandfather [Glen Stuart] was married to NelIie. Glen Stuart was a barber, however I never met him as he died when I was young. Sally and I actually visited the old barber shop [now an opportunity shop] in Gray St when I worked in Hamilton in 2001-2002.

My Grandfather was originally from Tasmania, but left there in the 1920s to come to the Australian mainland when for  reasons unknown, he added the letter “e” to the end of his surname.  I still have a second cousin in Hamilton who I stay in touch with, and one relative, Noel Quantrell [also a retired barber] in Ulverstone. We visited him and his wife Billie in March 2012. They were very generous with their time when we dropped in at short notice. This was a very special time and Sally and I felt very honoured and privileged to spend it with them “filling in the gaps” as it were in the Quantrell(e) family heritage.

Noel entertained us with stories and photos of the Quantrell clan from days gone by….. quite fascinating. He explained that my Grandfather (Glen Stuart) and his Father (Leonard Edwin) were twin brothers which was a surprise and I was most excited to discover that we were more closely related than I thought. He also explained that my Grandfather Glen’s nickname was “Bottler” which was quite a revelation and I’ll treasure his accompanying anecdotes about him and the other family members for many years to come.  As our photos from the time attest, the family’s barber shop is referenced in the Ulverstone Museum as well.

Dad had a twin sister, June and another younger sister, Yvonne. He also had an older brother, Stuart Burnley [aka Jack], however he was raised by Nellie’s parents when she became very ill when Yvonne was born and couldn’t cope with all the children. Glen & June and Faye stayed with their parents . Jack had three sons who all have families but I don’t know the children’s names. So that is the extent of the family name on the mainland – that we know of. An interesting side-note to all of this is that apparently Jack’s family have all dropped the “e” of the end of the name [Quantrell] as our current spelling [Quantrelle] was innovated by my Grandfather. The original spelling and that used by the remaining family in Tasmania is spelt “Quantrell” too.
http://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gl&gst&rank=1&=%2C&gsfn=Mauge&gsln=Quantrelle&db=auselectoralrolls&gss=angs-d