Indian leader, sachem of the Stockbridge Indians, b. Madison County, N.Y. He first visited the Wisconsin area in 1822 as a delegate for the Stockbridge tribe in an attempt to purchase land along the Fox River from the Menominee. Quinney was instrumental in securing full-value payment from New York for the Stockbridge lands in that state, and helped organize the removal (1822-1829) of the Stockbridge to Wisconsin, eventually settling the tribe on the eastern shore of Lake Winnebago in Calumet County. For several years he acted as representative for the tribe in negotiations with Congress, and eventually obtained compensation for tribal lands in Wisconsin, which had been appropriated by the U.S. government. Later, in an attempt to maintain his family's power and prevent the division of tribal lands on an individual basis, he helped effect the repeal of the act (1843) granting citizenship to the tribe. Quinney was grand sachem of the Stockbridge from 1852 until his death. Cons. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 4 (1859); J. N. Davidson, Muh-he-ka-ne-ok; Hist. of the Stockbridge Nation (Milwaukee, 1893); J. Schafer, Winnebago-Horicon Basin (Madison, 1937).

View Quinney's obituary at Wisconsin Historical Collections.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]