The business activity and enterprise of C. E. Quillen finds scope in his successful management of the National Bank of Nocona and in the conduct of his ranch and cattle interests. He is a typical native son of Texas, thoroughly in sympathy with the progressive movements of the state and in the control of his private business interests he has at the same time contributed to the general prosperity of the community in which he resides. He was born in Grayson county, Texas, June 27, 1851, and received a liberal education for a new country. His parents were C. C. and Catherine (Hatzog) Quillen. The mother was born in Tennessee, while the father was a native of Mississippi and came to Texas when a young man. His father, Charles Quillen, was a pioneer of this country, coming to the state about 1832. He served in the war that made Texas a republic and was a witness of the early development of the new commonwealth, taking part in movements which contributed to its upbuilding and laid the foundation for its future prosperity. He was widely known at that day and was highly respected by all with whom he was associated. He had two sons, the younger being William W. Quillen, a cattleman.
The older son, C. C. Quillen, was born and reared in Texas and after attending his majority became connected with the cattle business, which he followed throughout his entire life, undergoing various hardships and trials that fell to the lot of the cattlemen in early days when the Indians were frequently on the warpath and when they committed many depredations, running off the stock and committing other thefts. About 1857 he removed the cattle from Grayson and other counties to Montague county and not long after brought his family here, establishing his home in this part of the state. During the rebellion he belonged to the Home Guard, organized for protecting the frontier and for warding off Indian attacks. In his business life he was quite prosperous and accumulated a large estate, owning extensive herds of cattle. In politics he was a stalwart Democrat and served as county clerk of Montague county and in Grayson county. He was also justice of the peace and in the discharge of his duties, was very prompt and faithful. He was widely known and highly respected and his integrity and honor were above reproach. He died in 1868, at the age of forty-six years. The hardships of pioneer life undermined his constitution and caused his death at that early age. His widow yet survives him and now resides at Whitesboro, Texas, at the age of seventy-two years. She is a consistent member of the Methodist church. In the family were eight children: C. E., of this review; Mary, the wife of Joe Stanfield; Thomas J., a cattleman; Minerva, the wife of J. Viras; Mrs. Amanda Jamison; B. F., who follows farming; Florence, the wife of R. W. Bowen; and C. C., a bookkeeper.
C. E. Quillen was largely reared in the saddle and has given much attention to the cattle business throughout his entire life. He has purchased land until he owns thirty-one hundred acres in pasturage, while one hundred and seventy-five acres are devoted to farming purposes. On the latter tract he resides, and for many years he has fed cattle for the market, buying and shipping and in fact has carried on a general cattle business with excellent success. He also tills his fields and raises good crops. He can look back to the past when in his boyhood days he was familiar with the ways of the Indians, when he hunted buffaloes on the plains and when the entire countryside was almost wholly unsettled and given over to free range. He has watched with interest the work of development and progress that has carried forward and has done his full share in the advancement and upbuilding of the county. He has also figured in banking circles, becoming a stockholder and one of the re-organizers of the Nocona National Bank, which was first capitalized for thirty thousand dollars but the capital stock has since been increased to fifty thousand dollars. There is a large surplus and good deposits and the banking business has been carried on along modern and progressive lines until the Nocona National Bank has become one of the strong and reliable financial institutions of Texas. In 1902 Mr. Quillen was made president of the bank and he is also a stockholder in the Bowie Bank, of which he was a director. He also owns considerable property in the town of Nocona and deals to a greater or less extent in real estate.
Mr. Quillen is a man of sturdy habits, thrifty and enterprising, and his labors have been crowned with a gratifying measure of prosperity. In politics he is a Democrat but has no aspiration for office, preferring to devote his undivided attention to his business interests, in which he is meeting with signal success.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas, Vol. II (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), pp. 284-285.