Service—Fountain Service at Quig’s Fountain

To come up with a person to write about each week, I do an “everywhere” search in RootsMagic for the themed word. This week, service came up in hundreds of events for funeral services, military service, and even social services as written on state vital records. However, I did find this ad for John V. “Vir” Quigley’s restaurant Quig’s.[1]

What makes this ad meet the theme is the fact there was fountain service, where milkshakes, sodas, and floats were sold, and drive-in curb service with a large parking lot. Other ads found include these two:

At left: Napa Journal, 17 July 1949; at right: The Mid-Week Shopping News, 3 Sep 1947

His fountain café was located on Main Street at Lincoln in Napa, California. It’s gone today and newer buildings are in its place. In fact, I found two notices in the newspaper where he tried to sell the business in 1954 and 1956.[2]

He moved to Redding sometime between those years as his obituary in 1959 stated he had lived in Shasta County for five years.[3] Researching in Redding newspapers, I discovered he owned the Riverview Tavern with Zanette Petersen and the grand opening was 1 May 1955.[4]

I sure wished I had asked more about these restaurants that Vir owned when I spoke with my father’s cousin, John J. Quigley. Vir had asked my grandmother, Anna M. (Sullivan) Hork, to come up to Napa with her four children to live with him and work in his restaurant called Cozy Corner in 1940. She was separated from my grandfather. Later, she got her updated teaching credential for California and taught school in one of the one-room schoolhouses on the Silverado Trail.

How am I related to Vir? He was married to my grandmother’s sister, Ethel Sullivan, who died young with their second child in 1927.

#52Ancestors-Week 33: Service—Fountain Service at Quig’s Fountain

This is my fifth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe. I write each week on one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

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[1] Ad, “Quig’s Fountain Lunch,” Mid-Week Shopping News (Napa, California), 29 September 1948, p. 11.

[2] “Notice of Intention to Transfer Business. . .,” The Napa Valley Register, 29 December 1954, p. 12. Se also, Want ad, “Restaurant,” The Napa Valley Register, 12 October 1956, p. 14.

[3] “John Quigley,” Redding Record-Searchlight, 21 February 1959, p. 2, col. 4.

[4] “Riverview Tavern,” ad, Redding Record, 28 April 1955, p. 4, col. 2.

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