New Search House History Senate History Copyright Information Privacy

Courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office
QUAY, Matthew Stanley (1833-1904)
Member XML
Senate Years of Service: 1887-1899; 1901-1904

QUAY, MATTHEW STANLEY, a Senator from Pennsylvania; born in Dillsburg, York County, Pa., on September 30, 1833; attended Beaver and Indiana Academies and graduated from Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa., in 1850; taught school; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1854 and commenced practice in Beaver, Pa.; prothonotary of Beaver County 1856-1860; during the Civil War, served as a colonel of the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, lieutenant colonel, assistant commissary general, military State agent at Washington, private secretary to the Governor, and major and chief of transportation and telegraphs; awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1888 for voluntarily resuming duty, although out of active service, on the eve of the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 13, 1862; member, State house of representatives 1865-1867; owned and edited the Beaver Radical 1867-1872; secretary of the Commonwealth 1872-1878, 1879-1882; recorder of the city of Philadelphia; State treasurer 1885-1887; elected in 1887 as a Republican to the United States Senate; reelected in 1893 and served from March 4, 1887, to March 3, 1899; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1899; appointed by the Governor to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy in the term commencing March 4, 1899, caused by the failure of the legislature to elect; presented his credentials on December 4, 1899, but the Senate did not seat him and referred the matter to the Committee on Privileges and Elections; resolution of the Senate on April 24, 1900, declared him not entitled to the seat; elected on January 15, 1901, to fill the existing vacancy, and served from January 16, 1901, until his death; chairman, Committee to Examine Branches of the Civil Service (Fiftieth Congress), Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard (Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses), Committee on the Library (Fifty-second Congress), Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds (Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Congresses), Committee on the Organization, Conduct, and Expenditures of Executive Departments (Fifty-seventh and Fifty-eighth Congresses); died in Beaver, Pa., May 28, 1904; interment in Beaver Cemetery.

Brown University
Providence, RI
Papers: October 27, 1886. 1 letter. To Hiram Young requesting election results.
Dickinson College Library
Carlisle, PA
Papers: 1863-1865. 4 letters.
Hagley Museum and Library
Greenville, DE
Papers: Letters and telegrams in Charles F. Kindred papers, 1811-1914 (bulk 1890-1914).
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Papers: Correspondence (1884) in James Moore Swank papers, 1785-1898 (bulk 1871-1898); Josiah Stoddard Johnston papers, 1821-1839; and Edwin Sydney Stuart papers, 1886-1905.
Library of Congress
Manuscript Division
Washington, DC
Papers: 1776 - 1949 (bulk1890-1904). 23 linear feet. Correspondence, election materials, financial papers, genealogical information, newspaper clippings, photographs, and other papers relating to his career in Pennsylvania and national politics as a member of the Republican party and the U.S. Senate. Finding aid on line. Additional Papers: Items also in the Abram P.T. Elder papers, 1890-1916 (bulk 1903-1916); and the Philander C. Knox papers, 1893-1922 (bulk 1901-1921).
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Harrisburg, PA
Papers: 266 items (1857-1905) including political correspondence, patronage recommendations, news clippings, campaign pamphlets, telegrams, and three folders of memoranda (1904-1905) contained in various collections. Finding aid.
Pennsylvania State University Libraries
University Park, PA
Papers: Correspondence in George Washington Atherton papers, 1837-1950. In part, microfilm of originals in Rutgers University. Finding aid.
Pierpont Morgan Library
New York, NY
Papers: 1869. 1 item.
University of Pittsburgh
Archives of Industrial Society
Pittsburgh, PA
Papers: In Quay family papers, 1836-1927. 3 boxes.

  • Kehl, James A. Boss Rule in the Gilded Age: Matt Quay of Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1981.
  • ___. "Matthew Quay, 1833-1904.'' In Pennsylvania Kingmakers, edited by Robert G. Crist, pp. 25-37. Pennsylvania History Studies no. 15. University Park: Pennsylvania Historical Association, 1985.
  • ___. "The Unmaking of a President: 1889-92.'' Pennsylvania History 39 (October 1972): 469-84.
  • Oliver, John W. "Matthew Stanley Quay.'' Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 17 (March 1934): 1-12.
  • Quay, Matthew S. Pennsylvania Politics: The Campaign of 1900 as Set Forth in the Speeches of Hon. Matthew Stanley Quay. Philadelphia: W.J. Campbell, 1901.
  • U.S. Congress. Matthew Stanley Quay (Late a Senator from Pennsylvania). Memorial Addresses Delivered in the Senate and House of Representatives. 58th Cong., 3d sess., 1904-1905. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905.