Quimby, Harriet N. (11 May 1875–01 July 1912), aviator and journalist, was born in Arcadia Township, Manistee County, Michigan, the daughter of William Quimby and Ursula Cook Quimby, farmers. Her full middle name is unknown. The youngest known child of a disabled Civil War veteran and a medicinal herbalist, in adulthood Quimby let it be thought that she had been born in 1885 in California and educated in Europe by wealthy parents. It has also been reported that Quimby was born in Coldwater, Branch County, Michigan, the younger of two daughters. However, Quimby's parents moved from Branch to Manistee County in 1867 with older children, two of whom died before Harriet's birth and one shortly thereafter. By 1880 only Harriet and one older sister survived. No education records have been found, although residents' recollections indicated that Quimby attended the local public school in Arcadia....
