A native of Dublin, Ireland, George E. Quinan came to Texas in the 1830s. By the mid-1840s he had moved to Wharton and set up a law office near this site. He was elected district attorney in 1845. Quinan and his wife Mary Anne established a home on Peach Creek in Wharton County. He served two terms in the Texas Senate from 1857 to 1861. After service in the Confederate army during the Civil War, he was a member of the Commission of Civil Appeals. Judge Quinan was among the founders of the State Bar Association in 1879. He is buried near Peach Creek.