Edmund Quincy was one of four children born to
Edmund Quincy III (1681–1737) and Dorothy Flynt Quincy of
Braintree (now
Quincy) and Boston. He graduated from
Harvard College in 1722, and went into the commerce and shipbuilding business with his younger brother
Josiah and brother-in-law Edward Jackson. In 1748, the
Bethell, a merchant ship they owned, took out a
letter of marque to protect itself from Spanish
privateers during
King George's War. Armed with fourteen guns and six fake
wooden guns, the
Bethell accidentally came upon a much larger and more heavily armed Spanish ship at night in the
Atlantic Ocean. Unable to escape, the
Bethell instead demanded that the Spanish ship surrender, and, mistaking the
Bethell for a British
sloop-of-war, it complied without a fight. The Spanish ship's cargo, consisting of 161 chests of silver, 2 of gold, and various valuable commodities, was brought safely back to Boston and valued at around one hundred thousand
pounds sterling. Josiah Quincy retired shortly after this windfall, while Edmund remained in business, entering into a partnership with his sons. Though well respected, he suffered financial reverses and was declared bankrupt in 1757. He later retired to his
paternal estate and, in 1765, published
A Treatise on Hemp Husbandry. Quincy was also an acting
magistrate of
Suffolk County until the time of his death, and was referred to as "Squire" or "Justice" Quincy. == Family and personal life ==