Quentin Durward Corley, Sr. (January 21, 1884 - April 22, 1980) was a Texas circuit judge.

Biography

He was born in

Mexia, Texas Mexia ( or ) is a city in Limestone County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,893 at the 2020 census. The city's motto, based on the fact that outsiders tend to mispronounce the name as (), is "A great place to live, no matter how ...

on January 21, 1884, to Daniel Jacob Corley (1852–1948) and Mary Louise California (1851–1946). His parents were from Alabama, and moved to Texas in 1874. Quentin moved to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

in 1895. In 1901 he graduated from the Oak Cliff high school. On September 18, 1905, in

Utica, New York Utica () is the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most populous city in New York, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 census. It is located on the Mohawk River in the Mohawk Valley at the foot of the Adiro ...

he was in a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

accident and lost both hands and one arm and shoulder. Within two years he invented and patented an

artificial limb In medicine, a prosthesis (: prostheses; from ), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through physical trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth (congenital disorder). Prosthe ...

. He went on to study law in the offices of Muse & Allen in Dallas, and in 1907 passed the

Dallas County, Texas Dallas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 2,613,539, and was estimated to be 2,656,028 in 2024, making it the List of counties in Texas, second-most populo ...

bar. In 1908 he was elected to the office of justice of the peace, and his service in that capacity was of such a character that in the campaign of 1912 he was elected a county judge. He died on April 22, 1980, in

Patents

*Improvements in and relating to artificial arms (1920)

Legacy

*Quentin D. Corley Academy

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corley, Quentin D. 1884 births 1980 deaths People from Mexia, Texas Lawyers from Dallas Texas state court judges American amputees 20th-century Texas state court judges 20th-century American inventors 20th-century American lawyers American lawyers with disabilities