Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/274

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\1K(1XIA BIOGRAPHY

till and successful ministers of the Protes- tant Episcopal church in \'irginia. His grandfather, Colonel William AIcGuire, of Winchester, Virginia, was a lieutenant of artillery in the revolution, having enlisted at the age of thirteen, and being in most of th.e l)attles from Boston to Eutaw Springs, ai which last battle he was disabled perma- nently. After the revolution, he studied law. and became the first chief justice of the territory of Mississippi. He was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. The wife of this William McGuire was Mary Little, daughter of William Little, of Frederick county, Virginia. The mother of John P. Mc- Guire was Maria Mercer Garnett, daughter of Hon. James M. Garnett, of Essex county, who, with his son and grandson, were mem- bers of congress from Virginia, and grand- daughter of Judge James Mercer, an officer in the French and Indian wars, who was subsequently a member of the Virginia con- vention of 1775 and 1776. He was a mem- ber of the committee of safety of Virginia, and an admiralty judge under the Virginia constitution. John P. McGuire was edu- cated at his father's school at "The Parson- age," taught by various teachers, and at the Episcopal high school, near Alexandria, Vir- ginia, of which his father was principal from 1852 until the breaking out of the war be- tiveen the sections. In this school he took the gold medal for general excellence in con- duct and school work. From the high school he entered the University of Virginia, and for two years studied under Dr. Gessner Harrison, Dr. Albert Taylor Bledsoe. Pro- fessor Francis H. Smith and Dr. Scheie De Vera. Upon leaving the university in 1856 he entered the Episcopal high school as one of the assistants, remaining there until the

school was closed by the war. During a ]inrtin of the war period he served as first lieutenant ami instructor in the Confederate States na\-y. lui the school shi[) Patrick Henry, commanded by Captain William H. Parker. In .^e])tember, iS^is, he opened a limited school of twenty-four boys in Rich- mond, especially preparatory to the Univer- sity of Virginia. From this small begin- ning, gaining favor by its university and college record, the present large school has grown. Mr. McGuire published addresses ujion various subjects of interest, notable among which are "The Siege of Yorktown" and "The Virginian of 1781 and 1861," "The Cause and Consequences of the W^ar uniting to justify the position of the South in all the Sectional Strife," and besides these some writings for school use, in algebra. Latin and English. By addresses and critical essays, he contributed largely to the success of the efforts to banish false histories from tlie schools of Virginia and the rest of the south. He was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, of which organiza- tion he was first vice-president ; and of the executive committee of the Historical Soci- ety of Virginia. He was married twice. I lis first wife was Clara Mason, daughter of Commander Murray Mason, an officer in the United States and Confederate States navies. His second wife was Susan Rose Morris, daughter of Dr. John Morris, of Goochland county, Virginia. Of his first marriage were three children, John P. Mc- Guire, Jr., associate principal of McGuire's School ; Clara Fors3'the. wife of the Rev. Claudius F. Smith, of V\"ashington, D. C, and Murray Mason McGuire, a lawyer of K.elnm md.