Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/460

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

He was a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal church ; rector of South Farnham parish, Essex county, Virginia, 1825-52 ; rector of the Episcopal High School, 1852- 61, and chaplain of the Officers' Hospital, Richmond, 1863-64. In politics he is a Whig. He was a talented, scholarly man of deep piety. He married Maria Mercer Garnett, at Elmwood. Essex county, Virginia, Octo- ber 4, 1827, Rev. E. C. McGuire officiating; she was the daughter of James Mercer and Marv Eleanor (Mercer) Garnett. Children: William Henry; Mary Eleanor Mercer, iiiarried Major John Johns, of the Confed- erate army ; James Mercer Garnett, married Hetty Holmes McGuire ; Anne Susan ; John Peyton (2). of whom further ; Maria Garnett ; Grace Fenton Hunter, married Rev. Kin- loch Nelson ; Emily Page, married Philip W. Nelson.

John Peyton (2) McGuire. son of John Peyton (i) and Maria Mercer (Garnett) McGuire, was born at Elmwood, Essex county, Virginia, September 30, 1836, died in Richmond, Virginia, in April, 1906. He was educated at the Episcopal High School near Alexandria, Virginia, and at the Uni- versity of Virginia. From 1856 to 1861 he was an instructor at the high school, and during the war between the states was at various times a private in the ranks, clerk in the war department, instructor of mathematics at the Confederate Naval School, and lieutenant in the Confederate States navy, but because of persistent ill health saw little actual s-ervice. In Septem- ber. 1865. he founded McGuire's University School in Richmond, continuing its honored head until his death in 1906. He was a member of the Episcopal church in religion, and in politics a Democrat. He married at Chestnvit Hill. Fairfax county, Virginia, July 10. i860. Clara INIason, born there Feb- ruary 16, 1840, daughter of Captain Murray Mason of the United States navy and the Confederate States navy, and granddaugh- ter of John and Anna Maria (Murray) Mason, and great-granddaughter of George Mason. Captain Murray Mason married Clara Forsyth, who was the daughter of Hon. John Forsyth. United States senator and governor of Georgia, also secretary of state under both Presidents Jackson and Van P)uren. Children of John Peyton (2) and Clara (IVIason) McGuire: John Peyton

(3). of whom further; Clara Forsyth, born August 19. i89; Murray Mason, January 19. 1872.

Though widely known as a ripe scholar and a brilliant orator. John Peyton (2) Mc- Guire was distinguished preeminently as a teacher of boys. As such he founded and directed for forty years the famous school that bears his name ; as such he exerted an influence on the commonwealth of Virginia scarcely second to that of any other man of his generation. To Mr. McGuire teaching was not a gainful profession but a sacred calling. He chose it as a life career after hestitating long between it and the Chris- tian ministry and he was wont, to the end of his life, to return thanks for the Guidance that made him devote his talents to the edu- cation of young Virginians. The spirit of consecration which led him to become a teacher found expression throughout his long career in methods of instruction which were peculiarly his own. He did not con- tent himself with merely teaching, even in the most thorough manner, the standard subjects of classical preparation. He used his text-books not less to inspire than to teach and not infrequently, in discussing some famous character of history, he would drop his book and vividly characterize men and events of the past. Students who have forgotten the "fifteen decisive battles" upon which he dwelt at length, remember his wonderful sketches of Marlborough and of Nelson and the stirring moral lessons he taught from the failings of these great com- manders. On Friday afternoons, when the lessons of the week were over, he would frequently gather the boys of the upper forms about him and would, in the parlance of the school "deliver a lecture" on some great truth of life. Hundreds of lads now grown to manhood remember Mr. Islc- Guire's lectures far better than any of the sermons to which they listened in mature life. The spirit of the man became the spirit of the school. His personal allegiance to honor and fidelity grew into the mottoes of his pupils — Fides intacta, pcrscvcra)\tia I'incit 0)}i)iia. As these were the rules of his life, living, conscious influences that daily governed his actions, they could not fail to be the unwritten law of his school. The honor system, rigid adherence to truth, frank admission of guilt and manly apolo-