Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/770

 670 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI cess. Michael De Guire is a scion of one of the oldest pioneer families in Missouri, his father having come to what is now Madison count}' as early as 1790. He has ever been imbued with the ancestral spirit of enter- prise and through his well directed endeavors has achieved a marvelous success as a busi- ness man and miller. He has lived retired from participation in active atfairs since 1903, and while he has now attained to the age of seventy-four years he is still liale and hearty and manifests a keen interest in community affairs. Michael De Guire was born in Madison county, Missouri, on the 5th of November, 1837, and he is a son of Paul and Sarah (Ni- fong) De Guire, the former a native of Ste. Genevieve, this state, and the latter a native of North Carolina. Paul De Guire was a son of Paul De Guire, who came to America from France prior to 1800 and settled on a farm in the vicinity of Fredericktown. Paul De Guire, with three other French families, hewed the road through the wilderness to Madison county, theirs having been the fir.st wheeled vehicle to come over the trail. Paul De Guire, wliose birth occurred in 1792, died in 1875, at the venerable age of eighty-three years. He was engaged in lead-mining, smelting and shipping during the greater part of his active career, his product having been manufactured and sold after being shipped to the Mississippi river, where it commanded a price of two and a half cents per pound. He had a number of slaves and laired other negro help to carry on his busi- ness. He was also an extensive farmer. He married, in 1821, Sarah Ann Nifong. whose birth occurred in North Carolina, in 1805. and who was descended from German ances- tors. She came to Missouri as a child and died in 1887, at the age of eighty-two yeai's. She and her husliand were both devout comuui- eants of the Catholic church. Of their nine children the subject of this review was the tifth in order of birth and but three are liv- ing at the present time, namely,- — Mrs. Eliz- abeth Allen, of Kansas City, Missouri ; ]Irs. Sarah Putnam, of California: and Micha<'l. of this notice. At this .iunctiire it is inter- esting to note that Paul De Guire owned the first hand-mill for grinding corn in this sec- tion of the state. The subject of this sketch still has the top stone in his possession, this being a very historical relic, as it represents part of the first mill of any description in Madison countv. Michael De Guire was reared to the pioneer life of liis native place and his rudimentary educational training consisted of such advan- tages as were afforded in the schools of the locality and period. In 1854, at the age of seventeen years, he accompanied two of his brothers, A. A. and Henry, on the overland trip to California. A. A., G. W. and Henry De Guire went to California in 1849. being members of a company of twenty-five, of whom A. A. De Guire was the last survivor, his death having occurred on the 4th of June, 1911, in his eighty-third year. A. A. De Guire crossed the plains again in 1862. driv- ing cattle, and he made two more trips in '63 and '64. In the latter years of his life he made three trips by railroad, making in all seven round trips to California, ^lichael De Guire i-emained in California from 1854 to 1858. devoting his time to mining enterprises and achieving marked success. With the ex- ception of nineteen years he has spent his entire life in IMadison county, having main- tained his home in Fredericktown since 1876. For thirteen years he was engaged in the mill- ing business in St. Francois county and sub- sequently he was identified with that line of enterprise in Madison county, devoting forty years to that particular project. He started out with a fifty barrel mill and for thirty years conducted a two hundred barrel mill, this mill being now operated by others, at Fredericktown. In 1877 he built a brick mill in this place and owned the same until 1903, when he retired. He recently sold a fine farm directly north of the town and he re- sides in his beautiful home on West Llain street, where he has lived for the past twenty vears. On the ]9th of December. 1861. IMr. De Guire was united in marriage to Miss Eliz- abeth Blanton, a native of Iron county. IMissouri. and a daughter of Benjamin Plan- ton, who was born in Kentucky and wlio became a farmer in this state in an early day. Mr. and Mrs. De Guire became the parents of two daughters, concerning whom the fol- lowing data are here inserted. — Fannie mar- ried H. D. Christnff. who is a druggist at Fredericktown. and they have four children. Charles. John, Norman and Con.siiplo: and Flora, who is the wife of W. R. Nifong. of Oklahoma City, where he is a civil engineer, employed in setting up refrisreratinsr and ice plants. They have two children. Jennie and Robert. In politics Mr. De Guire is a Republican.