Henrico-Richmond City-Louisa County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....McGuire, John Peyton 1866 - 
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Alice Warner Brosey http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003503 August 23, 2010, 6:29 pm

Source: Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography
Author: Lyon Gardiner Tyler

John Peyton McGuire.
 Dating in Virginia prior to the year 1747, this branch of the McGuire family 
traces to the ancient family in Fermanagh, Ireland, McGuire's county. In the 
latter part of the thirteenth century Don Carragh McGuire overcame the 
neighboring chieftains and made himself master of the whole country, he and 
his descendants holding it independent of the English for centuries. The 
descent is traced in direct male line back from John Peyton McGuire, of 
Richmond, to Edward, the American ancestor, who settled in Frederick county, 
Virginia, prior to 1747, and from him to James, whose parents quitted 
Fermanagh county, Ireland, during the troublous times of 1641, and settled in 
county Kerry, near Tralee, in McElligott parish. James McGuire was married to 
Cecelia McNamara Reagh and had male issue; one of his sons, John Sigismund 
McGuire, went abroad in early life and entered the Austrian army, having a 
number of kinsmen in that service, through whose influence he obtained a 
commission. He rose to high rank, was military governor of Dresden in 1760, 
and was at that time colonel of a regiment of four battalions; was a count of 
the Holy Roman Empire, and a lieutenant-general of their Majesties' Imperial 
Armies. Another son of James McGuire was Constantine McGuire, who married, in 
Kerry, Julia McElligott, and they were the parents of Edward McGuire, the 
Virginia founder of the family.

Edward McGuire was born in county Kerry, Ireland, in 1720, and came to 
Virginia, prior to 1747, his first patent to land in Frederick county bearing 
that year date. He married Elizabeth Wheeler, of Prince George county, 
Maryland.

Judge William McGuire, son of Edward McGuire, the founder, was born in 
Frederick county, Virginia, in 1765, and died at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 
1820. He entered the Continental army in 1778 as a cadet, being then in his 
fourteenth year, was promoted ensign in 1780, and was later lieutenant of the 
First Virginia Artillery. He received a severe wound at the battle of Eutaw 
Springs, that troubled him ever afterward and finally caused his death. After 
independence was gained, he entered William and Mary College, studied law, 
became a member of the Virginia legislature, serving from 1797-99, was 
appointed first chief justice of the Mississippi Territory, a position he 
resigned in 1801, and practiced his profession in Winchester, Virginia, until 
1816. In that year he was appointed superintendent of the United States armory 
at Harpers Ferry, and there he died in 1820, from the effects of his old 
wound. He married Mary, daughter of William Little, of Frederick county, 
Virginia, now Jefferson county, West Virginia.

John Peyton McGuire, son of Judge William and Mary (Little) McGuire, was born 
in Winchester, Virginia, September 4, 1800.

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. October 4, 
1827, Rev. E. C. McGuire officiating; she was the daughter of James Mercer and 
Mary Eleanor (Mercer) Garnett. Children: William Henry; Mary Eleanor Mercer, 
carried Major John Johns, of the Confederate army; James Mercer Garnett, 
married Betty Holmes McGuire; Anne Susan ; John Peyton (2), of whom further; 
Maria Garnett; Grace Kenton Hunter, married Rev. Kinloch Nelson; Emily Page, 
married Philip W. Nelson.

John Peyton (2) McGuire, son of John Peyton (1) 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 University 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 service. In September, 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 Chestnut Hill, Fairfax county, Virginia, July 10, 
1860, Clara Mason, born there February 16, 1840, daughter of Captain Murray 
Mason of the United States navy and the Confederate States navy, and 
granddaughter 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 Buren. Children 
of John Peyton (2) and Clara (Mason) McGuire: John Peyton (3), of whom 
further; Clara Forsyth, born August 19, 1869; Murray Mason, January 19, 1872.

Though widely known as a ripe scholar and a brilliant orator, John Peyton (2) 
McGuire 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 Christian 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 education 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 content 
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 
commanders. 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. McGuire'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, 
persevcrantia vincit omnia/. 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 apologies for wrong-doing were 
principles upheld by the students without instruction or even direct 
suggestion from him.

It has generally been conceded at the colleges of Virginia that the boys 
prepared at McGuire's School were among the best equipped that applied for 
admission. In mathematics, in English and in Latin particularly their 
preliminary training was regarded as model. The McGuire rule for public 
speaking likewise was an important part of the school curriculum. During many 
years of his life, Mr. McGuire required every student twelve years of age and 
older to participate in these public-speaking exercises at least once a month. 
The result was the prominence of his students in the debating societies of the 
college and the eventual development of many of them into able lawyers, 
ministers and publicists. Particular emphasis has always been placed by Mr. 
McGuire and by his son, John Peyton (3) McGuire, on the completion by their 
students of their education at the best colleges of the country. As an 
incentive to this end, the school has preserved the academic record of every 
student who was prepared for college. The whole constitutes one of the most 
remarkable evidences of thoroughness of which any school in America can boast. 
On it will be found the names of many of the most prominent younger leaders of 
southern thought, industry and trade today, including, in some instances, the 
second generation of "McGuire's boys." The great work of John Peyton (2) 
McGuire was continued by his son, John Peyton (3) McGuire.

John Peyton (3) McGuire, eldest son of John Peyton (2) and Clara (Mason) 
McGuire, was born at Oakland, Henrico county, Virginia, December 21, 1866. He 
was educated at the McGuire University School, founded by his honored father, 
and the University of Virginia. He qualified for the profession of civil 
engineer and practiced the same for several years. In 1894 he became a member 
of the faculty of the McGuire University School, continuing a professor until 
the death of the founder in 1906, when he succeeded him as principal. The 
McGuire School is one of the old, well established preparatory schools of the 
city, is exclusively for boys, bears a high reputation, and is abundantly 
patronized. Its high moral tone, excellent faculty and thorough course of 
instruction has commended it to the best families, and many of the leading men 
of Virginia of today, are among the alumni of this justly celebrated 
institution.

Professor McGuire is a hereditary member of the Society of the Cincinnati; 
member of the standing committee of the Virginia Society; member of the 
executive committee of the Virginia Historical Society ; member of the 
Commonwealth Club of Richmond; the Colonnade Club, University of Virginia; 
Redlands Club of Charlottesville, Virginia; and a communicant of the 
Protestant Episcopal church.

John Peyton (3) McGuire married at Forkfields, Louisa county, Virginia, June 
20, 1895, Richie Morris Graves, born at the home of her maternal grandfather, 
Dr. Julian Kean, in Louisa county, June 2, 1864. She is the daughter of 
Captain Richard Morris Graves, a planter, and captain in the Confederate army, 
who died in 1864 from fever contracted in the trenches around Petersburg, 
Virginia. His wife, Susan Vaughn Kean, was the daughter of Dr. Julian Kean of 
Louisa county, Virginia, and his wife, Mary Callis, daughter of Colonel 
William Overton Callis ot the revolutionary army. Children of John Peyton (3) 
McGuire: Richie Graves, born in Richmond, Virginia, December 4, 1901; John 
Peyton, born at Forkfields, Louisa county, Virginia, July 13, 1904.


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