Cabell County, West Virginia Biography of Joseph Arthur GUTHRIE, M.D. This file was submitted by Barbara Maurer, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 271 JOSEPH ARTHUR GUTHRIE, M.D., is not only recognized as one of the leading physicians and surgeons at Huntington, but has also made a most valuable contribution to the city's metropolitan prestige by establishing and developing to the best modern standard the Guthrie Hospital, of which he is the proprietor. Doctor Guthrie was born at Athens, judicial center of the Ohio County of the same name, and the date of his nativity was May 23, 1878. He is a scion of an honored pioneer family of the old Buckeye State, his grandfather, Joseph Guthrie, having passed his entire life in Meigs County, Ohio, where he became a prosperous farmer and honored and influential citizen of his community, his father, Joseph Guthrie, Sr., having been born in England, and having been a pioneer settler in Meigs County, Ohio, where he passed the remainder of his life and where he developed the productive farm which later passed into the possession of his son Joseph, who there likewise resided until the close of his life. Doctor Guthrie is a son of George P. and Esther Ann (Martin) Guthrie, both natives of Meigs County, Ohio, where the former was born in 1846 and the latter in 1851. The father became a prominent and successful exponent of farm industry in Athens County, Ohio, where he established his residence shortly after his marriage and where he continued to reside until his death in June, 1912, his widow being still a resident of Athens, the county seat. He was a republican on unwavering loyalty and was a zealous member of the Christian Church, as is also his widow. They became the parents of eight children, of whom Doctor Guthrie, of this review, was the fifth in the order of birth. Eva is the wife of William Rankins, a farmer in Meigs County, Ohio; Nannie is the wife of Benjamin Ackley, a farmer near Marion, that State; Margaret is the wife of John Stout, who is engaged in the dairy business at Eugene, Oregon; Alma is the wife of Everett Blackwood, a jeweler in that Oregon city; Ray, a skilled mechanic, resides at Mesa, Arizona; and Frank owns and has active management of the old home farm in Athens County, Ohio. In the high school at Athens, Ohio, Doctor Guthrie was graduated in 1897, and thereafter he taught school in his native county for a period of one year. He next attended Ohio University, at Athens, until he had completed the work of his sophomore year, and there he was a member of the Philomatean Society. In preparation for his chosen profession he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the City of Baltimore, Maryland, and in this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1903 and with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Each successive year since his graduation he has done effective post-graduate work in various leading clinics, including those of Mercy and Augustana hospitals in the City of Chicago; those of the distinguished Mayo Brothers of Rochester, Minnesota; and of the New York Post-Graduate Medical School. In this continuous application that has kept him in close touch with advances made in his exacting profession Doctor Guthrie has specialized in surgery, and since founding his hospital at Huntington he has given major attention to the surgical phase of professional service. In 1903 Doctor Guthrie established himself in general practice at Ravenswood, Jackson County, West Virginia, but one year later he found a broader field by establishing his residence at Huntington, where he has developed a specially large and representative practice. In 1910 Doctor Guthrie erected a substantial modern building at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Sixth Street and equipped the same as a thoroughly high-grade hospital. The patronage accorded to the institution so continuously increased that in 1916 it was found essential to build an addition to the hospital, and in 1920 another complete unit was added, with the result that the institution now has facilities for the accommodation of sixty patients. Adjoining the hospital is the thoroughly equipped nurses' home. The institution has the best of laboratory facilities, including X-Ray and radium apparatus; the operating room is of the best metropolitan type, and in the conjoined training school for nurses the graduates in 1920 and 1921 gained the highest averages in examinations of all nurses graduated in the State of West Virginia. Doctor Guthrie is a loyal and valued member of the Cabell Company Medical Society and the West Virginia State Medical Society, besides maintaining active membership in the American Medical Association. He is a member of the Kiwanis Club and the Guyan Country Club, is a republican in political allegiance, and both he and his wife are members of the Christian Church at Huntington, he being a member of its board of directors. On the 19th of April, 1916, was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Guthrie and Miss Carrie Wilkinson, daughter of Andrew J. and Ollie Wilkinson, of Huntington, Mr. Wilkinson being a local representative of the American Book Company. Mrs. Guthrie graduated from Marshall College at Huntington, and also from Randolph-Macon College at Lynchburg, Virginia. Doctor and Mrs. Guthrie have three children: Joseph Arthur, born November 23, 1917; William Wilkinson, born February 1, 1920; and Margaret Ann, born January 15, 1922.