Wetzel County, West Virginia Biography of Burruss B. McGUIRE, M. D. This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, 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 III, pg. 204 BURRUSS B. McGUIRE, M. D. Before locating at Jackson- burg Doctor McGuire had qualified for his career as a phy- sician and surgeon by graduation from one of the oldest and best medical schools in the country, and also by an active service as a medical officer in the navy during the World war. Doctor McGuire is a native of North Carolina, born at Cullasaja in Macon County, October 23, 1894. His grand- father, Patrick McGuire, was a life-long resident of East Tennessee, spending his life as a farmer near White Pine. He married a Miss Alexander, also a native of East Ten- nessee. Samuel L. McGuire, father of Doctor McGuire, was born at White Pine, Jefferson County, Tennessee, Septem- ber 22, 1852, was reared there and about 1873 removed to Cullasaja, North Carolina, where he conducted a blacksmith shop. He subsequently owned and operated a wool carding mill at Norton in Jackson County, North Carolina, but soon gave that up and returned to Cullasaja until 1895, when he resumed his business as a wool carder at Norton and still owns the plant, though he has been practically retired since 1919. Samuel L. McGuire is a republican, an active mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a Mason. He married Marcella Norton, who was born in 1853 at Norton in Jackson County, North Carolina. A brief reference to their children is as follows: Dr. Wayne P., a dentist at Sylva, North Carolina; Samuel Lawrence, a farmer at Nor- ton; ; Boy L., a graduate in civil engineering from the Uni- versity of Tennessee at Knoxville, now employed as a road surveyor for the State Roads Commission of North Caro- lina, his home being at Asheville; Arley E., an automobile dealer at Sylva; Burruss B., who is the fifth in the family, while there were three others who died young. Burruss B. McGuire acquired a public school education in Macon County, North Carolina, graduating from the Iotla High School of that county in 1913. For one year he did general preparatory work in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and also took two years of his medical course there. From Chapel Hill he entered Jef- ferson Medical College at Philadelphia, graduating M. D. in 1918. For three months in 1918 he served as an interne in the South Side Hospital at Pittsburg. In the mean- time, in January, 1917, he had applied for enlistment as a private in the Medical Reserve Corps, U. S. Army. He was transferred to U. S. N. B. F. and was called to active duty September 3, 1918, being sent for instruction to the Naval Medical School at Washington and from November 8, 1918, until April 8, 1919, was on duty at the Naval Hos- pital at Charleston, South Carolina. He was commissioned a junior lieutenant August 5, 1918, and January 1, 1919, was promoted to lieutenant. April 8, 1919, he was ordered to inactive duty and was disenrolled September 1, 1921. On his release from service in the spring of 1919 Doctor McGuire became an interne in the Ohio Valley Hospital at Wheeling, and on November 1, 1919, established his home and began his professional career at Jacksonburg, where in two years he has built up a successful practice and a wide influence in his profession. Doctor McGuire is a republican, is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, and is a member of Glenville Lodge No. 551, A. F. and A. M., at Glenville, North Carolina, and has taken fourteen degrees in the Scottish Rite, West Vir- ginia Consistory No. 1 at Wheeling. He is also a member of Pine Grove Lodge No. 460, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. May 10, 1920, at Jacksonburg, he married Miss Charlotte Bessey, daughter of Ralph J. and Maude (Wilcox) Bessey, residents of Friendship, New York, but at present of Jacksonburg. Her father is a ganger for the Pure Oil Pipe Line Company.