234
\1K(;1XIA BIOGRAPHY
till and successful ministers of the Protes-
tant Episcopal church in \'irginia. His
grandfather, Colonel William AIcGuire, of
Winchester, Virginia, was a lieutenant of
artillery in the revolution, having enlisted
at the age of thirteen, and being in most of
th.e l)attles from Boston to Eutaw Springs,
ai which last battle he was disabled perma-
nently. After the revolution, he studied
law. and became the first chief justice of the
territory of Mississippi. He was a member
of the Society of the Cincinnati. The wife
of this William McGuire was Mary Little,
daughter of William Little, of Frederick
county, Virginia. The mother of John P. Mc-
Guire was Maria Mercer Garnett, daughter
of Hon. James M. Garnett, of Essex county,
who, with his son and grandson, were mem-
bers of congress from Virginia, and grand-
daughter of Judge James Mercer, an officer
in the French and Indian wars, who was
subsequently a member of the Virginia con-
vention of 1775 and 1776. He was a mem-
ber of the committee of safety of Virginia,
and an admiralty judge under the Virginia
constitution. John P. McGuire was edu-
cated at his father's school at "The Parson-
age," taught by various teachers, and at the
Episcopal high school, near Alexandria, Vir-
ginia, of which his father was principal from
1852 until the breaking out of the war be-
tiveen the sections. In this school he took
the gold medal for general excellence in con-
duct and school work. From the high school
he entered the University of Virginia, and
for two years studied under Dr. Gessner
Harrison, Dr. Albert Taylor Bledsoe. Pro-
fessor Francis H. Smith and Dr. Scheie De
Vera. Upon leaving the university in 1856
he entered the Episcopal high school as one
of the assistants, remaining there until the
school was closed by the war. During a
]inrti()n of the war period he served as first
lieutenant ami instructor in the Confederate
States na\-y. lui the school shi[) Patrick
Henry, commanded by Captain William H.
Parker. In .^e])tember, iS^is, he opened a
limited school of twenty-four boys in Rich-
mond, especially preparatory to the Univer-
sity of Virginia. From this small begin-
ning, gaining favor by its university and
college record, the present large school has
grown. Mr. McGuire published addresses
ujion various subjects of interest, notable
among which are "The Siege of Yorktown"
and "The Virginian of 1781 and 1861," "The
Cause and Consequences of the W^ar uniting
to justify the position of the South in all the
Sectional Strife," and besides these some
writings for school use, in algebra. Latin
and English. By addresses and critical
essays, he contributed largely to the success
of the efforts to banish false histories from
tlie schools of Virginia and the rest of the
south. He was a member of the Sons of the
American Revolution, of which organiza-
tion he was first vice-president ; and of the
executive committee of the Historical Soci-
ety of Virginia. He was married twice.
I lis first wife was Clara Mason, daughter of
Commander Murray Mason, an officer in
the United States and Confederate States
navies. His second wife was Susan Rose
Morris, daughter of Dr. John Morris, of
Goochland county, Virginia. Of his first
marriage were three children, John P. Mc-
Guire, Jr., associate principal of McGuire's
School ; Clara Fors3'the. wife of the Rev.
Claudius F. Smith, of V\"ashington, D. C,
and Murray Mason McGuire, a lawyer of
K.elnm md.
