Francis Howe (William)McGuire

FRANCIS HOWE McGUIRE (William') was born in 1809, and was educated at Kenyon College. He entered the Virginia Episcopal Theological Seminary and was ordained in 1836. His first charge was Christ Church, Lancaster, and he afterwards re- moved to a parish in Mecklenburg where he remained until a few years before his death.. He was compelled by ill health to resign and died in Mecklenburg county April 22, 1865. He married Mary Willing Harrison, daughter of Benjamin Harrison, of “Berkeley," Charles City county. She died at Millwood, Clarke county, March 26, I876, and was buried at Old Chapel.

The following is from an old paper in the possession of the Family. 'Notes to be sent to the Theological Seminary of Virginia for obituary· record of Rev. Francis Howe McGuire. I. Born in Ohio County, Va. on the 28th. day of October 1809. In Winchester & other points of Frederick Co. Va. his family has resided for some hundred & forty or fifty years. His grand- father Edward McGuire was an educated Irishman who settled in \Winchester soon after reaching this country; and in active pursuits of business provided for his family; spending the close of life in the enjoyment of comfort and respectability; honored with the public confidence and serving it with acceptance & use• fulness as the mayor of Winchester; & one of the county magis- trates for many years. His father was Col. William McGuire of Frederick County Va. , who in very early life took part in the Revolutionary war, until a severe wound disabled him for active service; subsequently he studied law at William and Mary College; was licensed & practiced successfully in his native town & neighboring court houses; was one of the representatives of Fredenck Co. in the State Legislature; became the Chief Justice of Mississippi Territory; for the unhealthiness of the country resigned & returned home; removed to some lands which he owned near Wheeling on the Ohio River; again returned to his native Valley; & by the hand of a deathly typhoid fever closed his life on the 20th of November 1820 as Paymaster & Military Store Keeper at Harper's Ferry. His mother was Mary Little of Jefferson Co. of whom it is but truth to say that she was one of the best women who ever lived,-the most faithful & true to every duty; wise & useful in her place; & as well by her example as her prayers a, priceless blessing to her house to her dying day which took place in April 1821 in her 48th. year.

After the death of his parents he spent most of his youth in Fredericksburg with his elder brother the Rev. E. C. McGuire, D. D., part of the time going to school; & the rest in the mercantile establishment of his uncle Mr. John P. Little a pious member of the Presbyterian church. While a member of his brother's family & congregation where for almost fifty years there were such abundant showers of divine grace poured out upon the minister & the people, he made a profession of religion & determined to enter the ministry of the Church.
III. Kenyon College in 1833.
IV. Ordained Deacon in 1836.
V. Ordained Priest in 1837.
VI. Ordained 1.,y Bishop Meade.
VII. Christ OlUrch parish Lancaster Co. and the churches in Mecklenburg County.
VIII. Died on the 22d. of April 1865 at his residence in Mecklenburg Co.
IX. Until failing health broke him down completely, his official life was one of great energy, very extensive fields of labor giving him no rest the year round. The number of miles travelled of services performed & the amt. of care & anxiety sustained made his life one of excessive toil & exhaustion & at last prostrated him so effectually that was nothing left but to go into utter retirement; where death at last found him in the discharge of such duties as his helpless condition allowed him to perform. Through life he was a man of singular courage & integrity, as a Christian he was humble & self abasing; as a minister he was un- pretending & diligent. And when he had to give up his official work, it was with a sorrow which clung to him to his dying day.

Jn. P. :McGuire [Reverse] 1868 Notes sent to Theo. Sem'y. for Obituary Record of Rev. F. H. McGuire, Dec'd 21st. Feby. Issue:
42. William Henry
43. Mary Willing, born about 1840, and died unmarried.
44- Lucy Carter, born about 1841, unmarried.
45. Benjamin Harrison, born 1843. He was. a lieutenant in the 22nd Va. Infantry, C.S.A., and was killed at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863. He was buried at the Old Chapel, Clarke County, Va., "regretted and mourned by all who knew him. He was unmarried.
4A Francis Howe.
47. John Edward, born about 1855; died Jan. 28, I924, aged 69; unmarried.