Living

Living married Sybil Jean McGuire Sybil (daughter of Elvis Henry McGuire and Norma G. Jordan) was born on 19 Nov 1942 in McCalla, Jefferson County, Alabama; died on 9 Nov 1990 in Los Angeles County, California. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

This brief biography was excerpted from a longer biography written by Keith David McGuire, Jr.
As was true of his siblings, Elvis grew up primarily in Dewey County, OK, with the exception of the year the family spent on a farm in Alexandria, LA. He also worked with his father in 1918 on a farm in Tennessee.

While growing up, he attended rural school in Oklahoma, and in addition to helping on his parents, farm, he had two part time jobs. When he was ten, he carried mail three times a week from the train depot to the post office, a four-mile round trip, for which he received 50 cents per trip. When he was 16, he worked for the railroad itself as a section hand. In 1920, Elvis and Percy moved to Northwest Arizona, working as a surveyor on the construction of state highway #95, between Toprock and Oatman. In 1923, he moved to Hurley, New Mexico, travelling on top of a passenger train. In Hurley, he worked for the Chino Copper Company. He also fought, and won, his first professional boxing match here.

A year later Elvis moved to Illinois, in a Studebaker Touring Car that he had rebuilt, bringing his Mother and sisters Ellen and Hildred with him. His nephew Keith heard that Elvis made the move to get away from the higher elevations in New Mexico, which he thought contributed to blood pressure issues. His great nephew Tom was instead told by Elvis that the water in New Mexico was so bad, the only liquid he consumed by Coca-Cola, and that the massive amounts of cola that he consumed led to stomach issues.

During his stay in Illinois, he worked at a Farm Implement Factory, alongside his younger brother Keith. In the winter of 1925-1926 Elvis also worked as a street-car conductor in Chicago.
In November 1926, Elvis moved to Brownsville, Alabama and obtained employment at Brownsville Lumber, working as a mechanic in the Creosote Plant. His younger brother Keith followed him, working at the same plant.

While in Alabama, Elvis continued pursuing his career as a boxer, and was in five fights, winning four of them. His last fight was on October 31, 1927, against Joe Lousier of Florida. He won this on a technical knock-out in the eighth round, breaking a bone in his left hand during the fight, and finishing the fight one handed. After this fight, he retired from boxing, at the urging of his wife Norma. While living in Cottondale, they farmed.

In the 1940's, they traded their farm in Cottondale for a home in Tuscaloosa, on 1706 Forest Lake Avenue. Elvis was employed as a mechanic by Anders Studebaker Company, advancing to shop foreman before the Agency closed in the mid 1950's. During World War II, he maintained Stearman PT-17's military trainers at the Tuscaloosa airport. He later enlisted United State Seabees (1949-1965), working as a Gasoline Engine Repairman, and attaining the rank of Chief Petty Officer. Elvis continued to work as a shop foreman for various civilian firms, retiring at the age of 70.

He was in an automobile accident in November 1989, and was no longer able to care for himself due to the injuries he received. He was a resident of the Park Manor Nursing Home in Morthport, Alabama until his death in 1994.

Obituary (transcribed from undated, unreferenced newspaper clip)

E. H. McGuire

E.H. "Mickey" McGuire, 93, of 1708 Forest Lake Drive, died December 22, 1994, at Forest Manor Nursing Home. Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Forest Lake Baptist Church. Dr. Donald Payne will officiated with burial in Tuscaloosa Memorial Park and Hayes Chapel Funeral Home directing.

Survivors include grandchildren, Vann Lantz and Valerie Lantz, both of Tuscaloosa; Son-in-law Tim Lantz, Thousant (sic) Oaks, Calif.; great-grandchildren, Michael Lantz and Amy Lantz, both of Tuscaloosa; sister-in-law, Florence Martin, Cottondale; and a good friend, Eppie New, Tuscaloosa.

The family will receive friends from 4 to 7 tonight at the funeral home.

(Research):

Census Listings:

1940 Census
Alabama, Tuscaloosa County, Mitchells Elec Prec 23
Enumerated 11 Apr 1940
SD 6 ED 63-48 Sheet 8a Stamped 923
Keenes Mill Road
167-0-1800
McGuire, Elvis H Head M W 39 M No 8 Ok R Tuscoloosa Mechanic Garage
McGuire, Norma G Wf F W 22 M No H12 Ala R Tuscoloosa

Elvis married Norma G. Jordan on 23 Sep 1927 in Carrollton, Pickens County, Alabama. Norma was born on 25 Apr 1907 in Cottondale, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama; died on 19 Dec 1981 in Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama; was buried in Tuscaloosa Memorial Park, Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Her FindAGrave memorial page, created by John Smolarek, shows her as a daughter of John Henry Jordan and Mary Edna Cribbs.

Notes:

This brief biography of Henry David McGuire was excerpted from a longer biography written by Keith David McGuire, Jr. titled "Henry David McGuire 1868-1944"

Henry was an apprentice for a stone mason in Lexington, Alabama, moving to Kansas at the age of sixteen when the stone mason relocated his business operation there. It was in Kansas that Henry learned the trades of Wagon/Carriage Builder and Blacksmith, during his four year apprenticeship with a Master Craftsman. After his apprenticeship, he started his own blacksmith shop: initially in Lawrence, Kansas, relocating to Olivet, Kansas, and then to Osage City, Kansas. This is where he met Anna Mary "Mamie" Kuykendall.

Their first two children were born in Osage City, while their four youngest were born at the Red Creek Farm in western Dewey County, Oklahoma. The farm in Red Creek was 160 acres, located In Dewey County three miles west of Trail on Red Creek which drained into the South Canadian River located two miles north of the homestead. The patent to the land was obtained 22 May 1906. The family originally lived in a two room half dugout with mortar walls and a wood shingled roof that had been built into a hillside to provide ten foot high back walls with twelve foot wide rooms. Henry and two neighbors assisted each other in building these dugouts for each family. While they were being built, the families lived in tents and covered wagons. Later the family moved in a wood frame farmhouse constructed on the property. They briefly moved to Trail were Henry worked as a blacksmith, and then back to the farm.

The young family moved from the farm to the city of Trail, which had been relocated two miles northwest to have a railroad depot, after the Wichita Falls & Northwest Railroad branch line was completed. Here Henry again worked as a blacksmith. In 1912 they purchased property in Block 15 located on the south side of Broadway between 1rst and Main streets. Here they built a brick building to house the blacksmith shop, public bath facilities, and their living quarters.

When the economy of Trail could no longer support the family, Henry and his sons travelled throughout the country to find work. In the summer of 1913, Henry and his oldest son Percy even spent three months working in Canada, operating a clear water pump for a coal mine on the Mackenzie River. Henry sold his original homestead to David Hale on 13 February 1915, but retained the building that housed his shop and living quarters in Trail.

During the next several years, Henry farmed in central Louisiana, worked as a blacksmith in Kansas, worked in the oil fields of Oklahoma, and farmed in southern Tennessee, near Florence, Alabama. Mamie remained in Trail with the younger children during most of theses sojurns. Older sons Elvis and Cecil helped their father with the Tennessee farm for awhile. In 1921, Henry returned home to Trail. Soon afterwords, Henry and Mamie divorced. Henry moved to Chicago to work, and Mamie and her daughters lived for a time with her son Percy and then with son Elvis. Later she and the children relocated to Illinois as well. Here she and Henry were remarried in 1926. The family moved back briefly to Alabama, then to nevada, and finally returned to Oklahoma, where they settled in Camargo, on the north side of the South Canadian River on State Highway 34. Here they operated a restaurant that was named the "Nickle Inn," named for the price of the individual servings or hamburgers, chili, and pie.

After Mamie's death, Henry remarried and returned to Trail, to the building that had served as his blacksmith workshop and home years before.

Henry's death certificate showed his parents as Frederick H. McGuire, born in Virginia (sic) and Centhy Porter, born in Alabama. In the space for cause of death, the following was written: "This man was found dead at his home about 3 days after his death. Supposedly died of internal hemmorrage after violent exertion." The physician who signed the certificate was W.E. Saba, M.D. of Leedy, Oklahoma. The informant was Keith McGuire of Camargo Oklahoma. Burial was at Leedy as well.

OBITUARY

Henry David McGuire, son of Frederick Hugh and Cinthey Elizabeth McGuire, was born Jan 19, 1868 at Lexington, Alabama, and died February 3, 1944 at his home in Trail, Oklahoma.

Mr. McGuire was united in marriage to Anna Mary Kuykendall of Osage City, Kansas in 1893, who preceded him in death in 1934. Mr. McGuire was remarried in 1940 to Mrs. Lona Chill of Camargo.

Mr. McGuire homesteaded in Oklahoma, December 15, 1898 and made his home here until his death.

Besides his wife, Mr. McGuire is survived by his six children: Percy K. McGuire of Boulder City, Nev.; Cecil E. McGuire of Douglas, Ariz.; Elvis McGuire of Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Keith McGuire of Camargo; Ellen McGuire of Caliente, Nev., and Mrs. Bert Hyde of Batavia, Ill., also elevn grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and a host of friends.

(Research):

Census Listings:

1910 Census
Oklahoma, Dewey County, Trail Twp
Enumerated 9 and 10 May 1910
SD 2 ED 133 Sheet 11B
84-84
McGuire, Henry D Head M W 42 M 17 Ala Ala US Farmer
McGuire, Maymoe Wf F W 40 M 17 5/5 Mo Ill Ill
McGuire, Persey Son M W 17 S Ks Ala Mo Farm hand
McGuire, Cecil Son M W 13 S Ks Ala Mo
McGuire, Elvis Son M W 9 S Ok Ala Mo
McGuire, Keith Son M W 5 S Ok Ala Mo
McGuire, Ellen Dtr F W 2 S Ok Ala Mo

1920 Census
Oklahoma, Dewey County, Trail Twp
Enumerated 6 Jan 1920
SD 7 ED 209 Sheet 10A
6-6
McGuire, Henry Head M W 42 M Ala SC SC Merchant Retail Grocery
McGuire, Mamie Wf F W 49 M Mo Ill Ill
McGuire, Percy K Son M W 25 S Ks Ala Mo Job Work
McGuire, Elvis H Son M W 18 S Ok Ala Mo Laborer Farm
McGuire, Keith D Don M W 14 S Ok Ala Mo
McGuire, Ellen B Dtr F W 11 S Ok Ala Mo
McGuire, Hildred M Dtr F W 9 S Ok Ala Mo

1930 Census
Oklahoma, Dewey County, Camargo Twp
Enumerated April 12, 1930
ED 22-3 SD 1 Sheet 2A Stamped 138
McGuire, Henry Head O 1000 M W 65 M 26 Ala US US Blacksmith Blacksmith Shop
McGuire, Mamie Wf F W 59 M 23 Mo Ill Ill

Henry married Anna Mary "Mamie" Kuykendall on 4 Dec 1893 in Lyndon, Osage County, Kansas. Anna (daughter of Franklin Kuykendall and Mary Jane Elliott) was born on 12 May 1870 in Missouri; died on 4 Sep 1934 in Camargo, Dewey County, Oklahoma; was buried on 5 Sep 1934 in Trail Cemetery, Dewey County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Hildred McGuire, the youngest of Mamie's six children read a draft of the McGuire family history that her nephew, Keith McGuire, Jr was compiling.

In May 1978 she wrote him "When I read your sketch of the McGuire family, it didn't seem just right for some reason, and after I thought it over for awhile, I realized why. You were only 2 yrs. old when THE one who made us a family passed away, and you never knew her at all."

"Mom [Anna Mary Mamie Kuykendall McGuire] was not an average person (I'm a lot like her) and very few people ever really knew her except her kids, but there's not one of us who ever failed to love her and respect her. It was from her that we learned to love; she never talked about it, she just demonstrated it.

So no history of the McGuire family could even begin without Mamie....I'm sorry to say that I hardly know our dad until I was a grown woman. He operated the blacksmith shop during the spring and summer and then was gone from home most of the balance of the year, working on various construction jobs around the country and in Canada. He figures in my recollections something like Santa Claus-he came to us on occasion and usually bought lovely gifts, but Mom was the one who saw to our basic needs (and sometimes his as well!). It never occurred to me 'til years later how it happened that we got up on Sunday morning and our long-johns were freshly laundered (after our weekly bath the night before) and mended and ready to go. It must have taken quite awhile to wash and mend four sets.....maybe that's why Mom was later unable to sleep more than 3-5 hours a night! When she was old, she lost her sight, and couldn't read, and she nearly killed me keeping me from my '8 hours' to play bridge with her---because she was unable to sleep. ha!

In a follow up letter, in July 1979, she added "you didn't mention the divorce and I'm sure you must have heard somewhere that our parents were divorced in 1921. They later remarried (about 1925) but never were compatible and lived apart for the rest of their lives. This deep difference seems to have been present all during their married lives and was the cause of a lot of pain and suffering for both of them, but more for Mom than Dad. Men always have been able to find an antidote for their pains better than women and it was more so in the past than in the present----Mom spent her life like a mother bird without a mate.

Dad meant well and he never understood where he failed. He worked hard and long but he took no responsiblity for the nitty-gritty day-to-day needs of his family. His head was in the clouds with dreams of things 'way to too big for his ability to accomplish. He built buildings and thought up fancy names for the business he envisioned, but it was Mom who did the dirty work and kept on doing it after Dad gave up and turned to something else, because somebody had to keep the family going...

She tried to feed and clothe the family and finance Dad's operations from the the income from the store and she ended up with unpaid bills from merchandise ordered from the wholesale houses. She paid off hundreds of dollars after the store was closed following the divorce. Dad went off to a new life (chasing a married woman) and wouldn't even help support his minor children except when the woman learned of it and made him send us a few bucks. I think dad loved us, but he just didn't understand that he owed us anything. So I would like you to change "he operated the store in Trail" (to) he built the building but had nothing to do with the operation.....he borrowed $500 from a lawyer and gave the building as collateral....(causing Mom to borrow that amount from a relative to gain back the title to the building) which she held until her death. When her estate was settled, we opted to give it to Dad, and that's how it usually worked out. Mom sacrificed and went without things in order to pay the $500, Dad spent his money on women and ended up with the benefits of her sweat!

Mom was very young (about 4-5 yrs. old) when her mother died and her father remarried. She didn't like her stepmother and she left home when she was quite young and worked as a domestic in the homes of wealthy people. I don't know the extent of her formal education but probably 8th grade.

She was a tremendously capable person and had an inquiring active mind. She was way ahead of her time, and this is why she seemed strange to many people. She practiced religious and health ideas that are only recently becoming popular. [Note: her Death certificate shows she was attended to by a Christian Science practioner for the two years prior to her death].

She taught the first school on Red Creek, when Percy and Cecil were probably both to small to attend. I think she said she took them with her because she didn't have anyone to care from them in her absence.

She had a good voice and studied music (organ) when they were little but she said she had to give it up because it interfered with her family duties. (Percy poked several beans up his noise and nearly suffocated while she was having a lesson, so she never had another....and the organ was sold following her divorce).

The short story [written by Hildred] that I mentioned dealt with an incident concerning the store....it was so tantalizing to see all the goodies (which other people bought and we could not afford). Sometimes if something didn't sell we'd get it. [The story was about] some rubber balloons with different designs on them..we finally got....mine got away and I chased it 'till I was exhausted and finally it burst. I came back out of breath and heart and Mom was standing in the door with what looked like the one I had lost. She pretended that she'd found it---this is how she was---she didn't try to protect us from all pain and disappointment, but she knew when we were overwhelmed by events in our lives and and came to our rescue when it would have been disastrous if she had not. I think I would have been unable to believe in anything if I'd lost that small thing that day. I believe there is a Power operationg for good and that it uses us to carry out It's work, if we are loving, caring individuals

(Medical):In failing health for two years prior to death, caused by stomach trouble. Attended to by Mrs. Monroe, a Christian Science practioner.

Notes:

Married:
It appears that they were seperated as of the publication of HISTORY OF THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY SINCE ITS SETTLEMENT IN DUTCH NEW YORK as she was listed as living in Osage City, Kansas and her husband and children were shown as living in Trail, Oklahoma.

They reunited when both lived in Illinois during the 1930's, but had separated again prior to her death.