Samuel Maguire
SAMUEL MAGUIRE, retired miner, has been a resident of Mahoning township Armstrong county, since 1875, and was engaged in mining until 1902. He is a native of Westmoreland county, born Feb. 29, 1840, and both his grandfathers were pioneers of that county. Barney Maguire, his paternal grandfather was born in County Derry, Ireland, was a soldier on the Colonial side in the Revolutiolnary war and afterward was engaged in packing salt across the mountains. Though he made enough to pay for two thousand acres of land in Westmoreland, Pa., he died poor. Robert Maguire, son of Barney, was born in Westmoreland county, and lived and died there. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812. By occupation he was a carpenter. He married Mary Oster, daughter of George Oster and of German descent, and to them were born eleven children, eight of whom reached manhood and womanhood: Jane, who married Adam Daugherty; George; John; Robert; William; Edward; James and Samuel. All the sons but William served in the Union army during the Civil war, and Robert was killed while in the service at the battle of Gaine's Mill. The other (sic) lived to return home.
Samuel Maguire was reared in Westoreland county. His first work was as driver on the old Pennsylvania canal; and later he was a pilot. When he came to Armstrong county, in 1859, he located at Freeport, where he found employment as a miner, being thus engaged until the breaking out of the Civil war. On April 27, 1861, he enlisted, becoming a member of Company G, 11th Pennsylvania Reserves, under Capt. (later Gen'l) S.M. Jackson. This command, known as the "Apollo Blues," was attached to the 5th Army Corps., and was under fire at Mechanicsville, Va., and at Gaine's Mill, June 27, 1862 where Mr. Maguire was shot in the left lung and captured. He was sent to Libby prison and after a month's confinement there was paroled and sent to Annapolis, Md., where he rejoined his regiment in November 1862. He subsequently took part in the battles of Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness, where he was wounded in the left leg May 6, 1864, so severely that amputation was necessary. He received his honorable discharge at Washington D.C. March 16, 1865, after nine months confinement in the Judiciary hospital in that city.Upon his return to Pennsylvania at the close of his army service, Mr. Maguire again began coal mining, in Indiana county, and later was similarly employed at Irwin, Westmoreland county. In 1875, he came to Mahoning township, Armstrong county, where he has since resided, and he followied mining here until his retirement in 1902. He has led an industrious, upright life, and is highly esteemed in the locality. For one term he held the office of justice of the peace. He is a Republican in political connection.
In 1868, Mr. Maguire married Sarah McClain, daughter of Daniel and Sarah (McWhorter) McClain, of Mahoning township, and twelve children have been born to them, ten of whom have attained maturity, namely: Eleanor wife of William Bowes; Charles; Harry W. and Walter, twins; Ida, deceased; Homer; Rose; deceased; Owen and Minnie, twins, the later the wife of Harry Loder; and Clyde, deceased.
Source: Pages 853-854, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed September 2001 by Janet Miller for the Armstrong County Beers Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format, for any presentation, without prior written permission.Return to the Beers Project
Return to the Armstrong County Genealogy Project
Return to the Armstrong County Genealogy Project
Return to the Armstrong County Genealogy Project