Pioneer of the Valley Dies at 80
William McGuire, a Civil War veteran and longtime Hover resident, leaves behind a sprawling family legacy of 59 descendants.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
William McGuire, one of the pioneers of the valley, died Saturday morning at his home at Hover. Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon at the family home with Rev. Burris, of Finley, in charge. Interment was in the Kennewick cemetery. Mr. McGuire, who was born April 15, 1837, at Sweet Water, Tennessee, was past eighty years of age and death was due to old age and followed an illness of three months. He was married in 1856 to Mary Foshy, who died in 1879. Seven children were born to this union. In 1881 Mr. McGuire remarried, his second wife being Mary Elizabeth Maxwell, who was at his bedside at the time of his death. To this union also were born seven children. Mr. McGuire came west in 1888 and settled in the Palouse country where he lived until 1906 when he came to Hover. All of Mr. McGuire’s children are still living and there are 44 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. He was a veteran of the Civil War and a member of the Methodist church.
“All of Mr. McGuire’s children are still living and there are 44 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.”
Hover, once a distinct agricultural community along the Columbia River, has largely faded from the modern map, though the legacy of early 20th-century homesteaders remains embedded in the region's agricultural roots. Obituaries from this era frequently served as the primary record for local genealogy, preserving the stories of the westward expansion.
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