In Memoriam, John A. Guion, M.D., New Bern, N.C., 1819-1894
Dublin Core
Title
In Memoriam, John A. Guion, M.D., New Bern, N.C., 1819-1894
Subject
Guion, John A., 1819-1894
New Bern (N.C.)--History
Guion family
Physicians--North Carolina--New Bern
Description
Booklet detailing the history of the Guion family and giving a life story of Dr. John Amos Guion, of New Bern.
Creator
Daves, Graham, 1836-1902
Source
New Bern-Craven County Public Library
Publisher
Graham Daves
Date
1894
Rights
Public domain
Format
pdf / 8 pages
Language
English
Type
Pamphlets
Identifier
Pamphlet R NC B GUION
Coverage
New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
DIED
IN NEW BERN, N. C., ON WEDNESDAY, THE
14TH DAY OF MARCH, 1894,
JOHN AMOS GUION, M.D.,
IN THE 78TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.
So passed from among us into the rest of life eternal, a gentleman, upright, honorable and just, cultivated and accomplished, a citizen of usefulness, prominence and of good report, the last of a family of three brothers, and of three brothers and two sisters of the half blood, who reached the years of manhood and womanhood; a family of distinguished lineage, members of which have been eminent as citizens of New Bern, and elsewhere in North Carolina, for more than a century. It is a pathetic incident that the day of his death was also the 51st anniversary of the marriage of Dr. John A. Guion.
The first of the name of Guion, --which in time past was sometimes spelled GUYON,--of whom we have knowledge, was Louis Guion, a Huguenot refugee, who fled, with so many others of his faith, from La Rochelle in France, to escape persecution on account of religion, about the year 1674. La Rochelle was a stronghold and one of the chief cities of the Huguenots. Beautifully situated in the Southwest of France, its history,--especially during the time of the so-called religious wars in France, extending, with short intervals of peace, over a period of more than a hundred years, (1560-1685),--is full of interest. In the 17th Century the city was besieged by an army of the famous Cardinal Richelieu, and succumbed only after a most heroic defence by its inhabitants.
Louis Guion went first to England with his family, coming afterwards to America, where he arrived in 1687, and settled in New Rochelle, West Chester County, New York. New Rochelle, named in honor of the old home in France, was for many years the principal settlement of the Huguenots in our Northern States. It is the birth-place of many distinguished men,--among others of John Jay. at one time President of the Continental Congress, and the first Chief Justice of the United States under the Constitution.
Isaac Guion, son of Louis, is said to have been born during the voyage to America, but more probably was born at New Rochelle in 1692. He died at New Rochelle in 1766. His son Isaac (2nd) was born at New Rochelle in 1720 and died there in 1784. This Isaac had a son, also Isaac, the grandfather of Dr. John A. Guion, who was born in New Rochelle in March, 1740; he it was, the first of the name, who came to North Carolina, where he established himself in the practice of medicine.. He married Ferebe Pugh Williams, who was born at Fort Barnwell in Craven County, 26th of May, 1746. At the time of this marriage she was a widow, Mrs. Lee, and one of her daughters, Sallie Lee, became the wife of John Haywood, Treasurer of the State from 1787 to 1827. Sarah Lee Haywood died in February, 1791, and lies buried in the churchyard of Christ Church, New Bern, where was the main aisle of the old Church of Colonial days.
Isaac Guion settled first on White Oak River in Onslow County, from whence he removed with his wife to New Bern. By this marriage there were five children, of whom two, Isaac Lee and Elizabeth Pugh (Mrs. Francis Hawks) were born in Onslow County, and three were natives of New Bern, viz. Ann Maria (Mrs. Hugh Jones); John Williams, the father of Dr. John A. Guion; and Margaret Sarah (Mrs. Andrew Scott).
Isaac Guion with Edward Starkey, and others, represented the County of Onslow in the Provincial Congress that met in Hillsboro, the 21st of August, 1775. This Congress made active preparation for the war of the Revolution, then just at its beginning, and organized the first Continental troops of the North Carolina Line, to the 1st Regiment of which (Col. James Moore) Isaac Guion was appointed Surgeon, his commission bearing date 1st September, 1775. On the 11th of December, 1776, he was appointed Commissary of the 9th Regiment of Continentals,--of which his relative, John Pugh Williams, was Colonel, and in March, 1777, he was transferred to the 7th Regiment, (Col. James Hogun,) as Paymaster, in which capacity he served until July, 1778, when the regiments of the North Carolina Line were reduced in number and consolidated. It is worthy of note that his cousin of the same name, Isaac Guion of the New Rochelle family, also served as a Continental officer, having been in the New York Line throughout the war of our Revolution, and afterwards in the United States army.
The Provincial Congress of August, 1775, of which Isaac Guion was a member, was a very able body, and one that legislated wisely and well in very troublous times. Against it Gov. Josiah Martin, from his safe retreat on board the man-of-war “Cruizer”, in the Cape Fear River, fulminated his wrathful proclamation of August 8th, 1775, in which he forbade the assembling of the Congress, and denounced it as “one of the black artifices of falsehood and sedition.” The Congress returned the compliment by ordering the document to be burned by the public hangman, styling it “a false, scurrilous, malicious and seditious libel.”
Gov. Martin was much exercised, too, about this time, on account of the actions of the citizens of New Bern, and in the same proclamation complains of “treasonable proceedings, of an infamous Committee at New Bern, at the head of a body of armed men, in seizing and carrying off six pieces of artillery, the property of the King, that lay behind the Palace at that place, repeated insults and violences offered to His Majesty's Subjects, by these little tyrannical and Arbitrary Combinations.”
Towards the end of the Revolution Isaac Guion settled in New Bern. In 1789, by Act of Assembly, he was appointed a Vestryman--Church warden as he is called in the Act (Chap. 32)--of Christ Church, with Richard Dobbs Spaight, Major John Daves and six others, and in the years 1793 and 1795 he represented the town,--then entitled to borough representation,--in the General Assembly.
In May, 1803, Isaac Guion died, in the 64th year of his age,--his wife, Ferebe, surviving him until February l0th, 1811, when she died in her 65th year.
John Williams Guion, father of Dr. John A. Guion, was born in New Bern the 14th February, 1783. On the 15th December, 1811, he married in New Bern, Mary Wade, born in Craven County, l0th June, 1790,--daughter of Captain Amos Wade and Hannah Shine, his wife. Mrs. Mary Wade Guion died December 12th, 1818, at the early age of 28. She was a woman of great piety and abounding in good works. It is a fact of interest in connection with her funeral, though then not unusual, that her pall-bearers were of both sexes: Stephen B. Forbes and wife, John Coart and wife, Wm. Taylor and wife, Wm. Hollister and wife, Mrs. Benners Vail and Mrs. Green Bryan. So at the funeral of Mrs. Mary McKinlay, as late as October, 1840, the pall-bearers were Mrs. Vail, Mrs. Snead, Mrs. Backus, Mrs. Blount, Mrs. Custis and Mrs. Coart.
On the 23rd of July, 1820, John Williams Guion married a second wife, Mary Tilman of Craven County, who was born 23rd July, 1787, and died in New Bern, l0th June, 1856, outliving her husband, who died 17th July, 1840.
For many years John Williams Guion was prominent in business circles in New Bern, and as a Bank officer. Three children of his first marriage attained years of maturity, viz: Haywood Williams, who was born in New Bern, 9th June, 1814, and died in Charlotte, N.C., 19th July, 1876; John Amos, the subject of this sketch, born in New Bern the 22nd September, 1816, and died as above stated; and Isaac, born in New Bern, 19th October, 1818, where he died April 30th, 1845. Of his second marriage five children were born to John Williams Guion,--Tilman Henry, Ferebe Eliza (Mrs. John Justice), Mary Jane, Benjamin Simmons, and Alexander Henderson, all of whom are now (March, 1894), dead,--the last two, Colonel Tilman Henry Guion, and Benjamin Simmons Guion, having died on the 22nd of January, 1876, and the 9th of November, 1893, respectively.
The childhood and youth of John A. Guion were passed in New Bern, his early education having been at the New Bern Academy tinder the tuition of Alonzo Attmore, to whom, and to his famous “Lancastrian” system, so many owed their thorough training. It is a common remark that it was the exception to find among Mr. Attmore’s pupils one who was not well versed in all studies pursued, especially in the accomplishment of correct spelling.
At the age of 16 John A. Guion went to Tripoli as Private Secretary to D. S. McCauley, who was Consul there of the United States. There he was stationed for about two years in the discharge of the duties of his position, and on his return to this country, having determined to devote himself to the study of medicine, he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Philadelphia, where, in 1837, he was graduated with distinction, and shortly after, when he was but 21 years of age, he was awarded, after a rigid competitive examination, the position of Assistant Surgeon in the United States Navy, a position he filled most acceptably until 1843, when he resigned to return to his native town to practice his profession. Dr. Guion improved to the utmost the unusual opportunities and advantages afforded by his residence in the Mediterranean Ports, and by his various cruises made while in the Navy. To other acquirements, he added that of an accomplished linguist. Besides the European languages, he became quite fluent in Arabic, a language soft and musical as spoken by him.
On the 14th of March, 1843, John A. Guion married Susan Sydney, born 24th July, 1823, oldest daughter of John M. Roberts of New Bern, and Mary E. Jones, his wife, a lady eminent for good deeds, of exemplary piety, zeal and earnestness, who was much beloved, and to her husband a helpmeet indeed. Mrs. Guion died in New Bern the 26th, of February, 1880, in the 57th year of her age. Of this marriage seven children, four sons and three daughters, survived their parents, five of whom still live in New Bern. Another son attained the age of manhood but died before his father.
A few years after his marriage Dr. Guion, in partnership with the late Edward R. Stanly, established a factory in New Bern, on the present site of the passenger station of the Atlantic & North Carolina R.R., for the manufacture of woollen cloth. This, about 1855, was converted into a cotton mill, and was afterwards transferred to East Front Street to about where the Fertilizer Factory now stands. Here he remained until 1859, when he was appointed Cashier of the Bank of Commerce, then just established in New Bern, a position held by him during the existence of that institution. In charge of the effects of the bank,--he went,in 1862, when New Bern was occupied by the Federal forces, to Burlington. N.C., then called Company’s Shops, where he lived during the continuance of the late war. Returning to New Bern at the close of the war, he resumed the banking business in partnership with the late Israel Disosway, in which he continued until 1869, when he accepted an appointment as Cashier of the National Bank of New Bern, a corporation to which his experience and able management contributed greatly to rescue from financial embarrassments. As, cashier he continued to serve until August l0th, 1886, when he was disabled by a paralytic stroke, and shortly after resigned. In process of time Dr. Guion recovered in great measure from this severe attack, but was never fully restored to his accustomed robust health. Thereafter he lived a retired life, confining himself for the most part to his home circle. In active business he mingled but little, except so far as required by his duties as Commissioner of the Sinking Fund of Craven County, and Trustee of the New Bern Academy, which he continued to discharge up to the time of his death. For many years he was a Vestryman of Christ Church, as his father and grandfather had been before him, and in 1871 when the church building was burned, he was active and efficient in aiding to procure means for its rebuilding. He took great pleasure in gardening, in which he was an adept and very successful. The writer of this remembers to have heard him say many years ago, --long before the era of truck-farming hereabouts,--that early cabbage, which many then said could not be made to “head” in this latitude, could be profitably grown here, and the experience of our truck-farmers of late years abundantly verifies the correctness of his statement.
At the last Fair of our Fish, Game and Oyster Association, held in February, 1894, Dr. Guion was a frequent and an interested attendant. Probably his last official act was, as chairman of the judges, to award the prizes in the department of Archaeology at that Fair; and in that capacity, as in every other, he left the pleasant impress upon those with whom he was brought in contact, of his excellent judgment, his great consideration and unfailing courtesy. It was the privilege of the writer to be associated with him there, and he little thought that so soon would pass peacefully to his rest this warm friend, wise counsellor and honored citizen.
“He will move onward to the eternal hills,
His foot unwearied, and his strength renewed,
Like the strong eagle’s for the upward flight.”
GRAHAM DAVES.
NEW BERN, N.C.
IN NEW BERN, N. C., ON WEDNESDAY, THE
14TH DAY OF MARCH, 1894,
JOHN AMOS GUION, M.D.,
IN THE 78TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.
So passed from among us into the rest of life eternal, a gentleman, upright, honorable and just, cultivated and accomplished, a citizen of usefulness, prominence and of good report, the last of a family of three brothers, and of three brothers and two sisters of the half blood, who reached the years of manhood and womanhood; a family of distinguished lineage, members of which have been eminent as citizens of New Bern, and elsewhere in North Carolina, for more than a century. It is a pathetic incident that the day of his death was also the 51st anniversary of the marriage of Dr. John A. Guion.
The first of the name of Guion, --which in time past was sometimes spelled GUYON,--of whom we have knowledge, was Louis Guion, a Huguenot refugee, who fled, with so many others of his faith, from La Rochelle in France, to escape persecution on account of religion, about the year 1674. La Rochelle was a stronghold and one of the chief cities of the Huguenots. Beautifully situated in the Southwest of France, its history,--especially during the time of the so-called religious wars in France, extending, with short intervals of peace, over a period of more than a hundred years, (1560-1685),--is full of interest. In the 17th Century the city was besieged by an army of the famous Cardinal Richelieu, and succumbed only after a most heroic defence by its inhabitants.
Louis Guion went first to England with his family, coming afterwards to America, where he arrived in 1687, and settled in New Rochelle, West Chester County, New York. New Rochelle, named in honor of the old home in France, was for many years the principal settlement of the Huguenots in our Northern States. It is the birth-place of many distinguished men,--among others of John Jay. at one time President of the Continental Congress, and the first Chief Justice of the United States under the Constitution.
Isaac Guion, son of Louis, is said to have been born during the voyage to America, but more probably was born at New Rochelle in 1692. He died at New Rochelle in 1766. His son Isaac (2nd) was born at New Rochelle in 1720 and died there in 1784. This Isaac had a son, also Isaac, the grandfather of Dr. John A. Guion, who was born in New Rochelle in March, 1740; he it was, the first of the name, who came to North Carolina, where he established himself in the practice of medicine.. He married Ferebe Pugh Williams, who was born at Fort Barnwell in Craven County, 26th of May, 1746. At the time of this marriage she was a widow, Mrs. Lee, and one of her daughters, Sallie Lee, became the wife of John Haywood, Treasurer of the State from 1787 to 1827. Sarah Lee Haywood died in February, 1791, and lies buried in the churchyard of Christ Church, New Bern, where was the main aisle of the old Church of Colonial days.
Isaac Guion settled first on White Oak River in Onslow County, from whence he removed with his wife to New Bern. By this marriage there were five children, of whom two, Isaac Lee and Elizabeth Pugh (Mrs. Francis Hawks) were born in Onslow County, and three were natives of New Bern, viz. Ann Maria (Mrs. Hugh Jones); John Williams, the father of Dr. John A. Guion; and Margaret Sarah (Mrs. Andrew Scott).
Isaac Guion with Edward Starkey, and others, represented the County of Onslow in the Provincial Congress that met in Hillsboro, the 21st of August, 1775. This Congress made active preparation for the war of the Revolution, then just at its beginning, and organized the first Continental troops of the North Carolina Line, to the 1st Regiment of which (Col. James Moore) Isaac Guion was appointed Surgeon, his commission bearing date 1st September, 1775. On the 11th of December, 1776, he was appointed Commissary of the 9th Regiment of Continentals,--of which his relative, John Pugh Williams, was Colonel, and in March, 1777, he was transferred to the 7th Regiment, (Col. James Hogun,) as Paymaster, in which capacity he served until July, 1778, when the regiments of the North Carolina Line were reduced in number and consolidated. It is worthy of note that his cousin of the same name, Isaac Guion of the New Rochelle family, also served as a Continental officer, having been in the New York Line throughout the war of our Revolution, and afterwards in the United States army.
The Provincial Congress of August, 1775, of which Isaac Guion was a member, was a very able body, and one that legislated wisely and well in very troublous times. Against it Gov. Josiah Martin, from his safe retreat on board the man-of-war “Cruizer”, in the Cape Fear River, fulminated his wrathful proclamation of August 8th, 1775, in which he forbade the assembling of the Congress, and denounced it as “one of the black artifices of falsehood and sedition.” The Congress returned the compliment by ordering the document to be burned by the public hangman, styling it “a false, scurrilous, malicious and seditious libel.”
Gov. Martin was much exercised, too, about this time, on account of the actions of the citizens of New Bern, and in the same proclamation complains of “treasonable proceedings, of an infamous Committee at New Bern, at the head of a body of armed men, in seizing and carrying off six pieces of artillery, the property of the King, that lay behind the Palace at that place, repeated insults and violences offered to His Majesty's Subjects, by these little tyrannical and Arbitrary Combinations.”
Towards the end of the Revolution Isaac Guion settled in New Bern. In 1789, by Act of Assembly, he was appointed a Vestryman--Church warden as he is called in the Act (Chap. 32)--of Christ Church, with Richard Dobbs Spaight, Major John Daves and six others, and in the years 1793 and 1795 he represented the town,--then entitled to borough representation,--in the General Assembly.
In May, 1803, Isaac Guion died, in the 64th year of his age,--his wife, Ferebe, surviving him until February l0th, 1811, when she died in her 65th year.
John Williams Guion, father of Dr. John A. Guion, was born in New Bern the 14th February, 1783. On the 15th December, 1811, he married in New Bern, Mary Wade, born in Craven County, l0th June, 1790,--daughter of Captain Amos Wade and Hannah Shine, his wife. Mrs. Mary Wade Guion died December 12th, 1818, at the early age of 28. She was a woman of great piety and abounding in good works. It is a fact of interest in connection with her funeral, though then not unusual, that her pall-bearers were of both sexes: Stephen B. Forbes and wife, John Coart and wife, Wm. Taylor and wife, Wm. Hollister and wife, Mrs. Benners Vail and Mrs. Green Bryan. So at the funeral of Mrs. Mary McKinlay, as late as October, 1840, the pall-bearers were Mrs. Vail, Mrs. Snead, Mrs. Backus, Mrs. Blount, Mrs. Custis and Mrs. Coart.
On the 23rd of July, 1820, John Williams Guion married a second wife, Mary Tilman of Craven County, who was born 23rd July, 1787, and died in New Bern, l0th June, 1856, outliving her husband, who died 17th July, 1840.
For many years John Williams Guion was prominent in business circles in New Bern, and as a Bank officer. Three children of his first marriage attained years of maturity, viz: Haywood Williams, who was born in New Bern, 9th June, 1814, and died in Charlotte, N.C., 19th July, 1876; John Amos, the subject of this sketch, born in New Bern the 22nd September, 1816, and died as above stated; and Isaac, born in New Bern, 19th October, 1818, where he died April 30th, 1845. Of his second marriage five children were born to John Williams Guion,--Tilman Henry, Ferebe Eliza (Mrs. John Justice), Mary Jane, Benjamin Simmons, and Alexander Henderson, all of whom are now (March, 1894), dead,--the last two, Colonel Tilman Henry Guion, and Benjamin Simmons Guion, having died on the 22nd of January, 1876, and the 9th of November, 1893, respectively.
The childhood and youth of John A. Guion were passed in New Bern, his early education having been at the New Bern Academy tinder the tuition of Alonzo Attmore, to whom, and to his famous “Lancastrian” system, so many owed their thorough training. It is a common remark that it was the exception to find among Mr. Attmore’s pupils one who was not well versed in all studies pursued, especially in the accomplishment of correct spelling.
At the age of 16 John A. Guion went to Tripoli as Private Secretary to D. S. McCauley, who was Consul there of the United States. There he was stationed for about two years in the discharge of the duties of his position, and on his return to this country, having determined to devote himself to the study of medicine, he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Philadelphia, where, in 1837, he was graduated with distinction, and shortly after, when he was but 21 years of age, he was awarded, after a rigid competitive examination, the position of Assistant Surgeon in the United States Navy, a position he filled most acceptably until 1843, when he resigned to return to his native town to practice his profession. Dr. Guion improved to the utmost the unusual opportunities and advantages afforded by his residence in the Mediterranean Ports, and by his various cruises made while in the Navy. To other acquirements, he added that of an accomplished linguist. Besides the European languages, he became quite fluent in Arabic, a language soft and musical as spoken by him.
On the 14th of March, 1843, John A. Guion married Susan Sydney, born 24th July, 1823, oldest daughter of John M. Roberts of New Bern, and Mary E. Jones, his wife, a lady eminent for good deeds, of exemplary piety, zeal and earnestness, who was much beloved, and to her husband a helpmeet indeed. Mrs. Guion died in New Bern the 26th, of February, 1880, in the 57th year of her age. Of this marriage seven children, four sons and three daughters, survived their parents, five of whom still live in New Bern. Another son attained the age of manhood but died before his father.
A few years after his marriage Dr. Guion, in partnership with the late Edward R. Stanly, established a factory in New Bern, on the present site of the passenger station of the Atlantic & North Carolina R.R., for the manufacture of woollen cloth. This, about 1855, was converted into a cotton mill, and was afterwards transferred to East Front Street to about where the Fertilizer Factory now stands. Here he remained until 1859, when he was appointed Cashier of the Bank of Commerce, then just established in New Bern, a position held by him during the existence of that institution. In charge of the effects of the bank,--he went,in 1862, when New Bern was occupied by the Federal forces, to Burlington. N.C., then called Company’s Shops, where he lived during the continuance of the late war. Returning to New Bern at the close of the war, he resumed the banking business in partnership with the late Israel Disosway, in which he continued until 1869, when he accepted an appointment as Cashier of the National Bank of New Bern, a corporation to which his experience and able management contributed greatly to rescue from financial embarrassments. As, cashier he continued to serve until August l0th, 1886, when he was disabled by a paralytic stroke, and shortly after resigned. In process of time Dr. Guion recovered in great measure from this severe attack, but was never fully restored to his accustomed robust health. Thereafter he lived a retired life, confining himself for the most part to his home circle. In active business he mingled but little, except so far as required by his duties as Commissioner of the Sinking Fund of Craven County, and Trustee of the New Bern Academy, which he continued to discharge up to the time of his death. For many years he was a Vestryman of Christ Church, as his father and grandfather had been before him, and in 1871 when the church building was burned, he was active and efficient in aiding to procure means for its rebuilding. He took great pleasure in gardening, in which he was an adept and very successful. The writer of this remembers to have heard him say many years ago, --long before the era of truck-farming hereabouts,--that early cabbage, which many then said could not be made to “head” in this latitude, could be profitably grown here, and the experience of our truck-farmers of late years abundantly verifies the correctness of his statement.
At the last Fair of our Fish, Game and Oyster Association, held in February, 1894, Dr. Guion was a frequent and an interested attendant. Probably his last official act was, as chairman of the judges, to award the prizes in the department of Archaeology at that Fair; and in that capacity, as in every other, he left the pleasant impress upon those with whom he was brought in contact, of his excellent judgment, his great consideration and unfailing courtesy. It was the privilege of the writer to be associated with him there, and he little thought that so soon would pass peacefully to his rest this warm friend, wise counsellor and honored citizen.
“He will move onward to the eternal hills,
His foot unwearied, and his strength renewed,
Like the strong eagle’s for the upward flight.”
GRAHAM DAVES.
NEW BERN, N.C.
Original Format
Pamphlets
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Citation
Daves, Graham, 1836-1902, “In Memoriam, John A. Guion, M.D., New Bern, N.C., 1819-1894,” Craven County Digital History, accessed December 22, 2024, https://kellenberger.mycprl.org/digital/items/show/756.