Michael McGuire was the first McGuire to settle in Barber County. Michael was
  born September 4, 1824, near Sweetwater, Tennessee. He was the fourth child of
  Josiah and Sarah (McManus) McGuire's twelve children. He received his education
  in a log cabin schoolhouse that had benches to sit on. He went barefoot until
  almost grown. He was over six feet tall. He had the "strenght of an ox". He
  thought it was fun to do two men's work in a day.
     He was married at the age of twenty-one to Lucinda Edwards. He worked with
  his father-in-law repairing wagons.
     Not being in sympathy with political views of the south, Michael and Lucinda,
  with thier four children, migrated by wagon to south eastern Iowa in the spring
  of 1852. Here Michael engaged in farming. In 1868 his wife, Lucinda, passed away.
  For eight years Michael remained a widower.
     Michael's boys often engaged in corn shucking contests. Bill, Joe, Jim, Tom,
  and Abe would get into a field so early they had to carry a light. Bill said
  corn flew so fast that ears were in the air all the time. They would bring
  wagons before sun-up. Jim, Tom and Abe could shuck a load in an hour. Corn was
  a major crop of Iowa then.
     In 1876 Michael married Belle McCulley. In 1882 he took his wife, Bell, and
  their two children, George and Olive, to Kansas. In May he bought a farm and
  settled in Sharon, Kansas. Two of Michael's sons by his first wife and their
  families followed Michael to Sharon.
     In 1892 Michael and Belle, with son Jim and wife, Lizzie, and son Tom and
  wife, Nan, organized and were charter members of Central View Church of God.
  This property is now owned by Homer McGuire, grandson of Tom and great grandson
  of Michael.
     Michael remained active to the last year of his life. When he was eight years
  old, he went out with several of his sons and neighbors to measure a field. He
  insisted on taking his turn carrying the chain. Later, after an illness of
  several months, Michael McGuire died August 2, 1905. He is buried in the Sharon
  Cemetery.
               
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 302 
     Submitted by: Vivian McGuire