Alexander McGuffey

Alexander McGuffey (November 22, 1767 – March 1, 1855), was a Scottish American scout on the Ohio frontier during the Northwest Indian War. He was the father of William Holmes and Alexander Hamilton McGuffey, who edited the McGuffey Readers. Their mother Anna Holmes McGuffey provided their earliest education and ensured that they received a good formal education outside of their home.

Early years Alexander McGuffey was born on November 22, 1767, in Wigtownshire in the southwestern corner of Scotland. His parents were Ann McKittrick and William McGuffey. Nicknamed "Scotch Billy", his father was a farmer and a clobber, which could mean that he painted pottery to look like oriental ceramics or that he repaired shoes with glue. When McGuffey was five or six years old, his family immigrated to Colonial America. They landed in Philadelphia in August 1774 and then established a farm in York County, Pennsylvania.

On May 27, 1779, McGuffey joined the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). More than half of the soldiers were believed to have been Scottish-Irish men, who had a "deep seated hatred of the British".

During William's absence, the family continued to farm the land and they opened and operated a tavern. George Washington and his officers visited the tavern several times during the war. McGuffey was used to seeing soldiers and he learned about the war by listening to conversations amongst the tavern's patrons. At the end of the war, William McGuffey returned to run the farm. He also managed the tavern and he began cobbling shoes.

In 1789, the McGuffey family set off on the Cumberland Road, likely in Conestoga wagons, for western Pennsylvania, which had just been opened for settlement. Williams's 18-year-old daughter Elizabeth died and was buried along the trail. McGuffey and his 21-year-old sister Catherine completed the journey with their parents to Washington County, Pennsylvania. The family ran a farm in Finley Township near Claysville. Land was cheap there and Scottish-Irish settlers were finding success as farmers and makers of iron and whiskey. Buffalo, deer, otter, beaver, small game, and turkeys were ample sources of food and animal furs. The McGuffeys identified themselves as Covenanters who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland. They were against drinking, slavery, and dancing. They were also against governmental and church regulations.

Scout

Native American tribes of the Northwestern Confederacy—including Ojibwas, Odawas, Potawatomis, Miamis, Delawares, Shawnees, and Senecas (originally of New York and Ontario)—raided settlements in Western Pennsylvania and throughout the Northwest Territory. Boats transporting freight from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati along the Ohio River were subject to attack.

In 1790, McGuffey and his best friend Duncan McArthur volunteered to be scouts at Fort Pitt, an American Army stronghold. Samuel Brady trained and tested their ability to hunt, shoot, run, and swim. They were also tested on their ability to spy on tribesmen and how they would manage confrontations with Native Americans. Both Duncan and McGuffey were accepted and sent out on military expeditions. They were outfitted in a homespun suit, buckskin leggings, and a jerkin, and they were given a tomahawk and a dirk. The tomahawk was used to cut trees to create a shelter and to cut their way through the forests of Ohio and Pennsylvania. (In 1928, the cabin was disassembled and moved to Henry Fords outdoor museum in Dearborn, Michigan, where it was put back together.) They bought a 160-acre farm in the village of Coitsville, Ohio, of the Connecticut Western Reserve, near and east of Youngstown. McGuffey sat on the local school board, was a "house appraiser", and was a "lister of property". Anna homeschooled their children. During the winter, William and Jane boarded and attended Rev. William Wick's school in Youngstown, about five miles from their house. They studied there until Wick's death in 1814.

William began teaching at the age of 14 and between teaching positions, he studied at Old Stone Academy in Darlington, Pennsylvania, where Rev. Thomas Hughes was the headmaster. William then helped his much younger brother Alexander attain an education. Drake, who was 62 years of age at the time, founded the first medical college west of the Alleghenies. Like the McGuffeys, Daniel Drake and his parents had experienced struggles on the frontier, and Dan was sent to Cincinnati in 1800 to receive an education. He became a physician and lived in comfort. His and McGuffey's grandchildren lived a life of luxury and attended private schools.

Death and legacy McGuffey died on March 1, 1855, in Mercer County, Pennsylvania.

In 1847, Drake visited McGuffey and they talked about his days as a scout. Afterwards, Drake wrote a short biography of McGuffey's life. He shared the biography and his thoughts about his life with their shared grandchildren: