Guardianship: The 19 September 1825 younger-child bond at Amherst Will Book 6, p. 620, names Sally, Laurence, Oliver, and Elizabeth under Elizabeth Guthrie’s guardianship. The 17 March 1828 reference is in Will Book 7, pp. 145–146. Nicholas’s 21 March 1832 bond for the same four younger siblings is in Will Book 8, p. 187; Nathan appears as a surety.

Marriage: The supplied tree records Oliver’s marriage to Frances J. F. Mead on 17 September 1842 and lists two Virginia marriage collections. The 1893 biography, Mead family history, and longer obituary give 20 September 1842. An original license, bond, and minister’s return could establish whether these refer to different stages of the marriage process or a copying error.

Chancery: The notice concerning rules held 5 October 1846 names Oliver among the defendants in the suit brought by William T. Campbell and Samuel H. Quarles. Oliver, Alfred Guthrie, John G. Wingfield, and Elizabeth his wife are explicitly described as nonresidents of Virginia. The notice does not state the dispute’s full subject or prove that it financed migration.

Read the 1846 chancery notice →

Additional family references: Amherst Will Book 7, pp. 187–190, November 1828 estate bonds; Franklin County Will Book 5, p. 178, January 1840 Wingfield estate division. The Library of Virginia guide lists Amherst Will Book 6 on reel 19, Books 7–8 on reel 20, and Chancery Orders No. 2 on reel 35. These are LVA reel numbers, not FamilySearch film numbers.

Chapman Bros., Portrait and Biographical Record of Lafayette and Saline Counties, Missouri (Chicago, 1893), pp. 245–247, presents Oliver’s life while he was still living. It describes his father’s Hanover origins and James River freight business, his mother’s Wingfield family, and fourteen children in his parents’ household. These are attributed family recollections; the grandfather’s identity, overseas origin, and father’s age at death require their own evidence.

The biography follows Oliver’s schools from Virginia to Mississippi, Alabama, and Missouri. It credits him with service at Mt. Horeb and with building a Presbyterian church at Harmony. The separate church list does not itself establish the date or identify the precise Harmony congregation involved; the reported 1869 date remains a research lead.

Chronology: The account’s early teaching intervals do not fit neatly together. It also says he taught at Miami for sixteen years from 1873 while giving 1884 as his classroom retirement year. His retirement from teaching and his later service as commissioner should be kept distinct. The February 1893 newspaper independently documents his decision not to run again.

The western trip: The biography describes a cattle-driving journey toward California, an injury, and the company’s dissolution at Santa Fe. Its reference to returning by “train” should not be expanded into a railroad journey. No source reviewed places his brother Lawrence in that party.

Open the 1893 volume at Internet Archive →

John Howard Mead and Mrs. H. Clay Rees, The Mead or Meade Family (Hampton, Virginia: Houston Printing and Publishing House, 1924), pp. 42–44, names all eight children and supplies valuable descendant details. The work began in 1873, was supplemented in 1921, and was published in 1924; 1873 is not the publication date of the text containing twentieth-century deaths. The linked 2017 reformat preserves the original page numbering.

Names and dates: The Mead history identifies Frances’s father as Stith Mead; the biography and Oliver’s obituary call him Stephen. Frances’s birth appears as 20 March 1820 in Mead and 30 March in the profile. Oliver’s obituary gives 27 September 1818 for his birth, whereas the profile gives 28 September. These differences remain visible pending original family or vital records.

Read the Mead family history, especially pp. 42–44 →

Sources: U.S. census extracts preserved in the family research and corresponding source references in the supplied tree. The 1850, 1860, and 1870 schedules did not record each resident’s relationship to the head. Full manuscript citations and the flagged ages, names, and birthplaces remain to be checked.

School Commissioner — Sweet Springs Herald, 2 March 1877, p. 3:

To Annual School Meetings:

OLIVER GUTHRIE is a candidate for re-election to the office of School Commissioner for the county of Saline, Mo.

View the candidacy notice →

Saline County Weekly Progress, 6 April 1877, p. 3:

Our old friend Oliver Guthrie of Miami, is County School Commissioner; at least the people said so last Tuesday.

View the election notice →

Chariton Courier, 3 February 1893, p. 4:

The Rev. Oliver Guthrie, who has been commissioner of public schools, in Saline, the last twenty years, has declined to be a candidate for re-election. Besides discharging the duties of commissioner, Mr. Guthrie, has been during the time one of the county’s most efficient educators.

View the 1893 notice →

Transcribed from the three archived clippings. Publication details are retained from their accompanying captions.

The St. Louis Republic, 20 September 1896 — “Rev. Oliver Guthrie.”

Special to The Republic.

Marshall, Mo., Sept. 19.—Another Saline County pioneer has gone. Rev. Oliver Guthrie, aged 78, died at his home here last night. He was one of the oldest teachers in the State and a professor of considerable note.

View the Republic notice →

The Saline County Citizen, 23 September 1896 — “Death of Rev. Oliver Guthrey.”

Rev. Oliver Guthrie, a well-known preacher of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, and for many years Superintendent of the Public Schools of Saline county, died at his home in this city, Friday night, at 10:15, at the age of 78 years. He was a man of the best and kindest disposition, and a worker in the moral and educational vineyard, who builded monuments to his virtue in the hearts and minds of the people. He passed away in the fullness of his term of years, and after living beyond the scriptural limit. He went bearing his sheaves with him, and peacefully fell asleep in the blessed hope of that immortality which he had preached for half a century.

View the Citizen notice →

The Slater News-Rustler, 25 September 1896 — “Rev. Oliver Guthrie.” The clipping credits the Democrat-News at its close.

After a week’s illness, Rev. Oliver Guthrie, aged 78, died at his home on Vest street, Friday, Sept. 18, 1896, at 10:30 p. m. He was one of the oldest minister of the gospel in the state, and was also one of the pioneer instructors, having commenced his teaching soon after his arrival in this state, which was about 1846, and prior to that had taught in his native state, Virginia, and also in Mississippi and Alabama. With an earnest purpose and happy method of instruction, he was eminently successful as a teacher, and many of the leading men and women of the seven states in which he taught, were pupils of his. His first teaching in Missouri was at Cambridge as principal of a boarding school. He was in charge of a similar institution at Monticello. In 1848 he established a female school at Lexington and one later at Westport.

In 1863 he, with his family returned to Saline under Ewing’s order. In 1873 he settled at Miami, and for 16 years taught there. About that time he was elected school commissioner of Saline county and held the office for twenty years.

After forty-five years of teaching, during which time he also preached with untiring devotion in the cause of the Master, he retired from active work as an [in]structor, and after the death of his wife, which occurred about seven years ago, he moved to Marshall.

The departed was born near Lynchburg, Va., Sept. 27, 1818, and was the son of Wm. Guthrie, of Hanover. He was married to Miss Frances J. Mead, daughter of Stephen Mead, of Virginia, Sept. 20, 1842. An elder sister, Miss Sallie Guthrie, aged 83, and four children survive the aged saint. The former has been a member of her brother’s household for several years and is remarkably well preserved for one of her age. The children are Mrs. Wm. Dolan, living in Cass county; Mesdames W. A. Marshall and M. F. Burnham and Miss Ida Guthrie, of this city. One week ago last Thursday Mr. Guthrie dined with his daughter, Mrs. W. A. Marshall, seemingly in his usual health, but that night after returning to his home was taken quite sick and said to his daughter, Mrs. Burnham, who was attending him that his work was done, adding at the same time that the way was clear. His daughters think that he realized from the moment he was taken ill that he would never get well. While the hearts of the bereaved ones are grieved and sore over the death of the loved one and the sympathy of their many friends are extended to them, the thought of his infinite gain should be a solace and comfort.

A good man has been called home to reap the reward of a life full of good words and deeds, and the influence of such a life will continue to live through the years to come.

The funeral took place from the C. P. church, of which deceased was a member, last Sunday at 2:00 p. m., conducted by Rev. E. E. Morris, Burial at Ridge Park.—Democrat-News.

View the complete two-column obituary →

Comparison: The notices agree on the September 1896 death; 1898 is a transcription error in the earlier timeline. They differ on the time, 10:15 versus 10:30 p.m. The reported age of seventy-eight is approximate: a late-September 1818 birthday had not yet occurred. The longer obituary’s birth day and marriage date are retained as source variants.

The Mead history gives William’s birth as 27 July 1845 in Amherst County and his death as 6 February 1869 at New Frankfort, Saline County. The 1850 and 1860 extracts, ages six and sixteen, suggest about 1844; his exact birth year needs comparison with the original schedules and cemetery record.

Both the 1893 biography and Mead history describe a shooting while he stood in his father’s yard in Cass County during the Civil War. The biography attributes the shooting to Montgomery’s men of the Kansas Fifth Regiment; Mead calls the assailants Kansas Jayhawkers. These are the published family accounts, not a newly verified military incident report. Both connect his later death to the wound.

Mead states that he died unmarried. No children have been identified. The 1889 death year previously attached to his heading conflicts with the source’s explicit 1869 date and has been corrected.

Sources: Chapman Bros., pp. 246–247; Mead, p. 42; retained census extracts. The compilation’s broad partisan judgments are not adopted as an explanation of every person’s motives.

Annie Elizabeth Huntington Guthrie, also called Anna, married William Dolan on 10 October 1865. Both spouses’ obituaries give that date, correcting the Mead history’s 1855. Annie’s obituary gives 18 November 1844 for her birth; Mead gives 18 November 1846. The difference remains unresolved.

Annie’s obituary — Cass County Democrat-Missourian, 1 April 1920:

MRS. WILLIAM DOLAN.
1844–1920.

Annie E. Dolan, daughter of Olive and Frances Guthrie, was born near Lynchburg, Va., November 18, 1844. Some time afterwards, her parents moved to Missouri, where she married William Dolan on October 10, 1865. To this union, eight children were born, as follows: Lee, Frank, Walter, Eugene, Cora, Maude, Clyde and Ivy, three of whom preceded her to that “bourne, from whence no traveler returns.” She is survived by her husband, three sons and two daughters.

Early in life, Annie Guthrie joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and was a loyal and faithful member for more than 60 years, attending its services, as long as her health would permit. She was a woman of innate refinement, possessed of a cultured mind, high ideals and keen perceptions, and her sweet and gracious personality enriched all with whom she came in contact.

Like Dorcas of old, she looked well to the ways of her household. Her home was her world, and she devoted the best of her life to her family, as a true mother should. Although closely occupied with her home duties, her neighbors and friends were always sure of her kindly and ready sympathy. After many years of invalidism, her spirit was, at last, set free, and now awaits the coming of her loved ones on the Other Shore.

Her death occurred on Monday, March 22, 1920, and her body was laid to rest in the old Freeman Cemetery on the following day, Tuesday, March 23, 1920.—A FRIEND.

Card of Thanks.

We wish to thank our friends and neighbors for their kindness in our recent bereavement in the death of our beloved wife and mother, Mrs. William Dolan.

WILLIAM DOLAN and FAMILY,
Freeman, Mo.

“Olive” is retained as printed for her father’s name.

View Annie’s obituary and card of thanks →

William’s obituary — Cass County Democrat-Missourian, 4 November 1920:

WILLIAM DOLAN.
1836–1820.

William Dolan, the eldest son of James and Harriet Dolan, was born September 16, 1836, at Rose Hill, Mo., and died on October 27, at Freeman, Mo.

On October 10, 1865, he was married to Annie E. Guthrie, and to this union were born eight children, as follows: Lee, Frank, Walter, Eugene, Cora, Maud, Clyde and Ivy, three of whom, Lee, Frank and Cora, preceded him to the home beyond. He is survived by two brothers, J. M. Dolan, of Garden City, Kans., and T. A. Dolan, of Rocky Ford, Colo.

He was converted at the age of 18 and joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and in this denomination he served faithfully as an elder for more than 60 years.

Always gentle, kind, quiet and unassuming, he was, for more than 50 years, a familiar figure in our little town of Freeman, being as a merchant, closely identified with its history from the beginning.

Funeral services were held at his late residence, being conducted by his late pastor, the Rev. C. P. Wimberly, on October 29, 1920, after which his body was laid to rest beside that of his beloved wife, who had preceded him several months before.—A FRIEND.

The heading’s “1820” is a printed error; the funeral date and publication establish 1920. The wording “late pastor” is preserved without interpreting it.

View William’s obituary →

Mead, p. 43, supplies the eight-child list and early dates. Later deaths, marriages, and descendant statements above are retained research leads. Their linked obituary images were not available for a new transcription in this update; they are not represented as newly verified records. A foster relationship should be kept distinct from a biological descent claim.

Mead, p. 43, reports that Lucy Virginia was born at Lexington, Lafayette County, Missouri, in 1848 and died at eighteen months. That places her death approximately in 1849–1850, depending on her birth month. The 1893 biography also remembers Lucy as a child who died in Lexington.

No exact death date or burial entry has been established from the reviewed materials. She is not listed in the retained 1850 household.

Mary Frances was born at Lexington on 20 February 1850, according to Mead, p. 43. She appears as Mary O. in the retained 1850 extract and as Mary F. in later records. The 1880 census identifies her as a schoolteacher.

She married Albert C. Burnham, a Virginian whose death Mead dates to 16 June 1894 at Marshall, aged sixty-four. No marriage date or children of this couple have been established in the reviewed materials. The compilation also identifies Albert as the widower of Frances Mead’s sister Anna Eliza; that earlier marriage belongs to the Mead family context.

Oliver’s obituary identifies Mary as a daughter caring for him in his final illness. Ida later lived and died at Mary’s home on East Vest Street. The retained 1900 research also places aunt Sallie Guthrie with Mary and Ida in Marshall.

Mary’s death year of 1925 is retained from the research profile. The Mead compilation describes her as the last living member of her immediate family when its account was prepared; an original death or cemetery record is still needed for her exact date.

Sources: Mead, pp. 43 and 45; 1880 census extract; Oliver’s 1896 obituary; retained Ida obituary text and family research.

Mead gives 28 February 1852, Westport, Missouri, for Charles Anthon’s birth. The 1880 extract lists C. A. Guthrey, twenty-eight, single, a bookseller. The 1893 biography reports that Charles was then in an institution at Nevada, Missouri.

The 1870 extract instead lists James Guthrie, eighteen. The working family tree combines “Charles Anthon James,” but the materials reviewed do not establish James as an additional given name. Charles remains one of the eight children; the original 1870 schedule and other records should resolve whether James is a naming or transcription variation.

Death notice — Saline County Citizen, captioned 13 November 1895:

Charles A. Guthrie died at the residence of his father, Rev. Oliver Guthrie, Saturday at 8 p. m., aged 42 years. He had brain trouble from sunstroke, and after recovering from that was attacked by consumption. He was intended for the ministry of which his father is one of the veteran representatives, and would have made a bright preacher but for his misfortune. He was buried at 3:30 p. m. Sunday at Ridge Park, Rev. E. E. Morris officiating.

View Charles’s death notice →

Date comparison: If the captioned Wednesday, 13 November 1895 issue is correct, the preceding Saturday was 9 November. Mead gives 19 November 1895. The notice’s age forty-two also differs from the age implied by the compiled 1852 birth. Keep November 1895 while the full issue and cemetery entry are checked.

Historical descriptions of illness are quoted as printed; they do not establish a modern medical diagnosis. No spouse or children have been identified.

Mead, p. 44, gives Walter’s birth as 22 January 1855 at Westport and says only that he died while still a young man. The 1880 census extract lists him as a single, twenty-five-year-old son engaged in farming.

The 1893 biography calls him deceased. His death therefore falls after his 1880 enumeration and before preparation of that biography. The profile’s 1880 death year is not established by the evidence reviewed; an exact date should await a cemetery, obituary, or estate record.

No spouse or children have been identified. The repeated age eight for Charles and Walter in the retained 1860 extract should be checked against the original census rather than interpreted as evidence that they were twins.

Prudence Olivia, also called Ollie, married William Addison Marshall in 1882, according to Mead, p. 44. The compilation gives her birth as 12 May 1857 at Morristown, Cass County, but also gives age fifty-nine at death on 29 October 1918 in Kansas City, implying about 1858–1859. The research tree uses 1858. These dates are not fully reconciled.

Mead describes William Addison Marshall as a Kentuckian and reports his death in Callaway County at sixty-one, without supplying an exact date. Oliver’s obituary places their daughter-family connection in Marshall in 1896.

The later obituary images linked for James and Marion were not available for fresh transcription. Their later dates and descendant statements remain attributed to the retained family research. Prudence’s Missouri death certificate and cemetery record are priority sources for resolving her birth.

Mead, p. 44, gives Ida’s birth as 12 October 1860 at Morristown, her death as 20 March 1908 at Marshall, and burial in Ridge Park Cemetery. It states that she never married. The following obituary passage was preserved in the family research:

Miss Ida M. Guthrie passed peacefully to the world beyond last Thursday night after a long illness of neurosis, aged 47 years. She had been a patient sufferer for three years at the home of her sister, Mrs. Mary Burnham, on East Vest Street, and although she never expected to get well, she bore her misfortune without complaint. Funeral services were held at the residence at 10 am Sunday conducted by Rev. J.Q. Partee.

Source status: This is the retained obituary transcription, not a new reading of an original clipping. The newspaper title, issue date, and page were not supplied with it. The reference to Thursday night should be checked against the book’s Friday, 20 March 1908 before fixing an exact death day.

No children have been identified. A complete issue image would preserve the rest of the notice and permit verification of the historical illness wording, funeral details, and date.

The retained Ancestry reference identifies an entry indexed as Oliver Guthin, associated with Marshall, Saline County, and a will reportedly written 2 May 1891. The supplied tree assigns 12 May 1919 to probate.

The will image, its endorsement, and surrounding book entries have not been examined for this update. A later probate or recording is possible, but the 1919 date should not be treated as established without checking the person, date field, volume, and original page. No beneficiaries or distributions are inferred from the index alone.

Open the retained will image reference →

Collection: Missouri, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1766–1988. The image identifier is a source locator, not a verified probate date.

The wider family’s GFG1A connection is supported by John William Guthrie’s line, with its GFG1A modal Y-DNA and matching Augusta County, Virginia locations. No DNA participation through Oliver and Frances’s children is established in the records supplied for this page.

A dash means no participation is documented here, not a negative test result. No descendants have been identified for William, Charles, Walter, Mary, or Ida. Guthrie Y-DNA and Big-Y follow an unbroken paternal line; descendants through daughters may contribute autosomal evidence, but do not inherit Oliver’s Y chromosome through those daughters.

Learn about the Guthrie DNA Project →