Paul Rainey McLaughlin, M.D.
Through a period of fifteen years Doctor McLaughlin has given his very best talent and experience to the practice of medicine and surgery in the community of Guysville in Athens County. However, for more than two years he was absent from his home community in army service, coming out of the army at the close of the World war with the rank of major in the Medical Corps.
Doctor McLaughlin was born on a farm at Shreve, Wayne County, Ohio, May 20, 1883. His parents, J. W. and Minerva (Rainey) McLaughlin, still live at the old homestead in Wayne County, his father aged sixty-nine and his mother, sixty-six. His father for years has been known as one of the successful and progressive men in the agricultural community of his county. He is a republican. There are two sons, Dr. Paul R. and Ralph. The latter has worked his way from lineman to chief clerk in the Chicago offices of the Western Union Telegraph Company.
Paul Rainey McLaughlin was reared in a country community, attended country schools, also high school, and finished his literacy education in Wooster University. He graduated in 1904 from the pharmacy department of Ohio Northern University, and subsequently entered the medical department of Ohio State University, from which he received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1909. Soon after graduating he located at Guysville in Athens County, and has made and sustained an enviable record as a professional man. He spent fourteen years in the Ohio National Guard, becoming a member of the Fourth Infantry in 1904, and in 1909 he was made first lieutenant of the Medical Corps and captain in 1912. In 1916 he went out with the troops sent to the Mexican border, a member of Companies A and B of the Ohio Signal Corps. He was trained for the medical service at Fort Bliss, Texas, also at Fort Sheridan, Illinois and Camp Perry, and Camp Sheridan, Illinois. September, 1917, he was transferred to command Field Hospital No. 146, Thirty-seventh Division, and went overseas with that outfit. He was discharged about the 1st of May, 1919, at Camp Dix, and immediately returned home to take up his practice. He is now a member of the Officers' Reserve Corps and a member of the American Legion, Crossen Post, at Athens. He had ten months of service overseas as administration officer at Camp Hospital No. 51 and Hospital No. 29 in France. Altogether his active service as a soldier and medical officer covered a period of two years and ten months.
He is a member of the various medical organizations and is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In 1905 he married Miss Leta Richmond, of Moundsville, West Virginia. They have three children: Claire, Paul R., Jr., and Paulleta.
From History of Ohio, vol. IV, By Charles B. Galbreath, American Historical Society Publishers, 1925