James Joseph McIntire : Short Biography

This letter is from Z Worrell - this was written in 2000 after I had put a query in the Choctaw Plaindealer in Ackerman, MS. I wrote her back, but never heard from her again. She may have died, but I am sure thankful she wrote to me and took the time to write me this long letter about our family history. Okay, I'm going to type it up for you now. And I am sending a couple of censuses along with it.

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July 10, 2000

Dear Patsy:

I just read your column in the Choctaw County Plaindealer.

I am Z McIntire Worrell. I grew up in Chester and was a member of the Old Salem Methodist Church.

My Daddy was George Thomas McIntire. He married "Surilda"Rilda" Miller. Uncle Joe was my Daddy's Uncle and Aunt Ettie was my mother's Aunt. So we are double cousins.

Aunt Ettie and Uncle Joe were some of the sweetest people I ever knew. They were my great Aunt and Uncle. Claudie was a year older than I and Mary Lois was a year younger.

Aunt Ettie was the youngest girl in her family and my Grandmother was the oldest child. I don't know the right order they came in but I do know their names.

1. Nancy Esifell Ray - married John James Miller (He was my grandfather)

2. Susan Ray - married Arthur Ray

3. Addie Ray - I don't know who Aunt Addie married. She died real young.

4. Emily Ray - "she never married".

5. Walter Ray - married Norah ?

6. Henry Ray married Florence Biggers

7. Jack Ray - Married Lanie Davis

8. Brackston Ray "Brack" - married Lou McKnight

9. John Ray - married Margarett ?

10. Onie Mae Ray - died when she was small

12. Mary Ann Ray - Died when she was small

12. Ettie Melinda Ray - married Joseph Hiram McIntire

They are ALL buried in Old Salem Methodist Cemetery.

Each year on the 4th Sunday in July, we have a McIntire Reunion at chester in the Chester Community Center. It will be this Sunday. Wish you could come and meet all of us.

Last year your Uncle Milton's daughter came for the first time, and Harley's son and daughter were there, Peggy and Sheron.

Your Daddy came by to see us the last time he was in Mississippi. He ate lunch with us. My husband "James Worrell" has passed away since then. I live alone in Weir, MS.

I have the history of our Great Grandfather. He came from Ireland when he was 7 or 8 years old. James Joseph McIntire. I'll copy it for your some time.

-------------------------- Later, she started to write again, and....she gives her phone #, incase I want to call her as 662-547-6282.

"I decided to write this now"....

JAMES JOSEPH MCINTIRE

James Joseph McIntire was born Mary 14th 1803 in County Cork, Ireland. His father died when he was just a small boy. He had one brother "John Henry McIntire" and one sister Sarah Jane McIntire.

That was the time of the great famine in Ireland. (YVETTE - I AM ADDING THIS PART, BECAUSE IT WAS NOT THE TIME OF THE GREAT FAMINE, THE GREAT FAMINE HAPPENED IN THE LATE 1800s AND SHE IS TALKING EARLY 1800s HERE, WHEN JAMES JOSEPH CAME OVER FROM IRELAND) Their mother couldn't make a living for her family on the small farm that she owned, so she married a widower that his farm joined hers. The two boys couldn't get along with their step-father, so their mother wrote a letter to their father's brother who had moved to America. He said he would keep the two boys and take care of them if she could get them to America.

She had no money, "as the story goes", their mother packed their clothes and some food in a big sack and they slipped on board a big steam ship bound for America. My Uncle Edd McIntire said the boys were 8 and 10 years old. They hid in the boiler roomof the ship, so they could keep warm. They hi in the boiler room of the ship and only came out after dark. They were out to sea 3 or 4 days before they were discovered. There wasn't anything the Captain could do but let them stay on board the ship. The Captain of the ship made them work their way across, by firing the boiler and swabbing the deck.

They landed on what is now called "Ellis Island" (YVETTE - I DON'T THINK THIS IS CORRECT EITHER, BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T COME THROUGH ELLIS ISLAND UNTIL MUCH LATER, AND JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING I FIND ON ANCESTRY.COM ON JAMES JOSEPH MCINTIRE, HE SAYS HE WAS EITHER BORN IN IRELAND OR NORTH CAROLINA, SO I BELIEVE HE LANDED IN NORTH CAROLINA), and went to shore in a paddle boat. Their Uncle John Henry was there to meet them.

It isn't known just how they got from New York to South Carolina, but they believe it was by horse back. We don't know just where in South Carolina they lived.

Great Grandpa said the last time he ever saw his mother, she was standing on the dock, waving a red handkerchief. They watched as long as they could see her. They never saw her again or heard from her.

James Joseph married a lady in South Carolina. She died in childbirth. No one knows what happened to the child. (YVETTE, THIS CHILD WAS ELIZA, WHO SHOWS UP ON CENSUSES I HAVE FOUND ON ANCESTRY.COM). Uncle Edd said it was a girl. After his wife died, our Grandpa and his brother decided to go West. At that time anything West of the Mississippi River was unsettled. They got to Mississippi in the fall and were unsure about crossing the River in the wintertime, so they got a job helping a farmer gather in his crop and cleared land, for room and board.

In the spring John Henry McIntire went on West, "we never heard from him anymore", but James Joseph, had fallen in love with a lady, "named Sarah Jane Higgins". They were married that Spring. They neveer saw or heard from his brother again.

James Joseph and Sarah Jane were married that year, don't know the date or year. They were the parents of 5 boys.

1. James Lewis McIntire - my grandfather -- he married Nancy Ann Tullas

2. Jerry Mariah McIntire -- he married Martha Surilda Adlyne Tullas. She was a sister to Nancy Ann.

3. William Harley McIntire - Called Willie - - he married Lueada Bill Tullas - she was their sister too.

4. John Henry McIntire - He married Sarah Ann Miller.

5. Joseph Hiram McIntire - Your Grandfather - he married Ettie Melinda Ray - She was a sister to my grandmother, Nancy Esifell Ray Miller.

Our Great Grandma and Grandpa Ray had 12 children. I don't know if I can name them all or not, but I believe I can think of most all of them. My grandmother was the oldest.

William Smith Ray and Susan Ann Crowder Ray

1. Nancy Esifell Ray - married John J. Miller

2. Susan Ann Ray - married Arthur Ray

3. Emily Ray - never married

4. Ettie Melinda Ray - married Joseph Hiram McIntire

5. Addie Ray - married Estell Sifley

6. Henry Boyd Ray - Married Florence Biggers

7. Braxton Ray - "Brack" - married Love McKnight

8. Walter Ray - Norah ?

9. Riley Ray - ?Weatherall

10. Jack Ray - Elainie Davis

2 small children died real young, I don't know how old they were. They were both girls, Mary Ann and Onie Mae.

As far as I know this is correct, but I can't be sure.

"MY UNCLE EDD MCINTIRE ALWAYS SAID THAT JAMES JOSEPH MCINTIRE WAS "A RED-HEADED, FRECKLE FACED, WHISKEY DRINKIN, FIGHTING, CURSING IRISHMAN. HA! MAYBE WE SHOULD FORGET THAT PART"

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So Yvette, that is the letter that she wrote, word for word, unless I specified, and most of it is correct I believe, she does repeat herself, and I know the Ellis Island and the Potato Famine things are not right, but alot of the things she mentions pan out as far as the censuses go.

James Joseph McIntire, Papa Joe's father, married for the second time when he was 60 years old to a 20 years old, Miss Sarah Jane Higgins, and had 5 sons. He lived until I think 1884 or 1886. Papa Joe was the youngest boy and his father died when he was a very young child. I find Papa Joe and Sarah Jane McIntire on a census in either 1900 or 1910 without his father. I will forward these censuses on to you.