1- Iris Fern McEntire, 6th grade.
2-Maggie McEntire, Elzey, Virgil (lap) Ruth
(Fern, Fred)
I've decided to create this blog in loving memory of my grandparents: Fred and Maggie McEntire. I hope to share family lore, photographs, memories, genealogy, and poetry.
While I was growing up, I lived in Santa Maria, California. Many of my summers and Christmastimes were spent in Rutherford County in the Shingle Hollow Community. In 1969, my family and I moved into the farmhouse with Fred and Maggie (and my Uncle Virgil). My father had purchased the farm from them while we lived in CA, but had provided them with life-time rights.
I began writing poetry sometime around age 7 when a teacher, Mrs. Stark, took notice of it and published one of my poems (If I Had Wings). Much of the inspiration for my poetry derives from my experiences in Shingle Hollow.
After my mother, Fern, died, I had an intense desire to collect information that I'd heard her talk about most of my life. Since that time, I've been an avid searcher of this family line, and I've accumulated many good finds. I'll try to share most of these with you over time. If some part of the text is underlined, it means that if you click, you may be able to travel to the site that is being shared.
The family spelling for McEntire varies: McEntire, McIntyre, McIntire, McEntyre. I'll be using McEntire as was my mother's custom (most of the time).
Since this is to be an ongoing project, please check back for updates on documents and family photographs. I'm sure as I add and build the site, I'll move things around, but I'll try to keep main headings clear to help the reader in finding information.
Fred was a farmer and Maggie a homemaker and a midwife.
Maggie was born in Sevier County, TN in 1886 to Nelson Morgan Breeden and Martha Jane Conatser Breeden. At some point I'll scan/paste papers I pulled from the files from Sevier County. Maggie's name was listed in records there as Margritte Alice Breeden.
Fred was born sometime around 1880/1882. His WWI Draft Registration card notes 1880, and his death certificate reads 1882. My understanding was that he was almost 98 when he died, which agrees more with the draft card.
Fred was the son of Richard William McEntire and Elzey Powell. I have heard her called Elzey Brown Powell which interests me because Fred and Maggie's son was named Elzey Brown.
(I've been looking a long time, but I can find no marriage or death certificate on Elzey Powell.)
The story I heard growing up was that Richard's wife (common law?) Elzy died in Arkansas and that Richard came back to Rutherford County with his children and married Laura Jane Lovelace. The 1900 census lists Laura Jane as "mother," but the following children were the children of Richard and Elzey Powell: William Robert, Fred Arvan/Arvil, Ada Lee, Saney Monroe, and Essie May.
My grandparents had a large family, and I've said I'm going to "count" the descendants, but haven't yet. The common names of the children of Fred and Maggie were: Ruth, Elzie, Virgil (Jerry), Ruby, Max, Guynell (Nell), Hazel, Fern. Three other siblings died as children: Billy, Myrtle, and Noreen. Granny Maggie, as I called her, often said she "couldn't wait to get to see her children in heaven."
1930 census:
1930; Census Place: Morgan, Rutherford, North Carolina; Roll: 1719; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 22; Image: 1042.0.
|
1930; Census Place: Morgan, Rutherford, North Carolina; Roll: 1719; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 22; Image: 1042.0.
Elzie, Virgil and Billy are buried in the Piney Knob Baptist Church Cemetery: McEntire, Billy March 6, 1926 April 19, 1928 s/o FAM
Billy's death certificate: Original data: North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Billy's death certificate: Original data: North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.
| Name: | Bellie Mcentire |
|---|---|
| Gender: | Male |
| Race: | White |
| Age: | 2 |
| Birth Date: | abt 1926 |
| Birth Place: | Rutherford, North Carolina, United States |
| Death Date: | 21 Apr 1928 |
| Death Location: | Morgan, Rutherford |
| Father's name: | F A Mcentire |
| Mother's name: | Maggie Bredon |
Other family members are also in the Piney Knob cemetery. Some of these are: Daniel Breeden (brother to Maggie); Martha Jane Breeden (mother to Maggie); Saney McEntire (brother to Fred), Elzey B. and his wife, Verdie.
Myrtle and Noreen are buried in Gaffney, South Carolina in a town cemetery near their grandfather Nelson Morgan Breeden (husband to Martha Jane Breeden, buried in Piney Knob Cemetery).
Ruth, Ruby, and Fern are buried in the Shingle Hollow Congregational Church Cemetery.
Guynell (Nell) died in 2008 in Florida. I do not know where she rests. The SS index provides the following:
| NAME: | Guynell D. Yeatts |
| BIRTH: | 1 Aug 1924 |
| DEATH: | 1 Apr 2008 - Jacksonville, Duval, Florida |
| CIVIL: | North Carolina |
| OTHER: | Lake City, Columbia, Florida |
Hazel McEntire Guffey resides in Lake City, Florida. (January 2011)
Depending on which relative you ask, or which document you cite, Fred's name was Fred Arvan or Arvel McEntire. His Draft card shows Arvel and Maggie's Death Certificate shows Arvan. Fred lived a long life. He rarely went to the doctor, and was active up until his last few months of life. Maggie, like Fred, also lived a long and healthy life. She loved wrestling and while watching an episode, suffered a stroke. My mother and other family members took care of her for years after the stroke. For several years she lived next door to me on Oak Springs Road in a small mobile home that my parents bought for her care-taking. During those years, my mom rarely left her side, and while many considered this a sincere strain on my mother because of her delicate health, I always considered that my mom would not have had it any other way. She loved her mother, and said to me several times that no one could take care of her mother like she could. I think this love and care sustained them both. Her family members, especially those who lived in Rutherford County: Ruth, Virgil, Ruth, Elzey (and their families) also provided much of the rotating care and supplies for their mother/grandmother. Hazel and Guynell and Max visited and provided care often when visiting their mother from their residing states, Florida and South Carolina.
Fred and Maggie are buried in the Shingle Hollow Congregational Holiness Cemetery.
Fred, when he attended church, attended the Piney Knob Baptist Church in the Shingle Hollow Community.
Maggie was a charter member at the Shingle Hollow Congregational Church (SHCH) in the same community.
I once heard Fred tell Mag that he didn't go to the "Congregational Church" because he didn't want to see "no woman's petticoat when she felt the spirit." Fred also called himself a "hard-shelled" Baptist.
I was told that Fred was actually supportive of the SHCH church and that he helped Millard Parton, father of Verno, drag the logs that built the original tabernacle. Also, my mother told me that Fred and Maggie both enjoyed the Watson Sorrow family, and that they always provided him hospitality (a meal or more) when he was preaching in the community.
1860 Federal Census, Cleveland, North Carolina
| Ransome Mcentire | 36 |
| Rosanah Mcentire | 33 |
| Romes Mcentire | 11 |
| John W Mcentire | 11 |
| Josiah Mcentire | 10 |
| Unnamed Mcentire | 6 |
| Thomas Mcentire | 5 |
| Celia J Mcentire | 2 |
| Infant unnamed Mcentire | 2.52 |
1880 Federal Census, Duncan's Creek, Cleveland, Northa Carolina
| Ransom Mcentire | 53 |
| Rosanna Mcentire | 51 |
| Cely Mcentire | 21 |
| Richard Mcentire | 20 |
| Robt. Mcentire | 11 |
| Marcus Mcentire | 9 |
| Roney Moore | 20 |
| Wm. P. Gold | 20 |
Fred Arvin (Arvan) McEntire, son of Richard McEntire and Elzey Powell (McEntire)
| Name: | Fred Mcentire |
|---|---|
| Gender: | Male |
| Race: | White |
| Marital Status: | Widowed |
| Age: | 95 |
| Date of Birth: | 10 Feb 1882 |
| Residence County: | Rutherford |
| Date of Death: | 26 Sep 1977 |
| Death County: | Rutherford |
| Death State: | North Carolina |
| Institution: | Home |
| Attendant: | Physician |
| Burial Location: | Burial in state |
| Source Vendor: | NC Department of Health. North Carolina Deaths, 1976-77 |
Source Citation: Registration Location: Rutherford County, North Carolina; Roll: 1765939; Draft Board: 0.
Maggie McEntire: Death Certificate
Maggie McEntire
Gender:
Female
Race:
White
Age:
88
Date of Birth:
1887
Residence County:
Rutherford
Date of Death:
11 Nov 1975
Death County:
Rutherford
Death State:
North Carolina
Autopsy:
No
Institution:
Home
Attendant:
Physician
Burial Location:
Burial in state
Recorded Date:
14 Nov 1975
Source Vendor:
NC Department of Health. North Carolina Deaths, 1975
Original data: North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Fred was lanky and tall.
Mean, too
some said.
A farmer.
He didn't read, but requested
King James scripture nightly.
Every morning
I'd find him piling
small dark rocks of coal
inside the protruding dusty
pot belly warming his room.
Rumor was Fred once got mad
over border lines and fences
and threw a neighbor down a well,
but I didn't know him as mean,
or as a man
of murder.
I knew Fred as a hand in mine
walking two miles daily,
jumping checkers
'cross planks with cronies
along an old store porch.
I knew him as a coffee-saucer
lip-groping slurping elder
who every morning
alternately dipped soft biscuits into
Maggie's red eye gravy and
thick blackstrap molasses.
I knew him as a groaner,
who in 1969
would not use a modern bathroom
but walked a rapid
path ten yards out and down
a hill for a few hours of relief.
I knew him as a old man
who'd rather rest a bending
ninety-year-old body
among shade trees than
to recline within
the house.
He blended there
six-foot-five in
blue faded Osh-Kosh,
and brown, heavy clodhoppers.
When I'd approach
he'd scratch his hoary head
and pull a soft stick
of peppermint
out from where he'd tucked
his watch fob
asking,
Sis, would you make me
a chocolate Sealtest milkshake?
Would you put an egg in it?
Teresa Price ©2009,
fotosearch photo
=======================
Fern McEntire "Heart Story" http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/rutherford/bios/mcntyr01.txt - a story of a small town, a dying girl, and Jaycees and three caring doctors.
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