The Return of the McIntires

Thanks to a message from Lorrie Graham in Ancestry on the background of the McIntires I took another look at the mess.  Nine years ago I wrote we had to bid goodbye to them because of a newspaper article saying that Elizabeth Smith was the sister of Capt. William Smith when she married Joseph Rippey.  This, added to her DOB of 1798, meant that she could not be the daughter of William and Isabella McIntire.

But since 2007 Find-a-Grave has done great work.  Their entry for the tombstone of Elizabeth McIntire Smith reads: 42 years, dau of William and Isabella McIntire.  The "42 years" means she was born in 1777.  That fits nicely with the new evidence on the marriage of the McIntires--August 4, 1774. 

So the bottom line now is, assuming the accuracy of the Find-a-Grave data, we must assume either the newspaper article was in error in referring to "brother" rather than "father" William Smith, or that she had a brother William who hasn't shown up in other records.  Either way we can return the McIntires to the ancestry of the Rippeys.  More to follow.

To and From York, PA

June Lloyd at Universal York has a post on the railroad age in York, which permitted people and goods easy access to many places.

One little appreciated vehicle of transportation for the York area was the Susquehanna River. I bought, skimmed, and almost immediately misplaced a book on working lives in the Broome County, NY area. Apparently for many years lumbering was the big industry there, beginning in the 1790's and going on until about the 1850's. Men would fell the trees, particularly during the winter, skid them to the river(s), and in the spring float them down the Susquehanna to market. Then the raftmen would travel back to Broome county.

My guess is the river path was probably the way the Rippeys, McCauley's, Blacks, and McIntyres traveled from York and Lancaster Counties to Ontario County, NY

Farewell the McIntires?

It seems we may bid a fond goodbye to the McIntires (McIntyres, McIntairs), no longer to be deemed ancestors. Whereas the ancestry.com tree has Elizabeth McIntire marrying William Smith, who dies in 1831, and mothering Elizabeth Smith, who marries Joseph Rippey, Marjorie found this:

"11 May 1825

MARRIED - In Seneca, on Thursday last, by the Rev. Mr. Nisbet, Mr. Joseph Rippey to Miss Elizabeth Smith, sister of Capt. William Smith."

The key word is "sister", not daughter. Marjorie asserts, and I have to agree, that if Elizabeth's father were still living, he'd be mentioned, not her brother. That tends to screw up the previous theory and perhaps excludes the McIntires from the honor of being our ancestors.

More to follow

McIntires and Other Progress(?)

The McIntires are a frustrating group as well. As a matter of fact, many of my ancestors seem deliberately to frustrate a poor, aging, descendant who's easily confused. I think I've published the McIntire papers that Jean extracted. [Turns out I lied--so I just posted them under "family records"] William, the patriarch in PA, gives strict orders about cutting out his son-in-law, James McCay. (I was thinking it must have been McKay, but there are McCay's around.) He has extensive property.

Samuel moves to Ontario county with his brood and starts buying.. Apparently around 1819 he runs into trouble, because there is a sheriffs sale and he sells land to some sons. In 1855 his descendants, (son Hugh and other children and grandchildren) tell the court that Samuel had land in PA and he died intestate. Conveniently the suit lists the descendants. Disconcertingly, it doesn't list Elizabeth McIntire who is supposed to be the wife of William Smith and mother of Elizabeth Smith, wife of Joseph Rippey.

Discussing problems with Jean, she suggested that her linking of McIntire and Smith came from a headstone. That caused me to go back today to the Ontario County historians site (which I should have done before this) and the rootsweb site.

Based on information there, I've added some stuff, corrected some stuff, and probably screwed up some stuff on the ancestry.com Harshaw Family site. Hopefully progress is being made.