Skip to content Skip to main navigation Skip to footer

Family History

The Story of Richard Garrison McIntyre
And Roots of the McIntyre Family

We’ve traced our ancestry to the early 1800’s.  Slavery makes researching our ancestors challenging. Most slaves were not named and were instead referenced by a number under the slave owner.

A special thanks to Reverend Dr. Lavonia Kess McIntyre and Victor McIntyre for their countless hours of research on our behalf.

Our research indicates three variations of our surname: McIntire, Mc Intire and McIntyre.

The earliest ancestors we were able to locate were Richard and Ellie (Ellen) Williams McIntyre.

Richard and Ellie were slaves on a plantation in the Rocky Point, North Carolina area. 

It is speculated that Richard was once owned by a man named Garrison. The Garrisons then sold Richard to the McIntyres.

Richard married Ellie (Ellen) Williams in the slave tradition and later gave birth to five children that we are aware of:

  • Simon – 1843
  • John – 1844
  • Hanson – 1847
  • Augustus – 1852
  • Mary – unknown

These five children created at least 45 grandchildren, whose hopes and dreams are shared from generation to generation.

When my ancestors came from Africa, they were shackled by our neck, our wrists, and our ankles in steel chains. I’ve turned those steel chains into gold to symbolize the fact that I’m still a slave, only my price tag is higher.

Mr. T