Rigdon Irvin Homeplace (2021)

This was originally written in 2001 by Greg Green and is still posted on an old Tripod/Geocities website.  

Rigdon Irvin was probably born in Kershaw County, South Carolina around 1780. By 1832 he was married to Rosamond Mary Ann Lowery and they had ten children.  The last child, Tillman Jefferson Irvin had been born two years before in Kershaw County. In 1832, their eleventh child Martha Jane Irvin was born in Mississippi.  This family was enumerated in the 1840 census. The vast majority of Irvins that lived in the Monroe County, Mississippi and Lamar County, Alabama area descend from the children of this couple.

Much as been said about the location of the actual homeplace of Rigdon Irvin.  There is  circumstantial evidence that suggests that it may have been located directly south of Kenneth Ray’s present day house.  It revolves around a land document, a square well, a photograph, and the memory of one of the oldest living people living in the general area. 

On February 27, 1841 Rigdon Irvin filed a land patent for 39.97 acres of land that encompasses the  SE ¼  of NW ¼  of Section 30 in Township 13 S , Range 16 W (Huntsville Meridian) of Monroe County, Mississippi.  Close examination of this patent on present day USGP topographical maps would place the extreme northeastern corner of this land parcel somewhere directly in front of the home of Kenneth Ray. 

Between 1841 and September 6, 1890, the descendants of Rigdon Irvin acquired the NE ¼ of this section of land. This is known because on the September date Anthony Irvin, a son of Rigdon, and his wife sold the E ½ of NW ¼ to a W.R. Irvin.  The half section exchanged hands two more times within the Irvin family before Susan E. Blaylock Pickle bought it from A.M.”Andy” Irvin on August 8, 1904.  Wes Ray and wife Myrtice, daughter of Susan Pickle, lived on this land until their deaths. 

            Home of Wes and Myrtice Ray (Taken from the well house)

The home of Myrtice and Wes Ray is still standing today. It is situated to the west of Kenneth Ray’s home, approximately thirty yards down a slight grade.  There is little or no yard between the bottom step of the front porch and the road that passes in front of the house. As a young boy, before the road was paved, I remember that the dust from a passing car would not start on its descent from the air before it started settling on the unfortunate folks sitting in the front porch.  In the southwest corner of the so called front yard is located the well from which Wes and Myrtice always got their water.  The well is the second piece of evidence. This well is a square dug well. I always thought that the well box was square and assumed that the actual well hole was round. However, when questioned, Kenneth Ray stated that the well was dug square. Apparently this well has been mentioned in Irvin family legend because I have been ask or told about its existence several times through the years.  It has been said that Rigdon Irvin dug the well himself.  The position of the well would place it within fifty yards of  the extreme northeastern corner of Rigdon Irvin’s original forty acres.

I have gone back to Wes and Myrtice Rays children, Kenneth Ray and Christine Ray Wilson, and ask them about old house sites on the land where they grew up. Specifically I ask them about the area south of the present day road. Based on the USGS topographic maps, I think Rigdon’s original forty acres would be located directly south of the road. The northern boundary may even be in the road, but with out a proper survey I can not be certain.  As far as they know there were two structures south of the present day road. The first structure was located directly in front of Kenneth Ray’s present day home. The other was located where Wes and Myrtice Ray’s barn is located and at the present falling in. The house that once stood where the barn is located is a story in itself. According to Kenneth Ray, the house was a two story house. The bottom was used as a school house. He said that a set of stairs led up to the top floor. The top floor was more or less a loft that was used as sleeping quarters. Wes Ray apparently tore down most of the house and placed the barn directly over  the site. The steps that led to the sleeping loft became the steps to the barn loft. Kenneth said that the chimney rock may still be out there. I have never seen them, nor do I have much interest in moving the snakes out of the way looking for them. According to Kenneth the other house was located south of the road and in front of his house. This house was made of logs.  This I can attest to, because as a young boy I remember digging in the ruins of the home for bottles and other treasures. 

Basically the roof had fallen into the house, but a good deal of the log walls of each side were still standing. In order to venture into the house several rows of logs had to be scaled by this aspiring antique collector.  Probably the key to all of this is Kenneth’s remembrance of one end of the front porch. This end had been boarded up with rough plank lumber. Probably this was a home improvement room addition project of one of Rigdon’s descendants.  Kenneth said that when he was young that they had used the room to dry peas and for other storage purposes.  

I received a copy of the picture above several years ago. Unfortunately I did not record the sender of the picture and to this date I do not know the history of the picture. It is stated on this document that the picture is of Rigdon Irvin’s homeplace. If this is correct, which I have no way of proving, then I propose that this house was the log house that sat directly in front of Kenneth Ray’s home.  The most compelling evidence is the front of the house. Looking at the picture it appears the left side (with the chimney) is log. However, the right side is planked. This side seems to jut outward more than the left side. I think that this is the added on Kenneth spoke of. Probably it is the result of boxing in a portion of the porch.  The family that was photographed in front of the house is also a piece of evidence of sorts. In the document they are identified as the family of Francis Leake Munn. According to Kenneth, he was told by Myrtice Ray, that Munns were living on the place when her mother bought the land.  This seems contradict the land records due to the fact that Susan Pickle bought the land from Andy Irvin and that no Munns are mentioned in the land deeds. However, Kenneth and his wife lived in what he said was called the Andy Irvin place before they built their present day house. This Irvin house was located several hundred yards west of the house in the picture. So it is assumed that Andy was not living in the log house at the time of the land transaction between him and Susan Pickle. Kenneth also spoke of a house that was “up the holler” north of the road and west of the Wes Ray’s house.  So there were appears to be plenty of housing in the general area at the time I am discussing. Enough housing for several other families, like the Munns, to live on the Irvin place.  

In summary, the evidence to locate the actual site of Rigdon Irvin’s homeplace is somewhat circumstantial and sketchy. It is based on the original land records, an unaccredited and unproved picture, the presence of the fabled square well, and the remembrances of Kenneth Ray, and to a lesser extent myself. However, at this time, there seems no other plausible location.  

In 2021 analysis of the cabin indicate single pen construction with dovetail logs and wooden singles.  The front room appears to be roughly planked in. This style home would represent the earliest form of housing and correndspond to what would have been built in the 1830's and 140's by Rigdon Irvin. 

One interesting, or at least I think it is, problem with this theory is the distance between the well and the homeplace. I would hate to know I had to walk forty or fifty yards to get the morning water. I would really hate to have to go that far to  quench my thirst if the house bucket went dry. Kenneth had a possible explanation. The well may have been positioned near where the stock was watered. To him, ease in watering the stock  would have had greater importance than convenience to the house.

Greg Green

January 21, 2001